The football management genre has long been dominated by a “pay-to-play” philosophy, but SEGA is looking to disrupt the pitch with SEGA Football Club Champions 2026.

In a recent sit-down with Southeast Asian media, producer Katsuya Hisai detailed the evolution of the long-running series and why this latest iteration is the most ambitious attempt yet to capture a global audience.

Basically Lauching a New Game

Since SEGA Football Club Champions, or Saka Tsuku as it is famously known in Japan, has its familiarity rooted in its home country, bringing it to the global market is practically launching a brand new game.

“For us, the biggest challenge is basically like we are launching a new game, and not a game with an already existing brand,” Hisai states. “How do we get in front of people? How do we let people know what kind of game it is. This is something we’re still struggling with when bringing this game to the global market.”

For audiences not familiar with the brand and even not too inclined to the sport, SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 aims to bring a sense of fun, something fundamentally different from other management titles that focus too much on the nitty-gritty details.

“We have systems that are simplified for quality of life purposes so that you can just experience and enjoy the feeling of managing a club. We also want to focus on giving players an easy way to understand what’s happening with the club and players.”

With a steep mountain to climb, the team behind SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 also approached platforms like Google and Apple, along with local partners like Huawei and their App Gallery system to help bring the game to local regions.

The Strategic Shift to Free-to-Play

One other answer lies in accessibility. The most significant change for the franchise is the transition from a premium “consumer” title to a free-to-play model. It was a decision that Hisai admits wasn’t easy for the development team, and turned out to be their biggest challenge.

“Initially, during the initial phase of thinking about the game… we really struggled with either doing a premium game or making this a free-to-play title. This was a point of contention within the team at SEGA as well, and we were trying to figure out which option would be best.”

While the initial intention was to make SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 a premium title, the team conducted extensive market research and concluded that global brand awareness for the game was low. They figured out that, as a business decision, it would not be the best in the current climate of the way the games are played and done in Japan.

Even though the game was a Japanese-centric IP in the past, going global was a big objective. By removing the price barrier, SEGA hopes to attract a massive global player base. “By making it a free-to-play title, we made sure that as many people as possible could actually try and put their hands on the title, try it and see if they like the IP and if they like the brand,” Hisai explained.

The team also believes there is merit in making SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 a free-to-play/live service title, especially given the many changes and updates it could bring at any time, since Football is such an ever-evolving sport.

Realism vs. Playability: Balancing the Pitch

One of the core pillars of SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 is its commitment to realism, though the team is careful not to overwhelm new players. The game boasts over 5,000 real-world players, but the “realism” extends beyond just names and stats.

Hisai highlighted an “investment system” that simulates the financial side of running a club. “You can spend some budget on creating merchandise, selling that, and bringing that revenue back into your team,” Hisai explained. “Of course, it isn’t as detailed as in real life, but we did simplify it to give you a taste of how that would feel if you were running a club.”

Additionally, with so many players, balance will certainly be an issue, which is why the SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 team is working closely with the Football Manager team, which already has an established data set for all players to use as a base for the game. It is a team game after all, and simply having one Erling Haaland will not ensure victory.

Additionally, SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 will have both a career mode and PVP mode. While higher numbers from the best players generally fit the career mode system, PVP is different because its balance philosophy is different: players are matched based on overall stats, with each having their own preferred playstyle that could be better or worse against others.

Localized Gameplay with Global Servers

A major focus for the SEA region is the inclusion of local content. While licensing hurdles prevented a fully localized league at launch, Hisai is already planning for the future.

“For launch, we really wanted to bring your local clubs and your local licenses into the game during that time, but unfortunately, that didn’t work out on our side, and we were unable to get these licenses in,” Hisai shared. However, he confirmed that a Southeast Asian League is currently in the game, and future updates may see specific leagues, such as the Indonesian or Thai leagues, get their own attention despite not making it in time for launch due to lengthy licensing discussions.

For those worried about regional performance, SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 utilizes a unified global server. Unlike action-heavy titles like eFootball, SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 focuses on managerial decisions, so “lag” or “ping” issues are less likely to affect match outcomes. “You have ample time to actually make your decisions when you are watching the game and when you’re giving direction… if you’re one to two seconds behind, it won’t really matter.”

The “Gacha” Philosophy

While the base SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 game is free, SEGA has implemented a gacha system for players who want to “min-max” their squads for the PVP mode, allowing them to compete and be the best. “This is more for the players who would like to min-max their teams… and bring those teams and players to fight with others in PVP across the globe,” Hisai explained.

Crucially, the “Career Mode” remains a pure single-player experience where players can grow their hometown clubs into global giants without the pressure of monetization. Many games focus on wanting players to pay more to pay more, but the team wanted to stay away from the foundations of the game pressuring players to engage with the gacha to have fun, so they decided to “put the game first.”

“We wanted to make the base as fun as we can and as close to a consumer premium title as we could. Once the players have fun, they might feel compelled to spend on the gacha since the base game is really fun. This is our though process and philosophy.”

“We’re really nervous about how the monetization will pan out based on how we’ve built it so far.”

Whether this approach will affect the industry at large remains to be seen, but Hisai hopes that other titles adopt the same philosophy regarding their business models.

Looking Toward Launch and Beyond

As the 2026 World Cup approaches, SEGA is preparing for a massive content push, but also clarifying that it isn’t the reason why they are launching SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 this year. While a direct collaboration with FIFA is complex due to licensing and other extensive factors, Hisai teased a major gameplay update. “We are thinking about a mode where you can become kind of your country representative and then run that team based on the country,” he revealed.

“This is our first big global push, and it is challenging, but it also comes with a ton of excitement. We hope fans feel our excitement for a global opportunity and are excited together with us.”

With a release slated for January 22nd, SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 is positioning itself as the definitive entry point for football fans across Southeast Asia.

SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 is coming to PS4, PS5, PC, and Mobile Devices via Android, iOS, and AppGallery.