Football Manager 2020 gives free in-game advertising space to mental health charity during lockdown

Boot up Football Manager 2020 and you'll see the in-game pitch-side advertising hoardings adorned with the logo of a mental health charity.

Sports Interactive boss Miles Jacobson recently took to Twitter to offer mental health charities free in-game advertising amid the coronavirus lockdown.

The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), a UK-based charity that works to prevent suicide, got in touch - and now its logo is all over Football Manager 2020.

"We've been blown away by the response we've had from mental health charities since we put out our small offer of help on Twitter a couple of weeks ago," Sports Interactive boss Miles Jacobson told Eurogamer.

"My feeling is that this strange period of isolation that many of us have found ourselves in could have a serious impact on many people's mental health, so we're happy to provide whatever support we can. We're still open to approaches if other suitable charities would like to get in touch - particularly those outside the UK."

I suspect CALM we get quite a few eyeballs on its Football Manager 2020 in-game advertising. The game has broken records for concurrent players as the lockdown has come into force. At the time of this article's publication, 123,626 people were playing Football Manager 2020 on Steam.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.