Football Manager 2021 is coming to Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles on November 24
Football Manager 2021 returns to Xbox consoles after a 13-year absence. The football game will be released on November 24 for the Xbox One, Xbox Series S and Series X. The game will therefore be released for the PC and Mac.
Sega has announced that Football Manager 2021 for Xbox is a Play Anywhere title, indicating that digitally purchased copies will work on both Xbox One and PC and save games can be transferred. The game also comes out for Series S and X, with the number of playable leagues according to Sega will vary depending on which console is being played on. Players need to purchase the game once, after which it will be playable on the Xbox One, Series S and X. Whether Sega will improve the game graphically for Microsoft’s next-gen consoles is still unknown. Sega says it will provide further details in early November.
The company says Football Manager 2021 Xbox Edition is modeled on the Football Manager Touch games, of which Football Manager 2020 came out for Android, iOS and the Nintendo Switch, for example. The Xbox version of Football Manager 2021 will be a streamlined version of the desktop game, according to Sega, with optimizations made to enable a good experience via the Xbox controller.
Miles Jacobson, the director from Football Manager at developer Sports Interactive, briefly discusses the question of why the new game on Twitter does not appear for the PlayStation. He says that he’ll be in trouble if he answers that, but Jacobson does say people at Xbox have been asking for years to return to the console. According to him, that led to the integration of Football Manager 19 and 20 in the Game Pass. He also says that Sony has not spoken to Sports Interactive to release the new game for the PlayStation consoles. According to Jacobson, that would not be easy either, because it concerns ‘very different systems with different architectures’. He also states that developer kits are necessary to make games for a console and that those kits are only handed over if a console maker wants those games on their console.
On November 24, the football game will also be released on PC and Mac via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Early Access access to the game starts two weeks before release. Those interested in purchasing the game through Steam or the Epic Games store will also receive Football Manager 2021 Touch for PC or Mac for free. Sega says it will soon announce more details about Football Manager 2021 Mobile and Football Manager 2021 Touch, both of which will be released for iOS and Android. Football Manager 2021 Touch for the Nintendo Switch is expected to be released in December.