The new Football Manager 27 will be free to play for a few weeks before it officially launches – a surprising move from the team behind the game!
In a first-ever move, Football Manager 27 will be free to play on PC, Mac, and consoles from 6 PM on October 29 until November 3. Anyone can download and enjoy the game during this time, and best of all, you can keep playing your saved games when the full version launches on November 10.
The game usually costs £49.99, but early launch deals have reduced the price to £29.79 on Loaded.
The past few years have been tough for this best-selling football manager game. After many years of success, Sports Interactive decided to rebuild the game from scratch on a new platform. This promised better graphics, new features, and a fresh start, but they hit some roadblocks. For the first time ever, they had to skip a year, cancelling Football Manager 25 because the game wasn’t ready.
After cancelling pre-orders, Sports Interactive said, “While many areas of the game have met our goals, the overall player experience and interface aren’t where they need to be.”
Football Manager 26 came out on time last year, but it faced a lot of criticism. Fans asked for refunds, and critics gave the game low scores. People weren’t happy with the user experience and missing features like international management and touchline shouts. Even the new addition of women’s football didn’t stop the negative reviews.
The official launch of Football Manager 27 is set for November 10.
Since trust in the game is pretty low right now, the studio is trying something bold. They’re letting Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers download and play the game for free for five days from October 29 to November 3. They say this version will be very close to the full game releasing on November 10.
It’s unusual for a game studio to offer such a long free trial before launch, but Sports Interactive hopes this will bring fans back after some rocky years.
You can pre-order Football Manager 27 for Xbox or PC from several retailers listed below!