Esports Manager isn’t just another management simulator. Behind it stands Andrii, the CEO and co-founder of Neurona Games, a small independent studio driven by passion rather than corporate backing. Together with his team, he has spent years shaping what they call the “Football Manager of competitive gaming” — a project that captures the real emotions, tactics, and business of modern esports.
In this exclusive interview, Andrii reveals how the idea evolved from a modest mobile prototype into one of the most anticipated esports simulations on Steam, with over 50,000 wishlists and growing buzz from real clubs and players.
A Game Born From Passion and Community
The origins of Esports Manager trace back to 2019, when the development team launched a mobile version focused on Dota. Despite modest success, the spark had been lit.
We started developing the mobile version in 2019. We released it in 2021. We pretty much broke even — not much profit, but people started talking about us and asking for a PC version
That pivot came in December 2023, when the team launched the Steam page. Just a few months later, in February 2024, a viral tweet from a Brazilian content creator brought them 20,000 wishlists in a single day. Since then, development hasn’t stopped.
Since then, the game’s wishlist count has ballooned to over 50,000, with steady growth of 300+ new users daily. The hype grew stronger when real esports clubs like FUT, ALTERNATE aTTaX, and Copenhell Gaming started appearing in the game.
Right now we have over 50,000 wishlists. When we started signing clubs like FUT and Falcons, it triggered another wave of growth. We’re still riding that wave
From Patreon to Publisher: How Funding Took Shape
Initially funded through Patreon — bringing in $500 to $800 per month — every cent went to the developers. But in 2025, the team signed with Indie.io as their official publisher.
A month ago, we signed a publishing deal with Indie.io. They’re handling marketing, localization, events — and gave us real funding. That allowed us to hire another senior Unity developer and shift the release to Q1 2026
Building a Full-Scope Esports Ecosystem
From the beginning, the game was modeled after Football Manager — but with an esports spin. You’ll manage players, coaches, psychologists, budgets, training sessions, scouting, sponsorships, and even in-game debriefs after matches. But what sets Esports Manager apart are its two killer features.
The Talk module is one of our proudest features. You’re not just clicking dialogue — you’re managing nonlinear conversations with real consequences. Morale, chemistry, injuries — everything can be influenced through these interactions
The second core system is the Tactics Creator, allowing you to simulate full in-game scenarios. You’ll drag and drop players on a minimap, assign grenade throws, fake flashes, entry points — essentially scripting your own set pieces.
Tactics Creator is a killer feature. You can draw out strats, place smokes, call for split pushes, rotate mid-round — everything. And then export and share it with the community
The game supports a full budget management system with four types of financial streams, allows bootcamp purchases, staff hiring, and device upgrades (which affect morale). Clubs don’t pay to be in the game — all cooperation is barter-based. But brands are lining up for product placement.
Some hardware companies already reached out, asking us to include their devices. We’re planning verified product placements — digital items linked to real-world gear
Expanding the Simulation: Tournaments, Transfers, and AI
Esports Manager includes a tournament simulation system that can mimic real-life formats — from Swiss brackets to double-elimination playoffs. The devs plan to integrate real tournament timelines so that players can follow or replicate events like IEM or BLAST directly in-game.
We want to let people play through tournaments in sync with real dates. Imagine opening your game and seeing a fictional IEM Cologne starting the same day as the real one — same format, same pressure
The transfer market in Esports Manager operates on a dynamic system that goes beyond raw performance. Each player’s value is calculated through a custom formula that considers social media following, match results, MVP awards, and overall brand visibility — blending competitive success with personal influence.
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Another standout feature is the AI-driven Talk Module. With over 500 handcrafted dialogue trees and non-linear choices, your communication with staff can influence team morale, injuries, and internal conflicts.
If a captain has high leadership, he might defuse a team conflict. If not, you might have to bench someone. These aren’t surface-level features — they impact outcomes
GPT technology also plays a major role behind the scenes. From auto-generating staff personalities to localizing dialogue and news content, generative AI helps scale Esports Manager into a living world.
We’re using GPT for dialogue generation and Midjourney for facial creation. The newgen players — the ones that spawn after 10 in-game years — they look as real as anyone
Building the Future of Esports Simulation
The team is designing the entire framework to support multiple games. Dota 2 is the next big goal, with the understanding that MOBA simulation requires deeper complexity.
The Dota version would have a new simulation engine, but everything else — contracts, scouting, morale systems — would be the same. We’ll just need 140+ hero models and smarter AI
Plans also include mobile ports to Android and iOS, following the PC release. Unity development ensures portability.
We’ll first release the PC version, then in 3–6 months we’ll port it to Android, and then iOS. It’s all structured in a way that makes cross-platform support easy
For now, the focus is on delivering a powerful PC version with no microtransactions, no pay-to-win mechanics — only cosmetics and real digital immersion.
We won’t do microtransactions. It’s not the kind of game for that. We want people to trust the product, not feel like they’re being milke
More Than a Game
Esports Manager isn’t just chasing realism — it’s building a living, breathing ecosystem that reflects the emotional highs and strategic depths of competitive esports. With features like a nonlinear dialogue system, an in-depth tactical creator, and plans for multi-title expansion, the game is poised to fill a long-standing gap in esports simulation.
We want to make a game that people talk about not just because it’s fun, but because it feels alive
This isn’t just a simulator — it’s a statement of what esports games can become when they’re built with vision, community, and authenticity. Esports Manager is targeting a March 2026 release. Wishlist it now on Steam.
