Football Manager 26 landed this week after a year-long delay following the cancellation of FM25, and it has been met with a swift, hostile reception on Steam. Within 24 hours, the game’s player reviews sat at roughly 23% positive, a Mostly Negative rating that signals players feel the launch was badly mishandled.
Player complaints are loud and blunt. Common threads include a high bug volume, inconsistent UI elements, broken buttons, freezing, and poor optimization. The claim that FM25 was cancelled and delayed is linked to our previous coverage of the cancelled Football Manager 25.
There is an odd split in sentiment. Several reviewers praise the new match engine, saying it shows promise and a more precise visual fidelity during matches. Still, many of those same people complain that the rest of the package feels unfinished and that the interface changes have made the game more confusing. Longtime players are particularly vocal: one review bluntly states they have “been playing since 1993 and this is the worst one.”
Sports Interactive took extra time to rework parts of the series, but for many fans, that delay did not translate to a smooth launch.
Official trailer:
Expect the developer to respond with patches over the coming days; the community has already started compiling bug lists and pointing to specific UI regressions they want fixed first. For now, the streak of goodwill that usually greets a new entry in the franchise looks thin, and the conversation in Steam comments is dominated by requests for stability fixes and clearer, consistent UI behaviour.
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Football Manager 26
Developed by Sports Interactive
Step into the dugout and experience the future of football management.
- Genre: Simulator, Sport, Strategy
- Platforms: PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac
- Modes: Single player, Multiplayer
- Release: 2025-11-04
- Publisher: Sega
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Age Rating:
ESRB E
