Championship Manager 2009

Tuesday 18th August/...Eidos Interactive is set to revolutionise its Championship Manager™ franchise tomorrow by offering a downloadable PC version of its new football management game to fans on a ‘pay what you want’ model allowing you to own the full game from as little as a penny*.

At a time when the cost of transfers in football have reached record levels, with players fetching hundreds of millions of pounds between them and ticket prices at a premium, Championship Manager is opening the door for every football fan in the country to try the latest, highly improved new version of the game for the price they want to pay*.

“This is the best Championship Manager the studio has ever made and we want as many people as possible to try the full new game,” said Championship Manager General Manager Roy Meredith.

In an unprecedented move for the video games industry, Eidos will offer the downloadable version of the famous game franchise on a ‘pay what you want’ model. This is the first time an initiative like this has been tried in the videogames market and echoes a similar initiative in 2008 by rock band Radiohead with the launch of their album ‘In Rainbows’.

Championship Manager 2010 will become the first football title available for the 2009/10 season and the ‘pay what you want’ promotion will run until midnight on September 10 – from which point users will be able to download their game purchase directly from www.champmanstore.com. All fans need to pay is a £2.50 transaction fee plus any additional amount of their choice, starting from just a PENNY.

The Championship Manager franchise is one of the most successful game series of all time and played every season by fans and professionals alike. Former Celtic boss Gordon Strachan even used the franchise to check out players he was interested in buying.

In development for more than two years, Championship Manager 2010 lets anybody become a Rafa Benitez, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti or Harry Redknapp or any other manager from multiple leagues worldwide, delving deep inside the football world and taking on responsibility for buying players, setting wages and deciding on tactics.

The latest Championship Manager 2010 game is the most realistic yet, using a global scouting network of over 300 people to update the player databases and taking advice from professionals such as former Premier League and world cup referee Graham Poll and ex-West Ham legend Mervyn Day.

New features include a host of unique technology including a bespoke 3D match engine with over 500 individual player animations, a set-piece creator giving users the chance to make their own free-kicks and corners, scouting networks to find new talent in countries around the world and practice matches to help select the perfect team or trial new stars.

Championship Manager 2010 will also feature a completely new gameplay innovation in CM Season Live™ - which is updated every month with real player data and information for the 2009/10 football season. CM Season Live is additional downloadable content, available at just £5 for 6 updates, including all the latest statistics, scores, competition standings, player transfers, player stats, bookings and major injuries plus much more from the 10 leading countries in Europe and can be downloaded directly to the game throughout the season. CM Season Live is available to order online now and will also be available for free with the purchase of the special edition boxed copy of the game, available for a limited time only.

(* - subject to a £2.50 transaction fee and minimum payment of one pence)

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About Championship Manager

First released in 1992, Championship Manager is the most established name in football management sims, with 15 versions released across more than a dozen platforms. CM gives players the chance of experiencing the highs and lows of real world football, assuming the role of a football manager at any one of thousands of clubs around the world. Backed by a database of hundreds and thousands of real footballers, Managers can take total control of their club determining the way their team plays, buying and selling real players and moulding their team through training to lead them to glory over an infinite number of seasons.

About Eidos Interactive

Eidos is the creator of some of the world's leading videogame properties, consisting of several development studios including Crystal Dynamics, IO Interactive, Beautiful Game Studios, Eidos Game Studios, Eidos Hungary and Eidos Montreal, plus sales and distribution offices in Europe and the US. The Group has a valuable portfolio of intellectual property including: Tomb Raider™, Hitman™, Deus Ex™, Championship Manager™ and Just Cause™. Eidos is a wholly owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.

Championship Manager, Championship Manager 2010, CM Season Live, Thief, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, Hitman, Just Cause, Eidos and the Eidos Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Eidos Interactive Ltd. SQUARE ENIX is a trademark or a registered trademark of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. in the United States and/or other territories. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights Reserved

Notes to editors

How the ‘pay what you want’ mechanic works:

• Championship Manager ‘pay what you want campaign’ runs from 18th August and closes on 10th September 2009

• To register and make the payment visit www.champmanstore.com

• Only purchases made in this time period will be eligible for the ‘pay what you want promotion’

• Once you have made the transaction you will be able to download the full game (at www.champmanstore.com) on the official launch date - 11th September 2009

• After the window closes on September 10th the game will be available from www.champmanstore.com for the RRP £29.99 and also from all good stockists

• The ‘pay what you want model’ only applies to digital downloads

• Special Edition box will only be available on initial delivery into store on September 11th until sold out.