Football management simulator, Soccerverse, has entered its second season, with Team Dignitas founder Michael “ODEE” O’Dell throwing his weight behind Season 2 of the game.
Describing itself as a “fully online, onchain game in which every team is actively managed by a real human player,” the game features real-time six-month-long seasons, meaning the second season of the game is just starting now, following the game’s launch in January.
ODEE features as part of the promotional material for Season 2, outlining his goals in the game.
Soccerverse’s full statement is below:
The way to demonstrate mastery in any football management game is taking your favourite lower league team to the top tier and winning outright.
But when you’re playing a fully online, onchain game in which every team is actively managed by a real human player, complete with their own set of investors and their own dreams of glory, the odds are stacked against you.
Not that UK esports legend Michael “ODEE” O’Dell is disheartened.
One of the founders of Team Dignitas, which was acquired by NBA team Philadelphia 76ers, and currently Great Britain Esports Team Manager, the soon-to-be Soccerverse multi-league champion, ODEE’s goal for the forthcoming years is to take his local team from the depths of Soccerverse’s English Division 6 all the way to Division 1, as he’s done so many times before in Football Manager.
“I was born nearby and worked in Sutton for 18 years. I also have many friends who are part of the team’s current ownership group,” he says. “To get them to the highest division in Soccerverse is my goal.”
With each season lasting six months, the earliest this could happen is December 2027. Still, with decades of gaming pedigree behind him, and the backing of his in-game investors, including key outfit Protagonist, he’s up for the challenge.
Thanks to a pre-season cash injection of 29 million SVC tokens ($500), Sutton is already making waves, canningly buying in Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr and Dele Alli to boost performances, if only for a couple of seasons, given their combined age of 102.
But a word of warning. Despite its blockchain elements, Soccerverse’s depth of economical modelling means managers can’t just buy their way to success, even if they are spending more than other clubs.
Built on a battle-tested match engine and backed by real-time player ratings that make it almost impossible for any single manager, no matter how wealthy, to buy the league, ODEE will also have to demonstrate his skill as a manager, both in terms of ‘taking each game as it comes’ and managing his squad across multiple seasons of injuries, depleted morale and match suspensions.
And that’s all before he has to worry about difficult agents wanting to boost their players wages or being seduced by better offers from other clubs.
Still, each journey begins with a first step and ODEE is off to a great start with a 20-1 victory over Northfleet. Ronaldo was man of the match, scoring seven goals.
Surely, for this season at least, the only way is up!
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.