Subscribe to Pure Xbox on YouTube30k
We’ve been following the whole story around Football Manager 26 for quite some time now – last year’s game was ultimately cancelled because of issues transitioning to the Unity engine, but 26 will definitely be going ahead this year.
Part of the reason for the cancellation was because they wanted to do something ambitious with the next entry in the series, and that’s become evident today with a first look at the new match engine. While the players seem to move in a similar way to Football Manager 24, the visuals are significantly heightened compared to that game.
For reference, here’s a look at FM24 next to FM26:
Images: Football Manager 2024, Football Manager 2026
They’re clearly going for something different here, and we’re excited to see how it lands in just a few months’ time. There’s no release date for Football Manager 26 yet, but we’re expecting one to be announced in the near future.
For those who haven’t been keeping up, the CEO of Sports Interactive did an interview with the BBC recently talking about why Football Manager 25 was cancelled, very honestly (and refreshingly!) mentioning that it wasn’t in a good state and he didn’t feel good about releasing it to the public knowing that it was only a 7/10 game at best.
That definitely raises the expectations for Football Manager 26 though, so we’re hoping for great things – and fingers crossed it’ll be another Xbox Game Pass / PC Game Pass release like all the other ones have been in recent years.
What do you think of this new Football Manager match engine? Tell us in the comments below.
Fraser is the News Editor at Pure Xbox, where he spends his time reporting on the biggest stories in the world of Xbox and beyond.