The Worst Instalment EVER?! Football Manager 26 Slumps to New Low

The Worst Instalment EVER?! Football Manager 26 Slumps to New Low

While the full game has now been released and various technical bugs and gremlins have been addressed, Football Manager fans are still not happy.

So unhappy, in fact, that since the release of the full game on Steam, FM fans have taken to the review section, absolutely ripped it to shreds, and in the process, have left the game with a constant stream of one- and two-star ratings, making it the seventh lowest-rated game ever released on Steam.

Football Manager 2026 is currently the 7th worst rated game EVER released on Steam pic.twitter.com/ywFmgjpBV1

— Out of Context Football Manager (@nocontextfm1) November 5, 2025

Football Manager fans feel betrayed. Sports Interactive had two years to take the game to the next level after the FM 25 instalment was cancelled, and the fanbase was excited - what exciting new features could be added to make the game that much more immersive, alongside the already hugely hyped-up match engine revamp?

However, upon the release of the beta, the game was littered with bugs, some of which still persist to this day (I’m still experiencing players wearing their tracksuits in-game), and the lack of the beloved spreadsheet layout saw players take up arms in their masses.

It comes down to a fundamental issue - the game has been overhauled to such an extent that it is unrecognisable from its predecessor that was released two years previously. The spreadsheet-heavy, easily navigable layout of old was popular even at the time, but the lack of it in the newer edition has seen it go from popular to some sort of weird technical deity.

Why Change?

Of course, it is Sports Interactive’s prerogative to modernise the game and bring it into the new era, which subsequently means that changes to the interface and some of the interactive options need to be altered or changed.

It was certainly a brave choice to totally redesign the entire game, but it was a choice that, whether now or in the future, would have to be made. But if you are going to redesign the way the whole game operates, at least make sure it works properly.

Because the bugs players have been running into don’t just occur in the match engine - the user interface between games can be exceptionally slow, some pages aren’t complete, and navigation is now so much harder. It can take 6 or 7 clicks to access a screen that could have been reached in two or three in the last edition.

Yes, even the best games need updating and improving and sometimes even require a complete redesign from scratch, but Sports Interactive have so far provided a case study in how not to do that.

Sports Interactive compounded their errors when they finally released the console version earlier this week and forgot to optimise it for consoles. Games would play out in two frames per second, and for a game that was heavily focused on being console friendly, it was an unacceptable first showing for the new game.

This is how Football Manager 2026 runs on console... pic.twitter.com/AQt2YIJ2h2

— Out of Context Football Manager (@nocontextfm1) November 5, 2025

Why The Low Ratings?

The problem I keep running into is that I am really enjoying the game. The more realistic match engine is a game changer and makes games so much more enjoyable and unpredictable to watch, and though the UI took some getting used to, I am now quite enjoying the refreshingly minimalist design.

However, some do not see it the same way, and much of this is down to people's attachment to the old version. It was all so well thought out, customisable in every single possible way, and familiar; the interface had barely changed in years.

But people forget that change would have arrived sooner or later. Some of the people hating on the game simply do not have the capacity to accept change, and these are the sorts of people who have kept the same tatty old couch in their living room for 30 years because they can’t bear the thought of parting with something considered “part of the family”.

I understand the gripes with the game itself - it can be temperamental, slow and at times infuriatingly complicated to navigate, but at a base level, it is still the same game. You can access the same data as in FM 24 and some, the tactics overhaul is a refreshing change, and you must remember that this is the first release in what appears to be a new generation of Football Manager games.

I think people are overreacting just a tad and this isn't the 7th worst game ever made https://t.co/1Y1R09xeIF pic.twitter.com/TWnrVM0bzY

— Out of Context Football Manager (@nocontextfm1) November 5, 2025

In the future, Sports Interactive will refine their process, filter out the issues and continue adding to it until players are as familiar with this version as they were with the editions of old.

Of course, everyone is going to have an opinion, and some hold different parts of the game close to their heart, but overall, I feel that the hatred the new game is receiving is unwarranted.

Yes, it has had some teething issues, and yes, not everyone agrees with the risky design choices, but fundamentally, it has the potential to be yet another fantastic game. If SI can just fix the basic issues people keep running into, I think it could be seen as one of the most exciting instalments in years.

Football Manager 2026 in one picture pic.twitter.com/BcZTdiYXQL

— Out of Context Football Manager (@nocontextfm1) October 30, 2025

It certainly doesn't warrant seventh place in a list of the worst games of all time …