FM on Google Stadia: What does it mean for FMM?

FM on Google Stadia

What does it mean for FMM?

Last weekend it was announced that “full fat” FM20 would be a launch title for Google Stadia in November.

If you are unfamiliar with what Google Stadia is then obviously Google is your friend but here is a brief description. GS will allow you to stream games in a similar way that Netflix allows you to stream movies and tv shows. This means that you will be able to play any game on the platform from a multitude of devices including TV, tablets, phone (only Google’s own Pixel devices to start with but no doubt that will change over time) or PC/Laptop. A big advantage of this is that if you have a low end device such as an old laptop you will be able to still play the latest games so long as your internet is up to it as all the heavy work is done on Google’s servers. At the moment it remains to be seen how well this will work and it will depend on the quality of your internet speeds but the talk is that about 10mps will allow you to stream at the lower end of quality with 35mps+ being top end. I guess this will depend on the game and of course FM is much less graphic heavy and fast paced than say a FPS. 

Of course none of this comes free and if your only goal is to only play FM then it would be an expensive way over time to do it compared to simply buying the game and a laptop. 

What it does mean though is that FM is going to start encroaching into FMM territory simply because as long as you have a suitable internet connection you could technically play full fat FM anywhere but also it gives access to the game to people who perhaps don’t want to buy a laptop or pc simply to play 1 game as they can now play on there tv.

So the question is where does that leave FMM?

This is a tricky question to answer because as we know many of us play FMM as a preference because we enjoy the quick game play that allows us to rattle through seasons. That isn’t the case for everyone though and many will play the game due to a lack of a device quick enough to do FM justice but if they are will to buy the kit required for GS and pay the monthly subscription they can from the autumn play FM on an old laptop or there TV and if GS performs as advertised should be able to play FM to the equivalent performance of a high end gaming PC. It also opens up FM to people who may play in free time during the day such as lunch breaks at work because all that’s needed is an internet connection. 

The worry is that this causes a drop off in sales for FMM which in turn makes SI question either the amount of investment they put into FMM or the product as a whole. As discussed in the past FMM walks a fine line between a “pick up and play” experience and having enough realism to keep people engaged in the game and SI have always said that they want FMM to be as accessible as possible. This leads me to believe that FMM will be around a good while yet but will it get more and more marginalised over the years if FM starts to eat into its sales. We already have FMT available on tablets and that inevitably puts a ceiling on developments with FMM because there needs to be a distinction between the 2 “mobile” products. Of course none of this is a major concern to SI as a company as in an ideal world we would all own all 3 of there FM products and I expect they would be happy enough if sales of FMM dropped if sales of the flagship product grew but I would like to feel that there is still a desire from the company to see FMM as a successful product in its own right.

My own hope is that SI won’t forget about FMM as they pursue these new avenues for the full fat game and that they will use the extra exposure they will get by being on GS and the new Xbox PC game pass to boost all the products in there range. It’s clear that SI have big plans at the moment and I sincerely hope that FMM remains part of that for many more years.

How does the news of FM being in Google Stadia effect you? Will you be buying into this new gaming system and if so will a big reason be to play FM and if so will you continue to play FMM? Comment below with your feelings on this subject and the future of FMM as a whole.

Thanks for reading and all comments are appreciated.

[Paul186]

FMM is still a lot cheaper, a lot quicker and less involved to play then full fat FM, so should be still very popular, and I will continue only purchase FMM.

[Real_Random]

Fantastic article, Stadia really is shaking up the gaming industry, although I don't know how mainstream stadia will become. Hopefully SI realise that they make more money from selling the game themselves than whatever dividend they receive from Google and that keeps FMM coming

[Ian]

I always thought that this was how things would eventually go as with devices needing to be small there was always going to be a limit to how powerful they could possibly become and you could argue we’ve reached that now as phones aren’t really improving that much in raw power and haven’t for a few years really which is why they have had to justify making them larger so they can get more room for larger components. 

With this they can have servers doing most of the work with the device just streaming the results which will mean the devices don’t need to be half as powerful as you say.

Anyway I’ve been guilty of moaning and groaning about FMM  from time to time but I’d personally hate for it to go as I still really enjoy the game even with all its bugs.

