Football Manager 2021 Launches This November

For people with plenty of time on their hands, prepare to see that disappear in a single purchase. Football Manager is back for the 2020/21 season, and for the first time in over a decade, it’s making its way to Xbox.

The last time the popular soccer management simulator made an appearance on Microsoft’s console family was all the way back in 2007. In addition to PC stores like Steam and Epic (Football Manager 2020 is currently free on the platform in fact), FM 2021 will appear on both the Windows (FM 2020 made its way onto Game Pass recently) and Xbox stores. While FM 2021 will be available for the Xbox One and the upcoming Series X and S, it will also sport Microsoft’s Play Anywhere service with both consoles and PC. Players can take their progress with them (and if my experience is anything to go by, there will be a lot to save), as well as Smart Delivery, so players will be able to play the best possible versions depending on what platform they own.

An important fact that may go under the radar is that the Xbox and Nintendo Switch (which got its first FM game with FM 2020 last year) is not the full game. Instead, it is a port of FM 2020 Touch, which doesn’t sport the full features of the main game – it’s meant as a slimmed-down version to introduce new players to the series.

The headline features for this year’s Football Manager haven’t been announced yet, but the developers at Sports Interactive have said that as with years prior, features will be drip-fed to fans leading up to the release date of November 24. The Xbox and Switch versions will come out a little after the main game releases, around December time. A mobile version is also coming for both iOS and Android.

People who pre-order the game ahead of launch will get 10% off the price and access to a two-week beta, where they can try out tactics and get their ideas for saves when the full game launches. Interested? Why not also read Kurt Perry’s feature on his FM journey here.