Football Manager 26
analyzed 2026-10-16 · sample of 457 English reviews across the whole review history
Across 457 sampled reviews, the most-mentioned aspect is the interface, at 33.9%, and it is overwhelmingly negative: 137 of those 155 reviews criticize it. Players describe it as "slow, refreshes when moving players, sized wrongly and just annoying", while others note it is "alright after learning it". Bugs appear in 29.3% of reviews, again mostly negative, alongside stability at 14.0% with 63 negative mentions and no positive ones. Price and value draw 10.7%, with complaints such as "poor value for the £50 spent". Opinion splits more on gameplay, at 10.1%, where 19 positive and 23 negative mentions sit close together, and on updates, at 9.6%, with 21 positive against 18 negative. Graphics lean positive at 9.4%. Smaller shares cover developer conduct, content amount, and performance, each drawing mostly criticism. Players also raise the match engine, mods, and the learning curve as recurring topics. The praise that does appear is specific: "the familiar addictive game play", tactics described as "a great change", and animations called "AMAZING". The criticism is concentrated rather than scattered, centered on the interface, bugs, and stability.
numbers checked against this report's stored data · quotes copied verbatim from reviews · plain text is the language model's own wording
Aspects
share of sample, axis to 40% · ± is the sampling uncertainty around each share
- positive
- mixed / neutral
- negative
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ui
4 positive · 137 negative · 13 mixed · 1 neutral
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The UI is slow, refreshes when moving players, sized wrongly and just annoying compared to any other FM I have owned.
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Full of bugs and UI/UX seems incomplete
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Was really hyped for the game and happy when it finaly was here but now i only sad how it ended dont know what i hoped for with this, dont get me wrong i like the in game graphics, but the ui the design i really dont know.
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bugs
3 positive · 123 negative · 6 mixed · 2 neutral
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The game sucks and I hate that it sucks, its a buggy unfinished mess.
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Full of bugs and UI/UX seems incomplete
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There are still so many bugs it’s hard to leave a positive review.
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stability
0 positive · 63 negative · 1 mixed · 0 neutral
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I also purchased the in-game editor, but since buying the game, I’ve experienced constant crashes and instability.
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Trying to give this game the benefit of the doubt, but it keeps crashing when trying to start a game and it's just demoralising.
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Pressing it causes the game to crash.
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price value
2 positive · 44 negative · 3 mixed · 0 neutral
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At the moment, it feels like poor value for the £50 spent.
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Buyers should be refunded 50%, as we've only really got 50% of a game.
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It feels like I've paid 55 euros to beta test a game that is still 6-12 months away from a full release.
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gameplay
19 positive · 23 negative · 2 mixed · 2 neutral
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Taken the soul out the game that people have loved for decades, just to expand the demographic, reverted back to FM24 till they bring back the game there loyal players have grown up with and enjoyed
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We asked for improvements, not a different game.
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Its not worth the money and effort to try and play with the new mechanics and UI.
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updates
21 positive · 18 negative · 5 mixed · 0 neutral
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But SI is patching fast, and none of them ruin the fun.
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Seen various improvements lately
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Patches will no doubt improve QOL significantly, and fix some of the bugs users are experiencing, but even as is it's still FM/ChampMan/whatever you call it, and I'll still play "just one more game".
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graphics
28 positive · 14 negative · 1 mixed · 0 neutral
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Overall the game delivers on the things that matters the most to me: Loading speed when proceeding between matches, graphics of the matches that you spend most of your time watching and the tactical depth.
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Was really hyped for the game and happy when it finaly was here but now i only sad how it ended dont know what i hoped for with this, dont get me wrong i like the in game graphics, but the ui the design i really dont know.
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if you love football manager you'll enjoy this, better graphics and animations and the ui is not as bad as people say, takes like a few days max to get used to it.
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developer conduct
3 positive · 36 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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I love FM and I still try to enjoy the game, but man you can't release a game in a state like this as a serious company.
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Congratulations S.I !!
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Sports Interactive had 2 years to publish a polished product, but instead they publish this garbage. A spit in my face.
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content amount
3 positive · 31 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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However, the bugs, the online experience, the things that are missing and above all else the things that aren’t missing but don’t work is poor.
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Important things have also been removed, like information on league screens, (like total salary expenditure for clubs in various leagues).
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… to get to where you need, and the pointless introduction of womens football, at the expense of what most consider key things which have been removed, such as international management and the space bar next mail function.
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performance
4 positive · 14 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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The UI is laggy and buggy, every action is slow. It is missing information, features and other things.
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The game is buggy and slow.
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… to what everyone was expecting, because while you can see it improved a bit it still feels incredibily outdated, it's capped to 60FPS even if it should theoretically run on a potato, an has several visual bugs (3D models get in all sorts of random shapes pretty frequently).
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see more
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combat
8 positive · 3 negative · 1 mixed · 0 neutral
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the good thing is the in and out possession tactics but others are disaster.
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The new In Possession/Out Of Possession tactics are a great change to what I'd been exposed to before, which I felt had gotten too bogged down in nonsense like attack/support/defence roles and defensive lines.
