Football Manager 2021 is coming to Xbox One and Xbox Series X but not PS4

In a surprise announcement today, developers Sports Interactive laid out their plans to bring Football Manager 2021 to more platforms than usual.

FM20 and many previous titles have never made it to PS4 or Xbox One, and this can be put down to a couple of factors.

This includes how much time people spend on their consoles and how that would work with a game like Football Manager.

When asked about the impact of a FM game on consoles, Studio director of Sports Interactive, Miles Jacobson, pointed out these possible hurdles back in 2014:

“We have (released FM on consoles) before and we may do again, but there are a couple of major hurdles.

“The first is that the interface is really difficult without a mouse and keyboard or, at least, a full-sized touchscreen.

“The second is that our game tends to have a much longer playtime than most – and most consoles sit underneath the main TV in the house. Taking over the TV for 5 hours at a time doesn’t tend to go down well with other members of the family and room-mates.”

But from what has been shared today by Sports Intertactive it looks like the development team are ready to make the jump.

Football Manager 2021 will be releasing on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.

However, it should be noted that the Switch version will be Football Manager 2021 Touch, and is scheduled to land in December.

Meanwhile, the Xbox edition of the game may also come with a few other drawbacks, with a message from Sports Interactive confirming: “Football Manager returns to Xbox for the first time since 2007 with Football Manager 2021 Xbox Edition.

“Carefully redesigned for full optimisation with the Xbox controller, you can carry on your save on any Windows 10 PC thanks to Microsoft’s Play Anywhere technology.

“In addition to the Xbox One, FM21 Xbox will also be available on the new Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S and it’s just one price for you to be able to play the game across all of them.

“Modelled on our popular Football Manager Touch games, the Xbox edition is a streamlined version of the desktop classic, carefully redesigned for optimal performance with the Xbox controller.

“Full release details for Football Manager 2021 Touch (iOS and Android) and Football Manager 2021 Mobile (iOS and Android) are coming soon, while Football Manager 2021 Touch for Nintendo Switch is expected to complete the line-up in December.”

The downside to this announcement is that FM21 is not confirmed for the PS4 or PS5, and there’s nothing to suggest this will change in the coming months.

While we don’t know exactly when Football Manager 2021 will be available to buy on Xbox consoles, it looks like they will be hitting shelves before the end of 2020.