The Football Manager series has been a staple among fans of the sport as well as people who enjoy simulation games in general. The first title in the series was launched back in 2004 and since then, it has followed a yearly release schedule. Over the past decade or so, it has not launched on any home console.
Now, the latest entry in the series, Football Manager 2021 is finally making its way back to current- and next-gen consoles as well. However, support for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 is notably excluded, only because Sony didn't send dev kits to the developer.
In a blog post, the company has announced that Football Manager 2021 is coming to Steam and Epic Games Store on November 24, and people who purchase it through these storefronts will also get Football Manager 2021 Touch for PC and Mac for free. iOS and Android versions are coming soon too, with the Switch edition expected to arrive before the end of the year.
In a surprise reveal, the game is making a return to Xbox One, Series S, and Series X as well, with optimizations for Xbox controllers in tow along with the ability to carry saves across Windows 10 utilizing Microsoft's Xbox Play Anywhere technology. This will be the first release of the series on a Microsoft console since 2008. However, a firm release date for the Xbox Edition has not been announced as of yet.
Interestingly, mention of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 edition is completely absent in the blog post. Responding to curious fans on Twitter, the game's director Miles Jacobson stated that this is because Microsoft "asked" for Football Manager 2021 on Xbox while Sony did not. He further revealed that:
because to make games for a platform, you need a dev kit. To get a dev kit, the platform holder have to want the game on the platform. We spoke with Sony, we have no dev kits. We spoke with Microsoft, they sent them to us.
— Miles Jacobson (@milesSI) September 24, 2020
It's quite interesting to see that while Microsoft was proactive about getting an arguably popular title to its current- and next-generation consoles, Sony could seemingly not be bothered to even send dev kits to the developer. With this being the title's first home console release in well over a decade, only time will tell whether the company made the right choice or not. In the meantime, those interested can head over to the pre-order page for Football Manager 2021 here.
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