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在一系列的更新后改进了很多，虽然仍然有一些卡住的现象，不过略微可以接受一点，UI仍然难以忍受，尤其是官方修改器相关的部分。新的战术系统很棒，有球/无球战术更贴近现实，可操作性也更大。综合来看仍是差评，期待以这个为基础，之后的系列做得更好，但这一部的表现很难让人说好话。
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learning curve
2 positive · 3 negative · 0 mixed · 6 neutral
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long time fan of the franchise but there a to many game and immersion breaking bugs to recommend the game in its current status, the UI is alright after learning it but everything takes to many clicks hopefully some of these issues can be patched out but at the moment i cannot recommend this game.
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I have played FM since FM20 and while its fun when it works and when you get used to the changes, it just does not compare to the games that came before.
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FM26 does take a while to get used to, I am enjoying the game.
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addictiveness
5 positive · 4 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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… the shift to Unity has been harder than SI expected, and the game doesn't feel as slick or as polished as their usual output, but the familiar addictive game play and real-world football mechanics are there even if the UI/UX suffers from a combination of some odd design choices and competing …
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Great game so far a few bugs but thats expected at this stage, once your used to everything you wont be able to stay away
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IM ADDICTEDDDDDDDDDDDD
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mods
5 positive · 3 negative · 0 mixed · 1 neutral
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Waiting for mods to make the game more playable and enjoyable.
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There's potential with the new match engine and hopefully eventually more modding capabilities with the Unity engine but this iteration of the game just isn't it.
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Just stick to previous FM's with mods.
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atmosphere
3 positive · 5 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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used to be so immersive now just so boring game uninstalled after about 7 hours back fm24 for me
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What’s most disappointing is how the game has lost its 'immersiveness'; I used to sit for hours, completely absorbed, scrolling through leagues and player profiles.
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Hopefully, they can work some bugs and bring back a lot of the immersion that was seemingly removed for no reason.
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realism
4 positive · 4 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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All the fanboys are annoyed that their new toy isn't shiny like their old one, but the actual important immersive parts of a football manager simulator are better than ever - and all the other stuff will improve!
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Players move like footballers, not table-top tokens. Tactics actually matter now.
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… SI expected, and the game doesn't feel as slick or as polished as their usual output, but the familiar addictive game play and real-world football mechanics are there even if the UI/UX suffers from a combination of some odd design choices and competing muscle memory from previous games.
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balance
0 positive · 6 negative · 1 mixed · 0 neutral
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Just click from match to match and then lose, despite having 20 pluss more shots.
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Injuries seem overtuned. Players get upset over everything.
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Dribbling on the wings feels very overtuned and out of touch with reality, for example.
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ai behavior
2 positive · 4 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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The new “Dynamic Tactical Evolution System” apparently means my players now evolve into complete idiots whenever I need them most.
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seems like the ai doesn't mind going bankrupt one of those saves where a Brighton save were I sold high and bought cheap gems
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Wingers ghost past your defence and they stand there looking stupid.
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animation
4 positive · 1 negative · 1 mixed · 0 neutral
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if you love football manager you'll enjoy this, better graphics and animations and the ui is not as bad as people say, takes like a few days max to get used to it.
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-graphics and animations are AMAZING but i dont really like the match engine
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Some much improved player animations help with the match day immersion.
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customization
1 positive · 5 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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The UI is very difficult to use — there are no skins available to choose from.
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But why could I not pick male as an option when creating my manger? What was the thinking for me to be forced to use silly pronouns?
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Customise my own UI, I can't customise the stats I want to see on my Squad / Tactics page and that sucks.
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multiplayer
1 positive · 4 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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Co op barely works even for the host, super slow and the game often breaks for the non host user.
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However, the bugs, the online experience, the things that are missing and above all else the things that aren’t missing but don’t work is poor.
