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Match Fixing in Football Set to Become the Subject of a New Video Game

While local teams have remained relatively free of recent rumours around match fixing, with Europol investigating over 680 games from professional European leagues over the past five years there's no denying it's a serious issue in the sport.

You may have heard about the upcoming book about match fixing by investigative journalist Brett Forrester, the film rights for which have already been sold to Fox, but there are also plans in the offing for a video game that lets you take on the role of a match fixer.

Game Changer – The Football Match Fixing Game is currently in development, and is set to be released as a free-to-play touch screen game on iOS and Android devices early next year, subject to the developers getting the funding they need from their upcoming campaign on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.

In Game Changer, you play a match fixer who aims to profit from the corruption of the sport by fixing games using a variety of techniques, and then betting on outcomes. The better you do, the more countries and leagues you can spread your influence to, and you also get to work with crime bosses, corrupt officials and even your social media friends to become even more influential in the football fixing world.

Although the team is based in Seattle, USA, the developers of Game Changer do have some ties to the Midlands - their British project manager was based in Nottingham, managing technology projects for Boots prior to making the move across the Atlantic. Game Changer Games (the team making the game) give their full assurance that while for legal reasons no real team names can be used, the region will be well represented in terms of the teams you'll get to bribe and mess with when you are successful enough to play in the English leagues!

The game looks set offer a fun twist on normal football management games, as well as injecting a healthy dose of humour into what is really quite a dark topic.

If you want to know more about the game and its Kickstarter campaign, the official Game Changer website is at www.gamechangergame.com, and they're also on Twitter @gamechangergame.