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You’ll Never Be Able To Import Old Football Manager Saves Into New Games

Sports Interactive has explained why you cannot load your old Football Manager saves into new instalments – and will never be able to.

Many had assumed that it was a technical issue that might be resolved with time.  PC Gamer has interviewed Sports Interactive’s Miles Jacobson and it turns out that it isn’t just a problem with coding.

When asked whether carrying over game saves could one day be possible, Miles said the following:

“Both technologically and legally, the answer to that is no.  When we do our licensing deals, they are for a specific season and there comes a point where you have to stop selling the game as well. We only have the license for that club data, for example, for that particular season.”

He added: “You have more features, you’re adding more data or tweaking the way it works. Those databases can’t transfer back because the game will be going: sorry, what’s this number? What does this mean? Again, even if we found a technical way to do it, from a legal perspective it’s: nope.”

It is heartbreaking news for players who have invested hundreds of hours into a play through (or more) but it is good to know that Sports Interactive has considered the issue.  With the complexity around licencing muddying the waters on top of the coding nightmares that would ensue, it is understandable that importing old Football Manager saves will likely never be able to be imported into future games.

I’ve personally invested more time in the Football Manager franchise than any other series (992 hours in FM 2014, 868 hours in FM 2016, 786 hours in FM 2010…oh boy, I have a problem…).  Knowing that my current save is doomed as soon as I pick up the latest iteration is soul-destroying but the improvements to the match engine and other refinements always justify the click of that New Game button.

PC Gamer will be publishing the full interview with Miles Jacobson, so be sure to check back then for more insight into the Football Manager franchise.