By A considerable departure from the earlier instalment
- written by Fraser Gilbert
We’ve been tracking the entire saga surrounding Football Manager 26 for an extended period—last year’s title was ultimately scrapped amid complications while shifting to the Unity engine, yet 26 is now confirmed to launch this year.
A portion of the cancellation decision stemmed from the studio’s ambition to overhaul the next chapter, and that vision is starkly visible today with an initial glimpse at the brand-new match engine. Although player locomotion appears reminiscent of Football Manager 24, the graphical fidelity has been dramatically elevated compared with the prior release.
For comparison, here is FM24 placed side-by-side with FM26:
The developers are evidently pursuing a different direction, and we’re eager to see how it pans out a couple of months from now. Football Manager 26 has yet to receive a launch date, though we anticipate an announcement shortly.
For anyone out of the loop, the head of Sports Interactive recently spoke with the BBC and candidly (and candidly is refreshing!) explained why FM25 was axed, confessing it just wasn’t up to scratch and he felt uncomfortable putting it in players’ hands when it would have topped out at a 7/10 at best.
That admission naturally sets the bar far higher for Football Manager 26, so we’re crossing our fingers for excellence—and with luck it’ll grace Xbox Game Pass / PC Game Pass again, as has been the habit in recent seasons.
How does this fresh Football Manager match engine strike you? Let us know in the comments underneath.
Fraser holds the role of News Editor at Pure Xbox, dividing his days covering the most significant happenings in the Xbox universe and beyond.