Football Manager 27 Release Date: 10 November — Free Launch Preview from 29 October, Price, PC Specs

The Football Manager 27 release date is Tuesday 10 November 2026, on PC and Mac, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Netflix mobile and Apple Arcade. Before that, Sports Interactive is letting everyone play it free: the FM27 Launch Preview runs on PC and Mac from 6pm GMT on 29 October to 6pm GMT on 3 November, with no sign-up. The game costs $59.99 / £49.99 / €59.99, and pre-purchasing on PC takes 10% off.

FM27 is a SEGA game we don’t sell as a key, but on PC it is a Steam, Epic or Microsoft Store purchase, so a $50 US Steam gift card plus a $20 Steam card covers the full price with change to spare. If you would rather play it through Game Pass, a 1-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate code includes it on day one.

Sports Interactive announced the date on 29–30 September in “Football Manager 27 launches from 10 November”. Every version launches from the same day: the PC game, FM27 Console on Xbox and PS5, and FM27 Mobile on Netflix.

The Launch Preview replaces what earlier games called the Beta or Advanced Access, so if you are searching for an “FM27 beta”, this is it. The difference is that this year’s first five days are free for everyone on PC and Mac. Sports Interactive’s FAQ on Steam says all game modes are available, there is no limit on time or progress, and the build is “near-final”. The catch is that some club and player assets may be missing during the preview, because licences are still being approved.

The minimum CPU must support SSE4.2 and SSSE3, which rules out some very old chips. The Microsoft Store’s package for FM27 is 8,784,883,712 bytes, about 8.8 GB, though Steam asks for 20 GB of free space. To see how long the 8.8 GB takes on your connection before 29 October, use our game download time calculator.

Sports Interactive has posted a series of feature deep dives on its Steam news feed since late September. The headline changes:

• Tactical Tweaks: one-click bundles of in-match instructions, such as swapping your wingers or sending the goalkeeper up, so you don’t have to dig through the tactics screen during a game.
• Tactical Effectiveness and a training overhaul: a new system that ties your training plan, recruitment and management style to how well your tactic actually works. Training now focuses more on preparing for the next opponent.
• Match engine: more realistic player movement from an expanded Hawk-Eye partnership, and reworked defending and attacking runs.
• Cup Draws and Transfer Deadline Day return, with revamped Club, Nation, Competition and News screens.
• A better 2D view and In-Game Editor: in the 16 October deep dive, smaller ball and player discs make the 2D view easier to follow, and the editor becomes a full-screen tool.
• Manager creator and accessibility: hats, scarves and gloves, more face and body options, a wheelchair-user manager shown in cutscenes, larger fonts and an option to turn off UI animations.

This is a cautious, trust-rebuilding release. Sports Interactive’s own FAQ says the free play period is “a tangible example” of its commitment to “rebuilding player trust and confidence in the Studio”. Many of the changes above are features coming back or long-requested fixes. We have not played FM27 yet, so none of this is a hands-on verdict; we will add first impressions after the free preview opens on 29 October. Football Manager 26 was still drawing 13,772 players on Steam when we checked at about 03:05 UTC on 24 October, so plenty of people will be deciding whether to move their save across.

Not convinced? The Launch Preview lets you decide without spending anything. If you already pay for a football sim, our EA Sports FC 27 release guide covers this autumn’s other big football game. And if you buy on Steam and change your mind, our guide to Steam refunds explains how refunds work.

For loading a Steam wallet with a gift card code, our complete Steam gift card guide walks through redeeming and checking your balance. If management sims are your thing, three we stock scratch the same itch while you wait: NUTMEG! A Nostalgic Deckbuilding Football Manager for a quick football fix, F1 Manager 2024 and Pro Cycling Manager 2026.

We read every date, price and spec ourselves on 24 October 2026, between 03:00 and 03:30 UTC, with stores set to the United States. Dates and prices come from Sports Interactive’s own announcements. Requirements and the store status come from the Steam page and Steam’s store data, and the download size comes from Microsoft’s US store catalogue. We have not played the game for this article.

• “Play Football Manager 27 Launch Preview for Free” (footballmanager.com, 21 October 2026): the free play window, platforms and footnotes.
• The same announcement with its full FAQ on Steam: the $59.99 / £49.99 / €59.99 price, the 10% pre-purchase discount, no console pre-purchase, the FM24/FM26 save carry-over and the “rebuilding player trust” quote.
• “Football Manager 27 launches from 10 November” (footballmanager.com; Steam version): the date and the PC, Game Pass, console and Netflix platforms.
• “FM27 Touch launches on Apple Arcade from November 10” (20 October 2026): the Apple devices and the automatic FM26 Touch update.
• Football Manager 27 on Steam: the planned release date, the wishlist-only status, the features list and the Windows and Mac requirements.
• Football Manager 27 on the Microsoft Store: the 10 November date stamp, the $0.00 placeholder and the 8.8 GB PC package, read from Microsoft’s public store catalogue.
• “FM27: 2D Match Engine, In-Game Editor and Deeper World Upgrades” and the other FM27 deep dives on the Steam news feed: the feature list.

The FM26 price, In-Game Editor price and player count are from Steam’s store data and its public player counter. We will update this guide when the free preview opens on 29 October and again at launch. How we research, correct and update these guides is set out in our editorial policy.