Sociable Soccer Kickstarter Canceled

Update: Here's a sad bit of news for anyone looking forward to a new game from the designer of Sensible Soccer. Jon Hare, the designer of the original series, has cancelled the Kickstarter campaign for his football sequel, Sociable Soccer.

With the campaign already halfway towards the finish line, it had only managed to garner £32,498 of the £300,000 it was looking for - a disappointing state of affairs, given the project's pedigree. Still, Hare maintains that the game's created "great press buzz" despite the lack of take-up from backers, and he's told Eurogamer that a number of publishers might be interested in supporting it.

"Much more than that I cannot say at the moment," Hare says, "except that development is continuing at full tilt and when we get nearer to confirming how we will be bringing the gmae to market we will be sure to let you know."

It's a blow for Sociable Soccer, then, but not quite the end of the project just yet. We'll bring you more on this as we hear it.

Our original story from November 12th follows...

The good thing about Sensible Soccer, first released in 1992, was that even someone who didn't know their Arsenal from their Eintracht Braunschweig could get something out of it. It had an arcade-like pace and flow that made it accessible and fun.

If you've been pining for a return to those simpler times, there's good news: Sensible Soccerdesigner Jon Hare, the designer behind the original games, has just launched his Kickstarter campaign for Sociable Soccer. 

Like the original series, Sociable Soccer takes a top-down, pared-back approach to what we're led to believe is called the Game of Kings. But because this is 2015, it's built in the Unity engine, so those are 3D, polygon-based soccer players you can see running around and not the sprites of kickballers we used to play around with. As its name suggests, it'll also have an online multiplayer mode and clan-based online leagues.

"Compete for over 30 single player trophies and create DIY competitions for up to 8 players on a single machine," the game's campaign page reads.

Sociable Soccer's looking for a minimum goal of $455,189 to get going. If it's backed, the game's due for release at the end of 2016 for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. You can have a gander at Jon Hare's lively pitch video below.

Source: Kickstarter