Football Manager Series

H_G said:
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This is the stuff I can't play the game without, and I can't switch to FM26 until it comes back. (Hopefully they will patch this stuff back in, but I think it's more realistic that they will focus on bug fixes, NOT missing features.)

Someone on Reddit put it best for me when they said "FM26 feels more like Football Simulator, not Football Manager" (with less to do - less data to observe means fewer decisions to make).

Despite this, I honestly don't think they're planning to dumb the game down. Not by design anyway (it is factually dumbed down without these features).

I think they're just really struggling to port everything to Unity, and needed to release a game in order to pay the bills and keep the lights on.

Incredibly poor project management got us here, not dumbing down (especially considering how long they've been planning this) and heads will roll.

A few people have been campaigning to save Miles (Jacobsen) and that it's "better the devil you know", with any potential replacement having no interest in the community and being far more interested in monetisation opportunities.

But this has been a disaster and it needs to be acknowledged, and acted upon, for the sake of all involved.
 
My biggest concern at the moment is people are able to win the Prem with teams like Fulham / West Ham without buying any players.

The tactical element of the game seems too easy.
 
bsmaff said:
My biggest concern at the moment is people are able to win the Prem with teams like Fulham / West Ham without buying any players.

The tactical element of the game seems too easy.
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Yeah this is where I disagree with Chris. I think they've had a clear plan to dumb things down and bring in the instant gratification element to the game for consoles etc. Feels like Miles has had a directive from above to be honest. There's no way you take all those elements out of the game (and there's loads). I get Chris' point about struggling to get things onto the new engine but it feels more like purposeful decisions to me. Especially when you combine it with the suggested controller layout.

I think the engine will end up being exposed in the next week or two. It looks nicer so it's pulling the wool over everyone's eyes at the moment.
 
Jowson said:
Yeah this is where I disagree with Chris. I think they've had a clear plan to dumb things down and bring in the instant gratification element to the game for consoles etc. Feels like Miles has had a directive from above to be honest. There's no way you take all those elements out of the game (and there's loads). I get Chris' point about struggling to get things onto the new engine but it feels more like purposeful decisions to me. Especially when you combine it with the suggested controller layout.

I think the engine will end up being exposed in the next week or two. It looks nicer so it's pulling the wool over everyone's eyes at the moment.
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Reading online the game has already been exposed.
There are BETA tactics available where people have won every game in a Prem season.
 
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The instant gratification argument is just another version of the old PC is better than console, real gamers have PCs etc arguments, which honestly are just awful takes.
Battlefield just released with an old school approach to their game and seems to be beating Call of Duty. More Hardcore games are also popular on console. So no console players are not looking for instant gratification and I don't think SI did these changes for that reason.

Why? Their competitor on console is FC. And not FC Ultimate Team but Career Mode and EA each year is bringing more Football Manager type features into Career Mode to make it more core. So you don't need to be a genius or Sherlock Holmes to realize that the group who is into Manager Modes wants depth.

So no they are not dumbing it down to a console crowd (which of course is way inferior to the almighty PC players ;) ). They literally just took on a project that was way to big for them, cut things in the hope that brings them over the finish line and still didn't manage their scope versus the capacity they have in their team
 
There's no way they'd double the complexity of tactics creation by adding with/without screens if they were intentionally "dumbing down" the game. Absolutely zero chance. It wouldn't make any sense. Lots of "normal" early access players found it really difficult/confusing to make tactics.

They've clearly aimed to give us more control, make things more complex and give us more realism. Unfortunately, the implementation sucks - and to be fair, I'm not sure how you could give us so many more options to exploit tactical weaknesses and it NOT break the game, without making the engine far more complex than it obviously is right now...

...at which point I would have scrapped this system and gone back to a more rigid, but less easily exploitable (but still exploitable), one.

You could download game-breaking tactics and win everything in FM24 too, but nobody was calling that dumbed down.

It's just a total mess of a project. FM27 will be what FM26 should have been, but only if they sell enough copies to get there.
 
Jay-Jay 10 said:
The instant gratification argument is just another version of the old PC is better than console, real gamers have PCs etc arguments, which honestly are just awful takes.
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Well..just as well then as you got my take wrong!

My point was you've got a much larger target audience with consoles, and within that market a much bigger pool of people who will want instant gratification. It's not just consoles either.

I'm also not having the wool pulled over my eyes with the tactics. Just because there's in and out of position I don't necessarily read that as complex. The roles appear much more simplified. Bit of a red herring for me. Probably easier than figuring out how to make your team do what you want in one shape.