I’m confident we’ll have it for a good few years yet as it’s clear they don’t put too much resources into making it and the sales are decent but as you say a dent in those could change things which would be horrible for me.

I won’t be going back to FM anytime soon though so it would just have to be another game for me I’m afraid.

[Ran7777]

FMM is first love🙂🙂

I don't think the launch of full fat FM on google stadia will have any impact on the future of FMM as a lot of people nowadays prefer mobiles over tv, laptop or PC. The trend is changing people want everything on their mobiles and that includes high end graphic games of PC and laptops like PUBG Mobile.

I think there's alot of future for FMM and it' just a start for fm mobile.

[FuddledFox]

5 hours ago, Ran7777 said:

don't think the launch of full fat FM on google stadia will have any impact on the future of FMM as a lot of people nowadays prefer mobiles over tv, laptop or PC. The trend is changing people want everything on their mobiles and that includes high end graphic games of PC and laptops like PUBG Mobile.

That’s a very good point but it still leaves the question of where will FMM be in say 5 to 10 years.

If FM becomes more available on mobile devices that is a good thing for people that love that more in depth experience but does it leave FMM as even more of a poor relation that would gradually be phased out.

I’m not trying to scaremonger and say FMM is going to be dead as I think it will still be around for a good while yet but it is an interesting question as gaming changes in the next few years because of faster internet both broadband and of course 5G is here now as well.

[Ashez]

Very interesting @Foxyand a thought process that I never considered. 

When FMT or C was first announced I was worried it was encroaching on our patch and putting a ceiling on what FMM could become, especially when it went to tablets. From a brief look it appears FMC debuted in 2014 so while FMM was improving at that time with the introduction of the EME I still do feel FMM stagnated and lost it's way, especially pre 2019. 

So in theory as a truly mobile football manager experience FMM is soon to be competing with its bigger cousin which has to be a worry, even more so if FMT finds it's way to the mass market. I know people play the different versions for different reasons which will always been a factor but one negative towards FMT is it's availability so we could have full fat FM and FMT to compete with. I've never played FMT but I've seen alot of love from FMM players who were brave enough to take the step up. 

Another issue is FMM is limited to device specs so that's another ceiling, especially for the mass market which are issues FM/T wouldn't have to worry about it they're streamed. 

I'm basically rambling tbh, I'm not really sure what I think about this or Stadia in general but with FMM hitting bump after bump at some point you have to wonder if the plug will just be pulled, which imo is more likely if a viable replacement is in the market. FMM sells well but does it sell as well as SI expect? We keep hearing about small teams and that's why we have issues so why isn't the team growing? I just really don't know. 

[FuddledFox]

If anyone is thinking about getting Stadia it might be worth noting that you will actually have to “buy” the games on top of your monthly subscription.

https://nichegamer.com/2019/06/27/games-for-google-stadia-will-be-full-price/

[gianb1106]

After the computed data usage, it's probably worth just buying FM20 on steam and downloading it directly. FM isn't really as demanding as the other Stadia launch games. 

[le3ky]

On 30/06/2019 at 12:19, Foxy said:

If anyone is thinking about getting Stadia it might be worth noting that you will actually have to “buy” the games on top of your monthly subscription.

https://nichegamer.com/2019/06/27/games-for-google-stadia-will-be-full-price/

The monthly subscription is only for 4k streaming, which probably doesn't make too much sense for FM. 

So basically Stadia gives you the opportunity to buy the game without having to buy the hardware to play it on. 

[FuddledFox]

3 minutes ago, le3ky said:

 So basically Stadia gives you the opportunity to buy the game without having to buy the hardware to play it on. 

You are also putting a huge amount of trust into a company that doesn’t necessarily deserve that trust when you look at the number of projects that google have launched over the years and then abandoned. If they did lose interest you will be left with some very expensive and ultimately useless controllers and a number of games that you have paid a premium price for and can no longer play. That’s the big thing for me as well as you pay £40-60 for a game that you never actually own you simply rent and that can be removed from the platform at anytime without consolidation or refund.

Ultimately it is individual choice and that’s great but I would be waiting to see how it pans out before giving them any money as the quality of the streaming is yet to be known and again should you trust a huge corporation such as google....