Football Manager was among the few remaining video game series that was absent from PlayStation and Xbox consoles for the longest time, but with a series thriving on improvements year upon year, expansion to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S seemed inevitable for FM24.
The Football Manager 2024 marketing tagline is “the 20th and most complete edition to date,” which brings along high expectations. Part of those expectations is improved accessibility, a topic of contention just a few years ago. FM releases were exclusive to PC, mobile, and handheld devices for over a decade before Football Manager 2021 finally brought Xbox console users some joy with a full release on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
PlayStation fans found no such luck even though Sony’s PlayStation Portable was getting a Football Manager port every year between 2006 and 2013, with FM14 making it to the PS Vita. With such a history between Sports Interactive and Sony, you’d expect more work to be done in regard to a proper PlayStation console port. Alas, the first such occasion wouldn’t come until Football Manager 2023 when the PS5 finally joined the release roster. Thankfully, that wasn’t a quick one-and-done.
Is Football Manager 2024 on the PlayStation 5?
Yes, you can buy and play FM24 on the PS5. The officially titled Football Manager 2024 Console even comes with unique new features, exclusive to the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One versions of the game. Unfortunately, the PS4 is once again ignored—a hard sign that Football Manager will never make an appearance on the old-gen Sony console.
Football Manager 2024 is set to release on Nov. 6, and you can pre-order the game at any time before that date. If you are a PlayStation Plus subscriber, you can get a 10 percent discount from the $59.99 regular price, though PC and Xbox players get that discount on a pre-order without having to subscribe to anything, so take that as you will.
We assume most PS5 users are also subscribed to PlayStation Plus anyway, so this minor inconvenience shouldn’t overshadow the positive and long-awaited occurrence of Football Manager being a regular fixture in the PS Store. Back-to-back FM releases on the PS5 is a good head start and there’s no reason to think that this fruitful collaboration will end anytime soon, though the series’ history with Xbox consoles leaves room for worries.
Football Manager launched on the Xbox 360 three years in a row from 2006 to 2008 only to disappear for 13 years after that. We can only hope that whatever disputes lead to this long gap won’t be replicated again and we can all enjoy our footballing dynasties on as many platforms as possible.
Published: Oct 27, 2023 01:39 am