Press release -
NUTMEG! gets settled behind the manager’s desk in massive new demo
Sheffield, UK – 9 February 2026: Dust off your suit and grab your 1991-92 football annual – it's time to go to work. Nostalgic football management game NUTMEG! is giving players the chance to get their feet under the desk with a huge new demo offering the most complete look at the game yet.
The year is 1991. You’ve just become the manager of Blackburn, and you’ve got a healthy cash injection to help you on your way. Starting with the season’s real-life original line-up, you’ll need to hire staff, trade players, set up training schedules, and stack your deck to win matches and rise up the ladder to secure your spot back in the top-flight of English league football.
Pick up promising newbies before they become highly paid pundits on weekly TV shows. Build new facilities at the grounds to improve your training. Get distracted playing games on your PC. It’s all the fun of being a football manager in the ‘90s, with all the knowledge acquired by being alive in 2026.
Stand on the sidelines encouraging your players in a unique card game spin on the beautiful game. Shift the odds of success in your favour with a well-timed strategy or take a chance and live with the outcome. Then get back in the office to improve your team and try it all again next Saturday. Can you repeat Dalglish’s success, or is your tenure as gaffer destined to be forgotten? There’s only one way to find out.
As announced last year, every sale of NUTMEG! will benefit two footballing charities. Both the Joey Beauchamp Foundation and the Dalian Atkinson Legacy Fund will receive £0.05 each from every sale until November 2026.
NUTMEG! will launch for PC on 26 March 2026. A free demo is available on Steam now.
Related links
About NUTMEG!
NUTMEG! is a nostalgic football manager game with a deckbuilding twist, set in the '80s and '90s. Relive the days when the tackles were as hard as the mullets were long and football was about football.
About Secret Mode
Secret Mode is an independent publisher and the winner of the MCV/Develop Indie Publisher of the Year 2025 award, Ukie Best UK Publisher 2024 award, and the Debug Indie Game Best Influencer Marketing 2025 award. In March 2025 Emona Capital LLP, a financial investor with deep expertise in the gaming industry, partnered with CEO Ed Blincoe and CPO James Schall in the successful buyout of Secret Mode. Published titles include triple-BAFTA-winner Still Wakes the Deep, A Little to the Left, Wobbledogs, Loddlenaut, and Escape the Backrooms.
For more information visit: wearesecretmode.com
Follow us: X | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn
About Sumo Sheffield
Founded in 2003, Sumo Sheffield was the first of Sumo Digital’s studios. Firmly established as the premium development partner of leading publishers, the studio is trusted to deliver high quality games associated with some of the most iconic and valued properties in the industry, or by generating innovative new IP. With a highly skilled body of over 300 developers the studio works across all platforms, on a selection of AAA games covering multiple genres including Sports, FPS, and platform adventure.
For more information visit: sheffield.sumo-digital.com
About Sumo Academy
Founded in 2020, the Sumo Academy is a talent development programme creating new pathways into the games industry in the form of the Level 7 Game Programming Apprenticeship. Rated “Outstanding” by Ofsted, the Academy teaching team has over 100 combined years of game development experience, but they still can’t beat the apprentice’s high score on Zool.
For more information visit: www.sumo-academy.com
