NEWSPAPER OFFERS CHAMP GAME TRIAL
Copyright 2002 Haymarket Business Publications Ltd

[ May 23rd 2002 ]

Tabloid newspaper The Sun has added Championship Manager, the football management game, to the portfolio of games users can try and buy on its web site. The Sun site will host the game throughout the World Cup in June. Using shrink-wrapping software technology from Softwrap, users can try the game before they decide whether to purchase it and download it in full for £24.

Championship Manager Season 01/02 was developed for games company Eidos Interactive by Sports Interactive. Games have been available on The Sun site in this format since March. Pete Picton, editor of Sun Online, said: "We’ve had a favourable response and are getting enough clickthroughs to justify extending the format to a premium game such as Championship Manager."

Picton added that the newspaper has nine online revenue streams, including features such as World Cup Fantasy League and diet sheets. "The same amount of people now enter the Fantasy League game online as through premium telephone lines promoted in the newspaper," added Picton. "But we’re not cannibalising the take-up online, we’re growing the overall market."

According to Picton, Sun Online gets a lot of traffic from abroad, as well as from people who don’t normally read newspapers, especially in the 16- to 24-year-old age group.