100% not dumbed down to a console crowd... "Why don't you try a controller" when I'm playing on a PC. Okay then 😂
 
FShas said:
And even paradox aren't a sure bet either. But at least they are trying...
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Paradox products have achieved some high standard levels that no strategy project can compete in terms of the diversity, in depth, or historical accuracy; for that reason they're competing with their own downsides and their own cuotas regarding financial "notorious dlc plans" (coz' they have all the human history packed in 5 games, plus Stellaris with its 4x mechanics hybrid going through the stars). That doesn't mean there aren't developers who can't deliver a similar product (as example Ageod's Field of Glory Empires and Field of Glory Kingdoms that are the most related, or CodeForce regarding Distant Worlds franchise compared to Stellaris). But even then, Paradox was always climbing on the strategy delivering scale where their franchises are unique and very difficult to duplicate. CK is the easiest and one of the most mainstreamed game for the public, but there are others that are more complexe and niche in the grand scale regard. As conclusion, I don't think its any correlation between Paradox games and Football Manager: from one you'll learn a lot of history and put your mind to global dramatic decisions (even though some parts are RNG) where in the other franchise are just chore micromanagement tasks like talk to the director, improve your team morale and make the janitor happy, so I don't know why Paradox games were even added in this FM Series discussion...
 
etb10dmk said:
Paradox products have achieved some high standard levels that no strategy project can compete in terms of the diversity, in depth, or historical accuracy; for that reason they're competing with their own downsides and their own cuotas regarding financial "notorious dlc plans" (coz' they have all the human history packed in 5 games, plus Stellaris with its 4x mechanics hybrid going through the stars). That doesn't mean there aren't developers who can't deliver a similar product (as example Ageod's Field of Glory Empires and Field of Glory Kingdoms that are the most related, or CodeForce regarding Distant Worlds franchise compared to Stellaris). But even then, Paradox was always climbing on the strategy delivering scale where their franchises are unique and very difficult to duplicate. CK is the easiest and one of the most mainstreamed game for the public, but there are others that are more complexe and niche in the grand scale regard. As conclusion, I don't think its any correlation between Paradox games and Football Manager: from one you'll learn a lot of history and put your mind to global dramatic decisions (even though some parts are RNG) where in the other franchise are just chore micromanagement tasks like talk to the director, improve your team morale and make the janitor happy, so I don't know why Paradox games were even added in this FM Series discussion...
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I agree on how much of a chore parts of FM can be.

But you're making a value judgement as to the respective merits of the two games and their gameplay.

That's not what we were talking about.
 
FShas said:
I agree on how much of a chore parts of FM can be.

But you're making a value judgement as to the respective merits of the two games and their gameplay.

That's not what we were talking about.
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My point was that adding into the mix Paradox bussiness model as "but at least they are trying..." as questioned to SI can't be related in any way shape or form to its SI model and their sole focus on one FM game that produces a sim management while the other company produces lots of different grand strategy games (besides publishing many others, for that reason I was expanding into their typical games, or eventually I expanded too much into that part, sorry for that). The difference is huge, so I don't think its fair Paradox should be added in the same category as company or even compared to SI development or business model... That's all. Also I agree that besides those micro daunting tasks FM itself Is a great franchise, I think its the best modern game viewed as overall value on the market if we combine all football just in one category, so I'm not here bashing the game...

EDIT: There is something in common regarding the publishing part department. Both are releasing FM26 and EUV on the same date as November 4th 2025 :LOL:
 
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etb10dmk said:
My point was that adding into the mix Paradox bussiness model as "but at least they are trying..." as questioned to SI can't be related in any way shape or form to its SI model and their sole focus on one FM game that produces a sim management while the other company produces lots of different grand strategy games (besides publishing many others, for that reason I was expanding into their typical games, or eventually I expanded too much into that part, sorry for that). The difference is huge, so I don't think its fair Paradox should be added in the same category as company or even compared to SI development or business model... That's all. Also I agree that besides those micro daunting tasks FM itself Is a great franchise, I think its the best modern game viewed as overall value on the market if we combine all football just in one category, so I'm not here bashing the game...

EDIT: There is something in common regarding the publishing part department. Both are releasing FM26 and EUV on the same date as November 4th 2025 :LOL:
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I take your point re paradox. But I think my point was that all strategy games appear to be dumbing down and that even paradox seem to have disappointed fans with strategic depth (ck3 vs ck2) (vic 3 vs vic2).

