New studio working on Championship Manager 5

Eidos has today announced both Championship Manager 5 and the formation of a new internal development team that will be responsible for the game. Based in North London, Beautiful Game Studios employs 30 staff members who have previously worked on more than 90 published titles between them, 60 of which were soccer-related.

"Beautiful Game Studios has assembled a very talented and experienced team to continue the phenomenal success of Championship Manager, which to date has sold in excess of 4.5 million units worldwide," said Jonathan Kemp, European managing director of Eidos.

The announcement of Championship Manager 5 today follows last year's news that Eidos and Sports Interactive had decided to part company after the release of Championship Manager: Season 03/04. Both of the companies retained their respective intellectual properties, so while Eidos got to keep the Championship Manager name, Sports Interactive retained its player database and source code for the game.

Eidos plans to launch an official Championship Manager Web site on February 1 and has stated that it plans to improve upon previous games in the popular soccer management series through the introduction of more accurate and objective data for players and significantly reduced loading times.

"We have already implemented some key improvements and made some major new signings to ensure Championship Manager 5 will be the most realistic simulation of football management in the series," added Dave Rutter, senior producer at Beautiful Game Studios. "For the player it will be a smooth transition from playing Championship Manager 03/04 to Championship Manager 5, and the series will continue to offer an unrivaled gameplay experience."

Championship Manager 5 is currently scheduled for release in Europe this fall. We'll bring you more information on the game as soon as it becomes available.