Jon Hare's Sociable Soccer - [PC/PS4/XB1/VR]

I remember meeting Jon Hare at Devcom when he pitched the game to me while I was working for a developer/publisher at that time. He still had the passion for football, but you could also see the typical developer blindness. When he played it in his pitch he focused only on the quick passes and scoring a quick goal and mentioning how all the teams will eb there just with Fake Names and how he wanted the simplicity and quickness of SWOS.

When I then tried it out I found it very shallow at that time, especially the social aspect he wanted to bring in didn't seem appealing at all.

It felt like he just was throwing ideas and prototypes around (Works on Mobile, VR here try it, has a card mode, you unlock teams) without a clear vision, except for fast passes and goals.

I actually thought it could have potential if they have that many teams, a simple career mode like Sensi had and would give some nice challenge with stats mattering. (Always loved how in Sensi you felt the difference between players).

Not sure if they fixed it. Tried the game out again on Apple Arcade and it had the same problems. SO my guess is this is now the next try to make it work on another platform.
 
Just noticed this is due to come out on PC in a couple of weeks, 20 quid seems a bit bloody steep though. Might've given it a bash between 5 and 10 quid
 
I think you are paying for them getting the FIFPro license.
But yes £20 is very steep given how shit it was when released a few years ago.
 
6 years and not a vast update. Very easy AI, not challenging at all, so the offline modes are quite boring. Online modes only pvp. Disappointed!
 
If any of you want to take a free steam key of Sociable Soccer 24 you can join the official discord channel and every day for 24 days at 20:00 GMT the devs gives 24 free steam keys of the game.

discord.gg/arj84Wj
 
Out on Steam and Xbox now.

I was tempted to give it a purchase - again, I'm desperate for a football game and really not enjoying anything right now...

...but then I realised the career mode has zero depth, and - incredibly for a game called "Sociable" Soccer, there's no online play whatsoever. Can't play with friends, can't play with the world... What?!
 
Not bothered with this in ages. I notice that its still not got an edit name option for all the fake teams/players. If its not got one by now, its never getting one.
 
I can't get over the fact that there are no new good football games that are more than 1-2 hours of fun. I have the game too, but honestly it's all rubbish.
With the technology and knowledge of 2025, there are no better games than in the 2000s. It's shameful.
 
I'm also waiting for a new football game with offline modes but i'm not THAT desperate to wait for that one it looks like a parody
:LOL:
Well to try 10 minutes and erase.
Sincerely, on the pitch UFL is better, and both doesn't looks fun.

We got (for some people) 2 games with offline modes but awful on the pitch, and the 2 others "acceptable"
Only one in fact, @Isslander is right on the other tread even if it's not a top foot game it's playable... But all around seems lifeless unfortunately, Casino mode F2P shit.
 
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Sociable Soccer 24
Sociable Soccer 25

The game has simply been given a new name:
Sociable Soccer Champions


All I remember is that, as a buyer of Sociable Soccer 24, I received the newer version, Sociable Soccer 25, for free.
Ultimately, though, it’s pretty much the same game. With all due respect, Sensible Soccer is still the better game – even the Game Boy version.
 
VierGraustufen said:
Sociable Soccer 24
Sociable Soccer 25

The game has simply been given a new name:
Sociable Soccer Champions


All I remember is that, as a buyer of Sociable Soccer 24, I received the newer version, Sociable Soccer 25, for free.
Ultimately, though, it’s pretty much the same game. With all due respect, Sensible Soccer is still the better game – even the Game Boy version.
Click to expand...

From what I can tell - thanks to this Reddit thread in part - "Sociable Soccer Champions" is basically a big demo. All career mode and online mode functionality is cut out.

Since the career mode needed an online connection to function anyway, it may be something they've thrown together that will enable people who just want to play random offline friendly matches with friends to carry on doing so.

I invested in this game right at the start (you can see my excitement on the first page of this thread), but the gameplay really wasn't fun, and the "career mode" had zero depth.

With every new Sensible World of Soccer style game, I hope for something that improves on the original - and they just never do. In SWOS, the gameplay was basic, yet there was a noticeable difference between players of good vs poor abilities (and the ball was free so your input really mattered) - and the career mode, with its transfer system, reserves, long-term injuries to manage (plus suspensions) alongside your finances and your relationship with the board... Perfection.

Whatever Jon Hare makes, I'll invest in, but it's almost like he doesn't realise what made the game so good.
 
I couldn’t agree more.
I actually played the career mode for quite a long time. It felt soulless. Every new game was just a grind and a string of friendly matches.

Even after 50 games, the gameplay really wasn’t fun anymore.
 
I've noticed on the PS5 store that Jeleco have got Goal on there. I played that on my NES when I was a kid.

Why can't they just put the original SWOS on there? That'd be brilliant to be able to play that game on PS5.
 
SP83 said:
I've noticed on the PS5 store that Jeleco have got Goal on there. I played that on my NES when I was a kid.

Why can't they just put the original SWOS on there? That'd be brilliant to be able to play that game on PS5.
Click to expand...
The real shame of this is that it was released for Xbox (with all the original features and an optional HD mode, albeit player names have their vowels swapped around in order to get around player licensing issues).

If you have any Xbox between the 360 right up to the current generation, you can still buy it and play it for a measly £7.99 - and what's more, I believe it's still playable online with friends: https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/swos/BTXHPV48V31Z

If not for the fake player names, it'd be my version of choice, but there's an excellent (unofficial) PC version called "SWOS 2020" that allows you to select Amiga/PC gameplay (which is surprisingly different), plus databases from throughout footballing history: https://www.sensiblesoccer.de/swos-2020
 
Yeah, I've got the PC version but it'd just be easier to be able to boot the PS5 up and play it.

Timeless game, I mainly played the Mega Drive version, but would spend hours editing names then me and my Dad would do an FA Cup and stay up till 3am playing this and European Club Soccer.

Great times.
 
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