I was just making the point that in terms of maintaining strategic complexity, even.paradox are suffering because of the need to maximise profits.
 
FShas said:
I take your point re paradox. But I think my point was that all strategy games appear to be dumbing down and that even paradox seem to have disappointed fans with strategic depth (ck3 vs ck2) (vic 3 vs vic2).

I was just making the point that in terms of maintaining strategic complexity, even.paradox are suffering because of the need to maximise profits.
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In some way I agree that in terms of depth and mechanics the older titles were "better" from my point of view, but a reason for Paradox to apply some changes in direction was to be more mainstream and get a wider audience to be involved, because I know lots of people struggling to get into Vic2 or Hoi3 and after 30 minutes they eventually abandon the game. I think both new and older versions have different parts that are better in one way or another (same as CIV IV and V squares vs. hexes debacle), but I don't think dumbed down characterizes a more accessible direction for newer audiences even though from my perspective I loved more some mechanics from their older titles. Regarding the monetization part, they started that way long ago, with CK2 involving lots of expansions and hundreds of dlcs which some of them were totally bland (like monetizing leader portrait creator or map convertors), but also many dlcs are very good. The better part is that those grand strategies gets supported with updates during decades regarding their bigger titles, so they're not abandoning them after a year of progress.

Regarding SI's FM scenario everything is different, you get a seasonal game every year (if its not delayed) without additional content. That means the product doesn't feature additional dlcs or expansions and will not be extra or intensively monetized, so generally there is a newer version available at full price every year...
 
Aside the ME and missing features, what about the transfert system on the FM26 beta ?



 
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Yes it's more negativity, yes it feels like a pile-on at this point, but damn. If your console versions run like shit, what was the point in making things worse for PC users.

Also, if the console versions need just as many fixes, even if Unity makes certain things easier cross-platform, I still worry about the monumental amount of work ahead to make this game work at least as well as FM24 (including the missing features).

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(Original Reddit thread here.)
 
There is one very bright side to FM26, which no one has mentioned.

My addiction to FM has finally been cured.
Whilst playing FM26, I have never said to myself just one more game and then keep going another hour.
I now play the game thinking do I really want to torture myself with just one more game.

Thank you SI my addiction is now finally cured.
 
Sorry if this has been asked before but does anyone know when FM24 will be delisted?

I haven't really played an FM since FM14 but fancy getting back into it and the launch for FM26 doesn't sound like it is going too well
 
az1234 said:
Sorry if this has been asked before but does anyone know when FM24 will be delisted?

I haven't really played an FM since FM14 but fancy getting back into it and the launch for FM26 doesn't sound like it is going too well
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It'll be removed from Game Pass and other services on FM26 release day (in two days' time) - not sure if it will be delisted then or not but I've seen a few code retailers pushing the price of FM24 up to take advantage of this opportunity. If you'd like it, I wouldn't wait!
 
az1234 said:
Sorry if this has been asked before but does anyone know when FM24 will be delisted?

I haven't really played an FM since FM14 but fancy getting back into it and the launch for FM26 doesn't sound like it is going too well
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Not sure if it will ever be delisted.
But I would try and get a cheap CD Key from somewhere - As the price will increase when stocks start getting low.
 
Chris Davies said:
Spot the mistake...

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Probably pretty obvious.

But there are 10 players defending when on Balanced.
The player is playing Balanced, which has been an FM no-no for a few years now.
Several players are looking away from the ball.
The markings in the snow make no sense to where the players are.
It is 1-1 after 7 minutes - You sure you aren't playing FIFA.
Two of the players look like they have the same name.
Too many fans for such a poor game.
The away fans are sat too far apart, in reality they sit together.
There is no orange ball when playing in the snow.
The team in all red aren't losing.
Or last guess, the trees aren't native to England and in fact only found in Asia.
 
bsmaff said:
Probably pretty obvious.

But there are 10 players defending when on Balanced.
The player is playing Balanced, which has been an FM no-no for a few years now.
Several players are looking away from the ball.
The markings in the snow make no sense to where the players are.
It is 1-1 after 7 minutes - You sure you aren't playing FIFA.
Two of the players look like they have the same name.
Too many fans for such a poor game.
The away fans are sat too far apart, in reality they sit together.
There is no orange ball when playing in the snow.
The team in all red aren't losing.
Or last guess, the trees aren't native to England and in fact only found in Asia.
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...but primarily, it's snowing inside the stadium, and glorious weather outside of it...
 
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