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I have been playing online career for years now and this fm is the worst by far who ever is hosting the game gets to play there games the full 90mins the one who is not the host loads up to match u get the highlight kick off then freezes then u have to instant result to get off the match screen
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Emergent themes unvalidated
topics reviewers bring up that are not on the validated list; raw counts only, no error bars
- match engine 14
Review timeline
weekly peak 10,248 reviews · all languages
weekly share rated positive · 50% reference · weeks with <5 reviews faded
the timeline as a table
| week | reviews | up | down | positive | note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| week of 04 Nov 2025 | 10,248 | 2,504 | 7,744 | 24% | |
| week of 11 Nov 2025 | 1,802 | 558 | 1,244 | 31% | |
| week of 18 Nov 2025 | 911 | 383 | 528 | 42% | |
| week of 25 Nov 2025 | 860 | 399 | 461 | 46% | |
| week of 02 Dec 2025 | 457 | 197 | 260 | 43% | |
| week of 09 Dec 2025 | 411 | 184 | 227 | 45% | |
| week of 16 Dec 2025 | 328 | 147 | 181 | 45% | |
| week of 23 Dec 2025 | 330 | 135 | 195 | 41% | |
| week of 30 Dec 2025 | 273 | 124 | 149 | 45% | |
| week of 06 Jan 2026 | 257 | 107 | 150 | 42% | |
| week of 13 Jan 2026 | 225 | 119 | 106 | 53% | |
| week of 20 Jan 2026 | 264 | 135 | 129 | 51% | |
| week of 27 Jan 2026 | 197 | 95 | 102 | 48% | |
| week of 03 Feb 2026 | 175 | 80 | 95 | 46% | |
| week of 10 Feb 2026 | 276 | 119 | 157 | 43% | |
| week of 17 Feb 2026 | 314 | 155 | 159 | 49% | |
| week of 24 Feb 2026 | 242 | 120 | 122 | 50% | |
| week of 03 Mar 2026 | 181 | 96 | 85 | 53% | |
| week of 10 Mar 2026 | 231 | 119 | 112 | 52% | |
| week of 17 Mar 2026 | 156 | 82 | 74 | 53% | |
| week of 24 Mar 2026 | 159 | 86 | 73 | 54% | |
| week of 31 Mar 2026 | 228 | 125 | 103 | 55% | |
| week of 07 Apr 2026 | 153 | 73 | 80 | 48% | |
| week of 14 Apr 2026 | 167 | 90 | 77 | 54% | |
| week of 21 Apr 2026 | 171 | 80 | 91 | 47% | |
| week of 28 Apr 2026 | 127 | 68 | 59 | 54% | |
| week of 05 May 2026 | 112 | 59 | 53 | 53% | |
| week of 12 May 2026 | 165 | 75 | 90 | 45% | |
| week of 19 May 2026 | 129 | 71 | 58 | 55% | |
| week of 26 May 2026 | 182 | 94 | 88 | 52% | |
| week of 02 Jun 2026 | 119 | 54 | 65 | 45% | |
| week of 09 Jun 2026 | 167 | 79 | 88 | 47% | |
| week of 16 Jun 2026 | 157 | 70 | 87 | 45% | |
| week of 23 Jun 2026 | 169 | 103 | 66 | 61% | |
| week of 30 Jun 2026 | 169 | 94 | 75 | 56% | |
| week of 07 Jul 2026 | 158 | 92 | 66 | 58% | |
| week of 14 Jul 2026 | 131 | 75 | 56 | 57% | |
| week of 21 Jul 2026 | 115 | 61 | 54 | 53% | |
| week of 28 Jul 2026 | 119 | 69 | 50 | 58% | |
| week of 04 Aug 2026 | 102 | 65 | 37 | 64% | |
| week of 11 Aug 2026 | 146 | 95 | 51 | 65% | |
| week of 18 Aug 2026 | 199 | 99 | 100 | 50% | |
| week of 25 Aug 2026 | 144 | 81 | 63 | 56% | |
| week of 01 Sep 2026 | 126 | 82 | 44 | 65% | |
| week of 08 Sep 2026 | 111 | 58 | 53 | 52% | |
| week of 15 Sep 2026 | 71 | 44 | 27 | 62% | |
| week of 22 Sep 2026 | 90 | 42 | 48 | 47% | |
| week of 29 Sep 2026 | 53 | 32 | 21 | 60% | |
| week of 06 Oct 2026 | 59 | 40 | 19 | 68% | |
| week of 13 Oct 2026 | 20 | 16 | 4 | 80% |
How this report was made
- Population
- all Steam reviews of the game (every language, purchase type, and verdict), walked newest-first per window; only English-language reviews are analyzed
- Sample
- 457 English reviews, time-proportional draw over 50 windows (newest-first within each), taken from an all-language walk and kept English-only — where English is a minority the sample runs smaller than the draw, and every margin of error is computed at 457
- Aspect yield
- 316 of 457 analyzed reviews carry at least one aspect (69.1%); every share on this page divides by all 457
- Interval regime
- calm: standard margins of error for a share of a sample (Wilson interval), no widening needed
- Fetch paths
- 50 time windows fetched directly (windowed)
- Language mix
- 1,000 fetched: english 457 · french 90 · turkish 73 · 24 more
- Steam-marked windows
- none flagged by Steam (Valve's off-topic flagging began March 2019)
- Marked share
- 0.0% of sample inside marked windows, under the 2% floor
- Narrative
- passed the grounding gate first try
- Evidence floor
- aspects and emergent themes appear only with 5+ supporting reviews; smaller counts sit at the classifier's false-positive floor
- Instrument readings
- measured once on the study corpus for this model and prompt: frozen calibration, not properties of this run
- · aspect tagging vs. human labels
- 0.801 [0.752–0.844] (F1 against a human-labeled test set; 1.0 is best)
- · quotes filed under the wrong aspect
- 11.6% [6.6–19.6] of quotes, measured by hand on a sample; lower is better — measured on the prior model (2026-08-05); re-measurement pending
- · independent model vs. production labels
- 0.791 [0.772–0.810] (F1 of the production labeler against an independent judge model) — measured on the prior model (2026-07-25); re-measurement pending
- Versions
- deepseek-flash · prompt classify-v1 · ontology v2
- Run
- serve-20261016T005154Z-fad55c0d · code 798e06c
full methodology in the milestone write-ups