Sega has announced Football Manager 27 will be free for a limited time, as it looks to avoid the launch woes of last year’s entry.
Football Manager 26 was one of the worst received entries ever after its botched launch last year, but developer Sports Interactive is looking to win back trust with the sequel.
Ahead of its launch on November 10, Football Manager 27 will be free to play across PC and Mac from October 29 at 6pm GMT to November 3 at 6pm GMT.
This Football Manager 27 Launch Preview will be available across Steam, Epic, the Microsoft Store, Xbox Game Pass, and PC Game Pass, with no sign-ups required.
If you do want to buy the game during this free window, there’ll be a 10% discount on the game (priced at £49.99), which will also grant continued early access to the Launch Preview until the full launch on November 10, 2026. Progress from the free build will also carry over.
In light of last year’s troubled launch, which was the first game built in the Unity engine, It’s certainly a promising show of confidence to make this year’s edition free for everyone – so we’ll have to see how it shakes out.
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Football Manager 27 is promising an improved user interface, navigation, and enhanced visuals on the pitch. Along with PC and Mac, it’s set to be released across PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on the same day, while a mobile version will be released on Netflix.
If Football Manager 27 is a success similar to the previous games then hopefully last year’s entry can forgotten, as a one-off problem, but if this one also manages to upset fans then Sega and Sports Interactive will find themselves in a very difficult situation.
Elsewhere in the sporting world of video games, EA has announced it is bringing back the boxing series Fight Night after 15 years.
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