Football Manager 26 launched back in November 2025, and it’s now coming to Xbox Game Pass on April 13. Some of you might be a bit confused by this news, as the game already launched on Xbox Game Pass on day one of its release. However, it was only available through the highest tier, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, or through PC Game Pass. Now, it’s available with Game Pass Premium, which costs $15/month.
If you’re confused, you can blame Microsoft for raising Game Pass prices last year and creating a bit of confusion among the different Game Pass tiers. The most basic tier, Game Pass Essential ($10/month), still doesn’t include Football Manager 26.
Football Manager 26 Consensus, Months After Launch
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Football Manager 26 has been debated heavily among its playerbase. Most people were put off by the game immediately at launch, due to UI issues and the plethora of bugs/glitches. Today, most people agree that updates and patches have improved the game, but it’s still far from perfect. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. In February 2026, FM26 dipped to be the lowest performer in the franchise in over a decade.
Now, with the game becoming more accessible to a wider audience through Xbox Game Pass Premium, there will be a surge of new users. Hopefully, developer Sports Interactive has a couple of updates for them in the process to make the game more enjoyable. Again, keep in mind that it won’t work with the Essential Game Pass tier.
The timing is interesting. Football Manager has always been a PC-first franchise, and bringing the full console version to a more affordable tier could bring in a lot of new players who were previously put off by the price or the steep learning curve. Whether those newcomers stick around will depend heavily on how welcoming the current patched version feels. Sports Interactive is resorting to this strategy to lure in more players. Most people certainly were not comfortable paying full price for the game when reviews were so bad. But with Game Pass, they might try the game, and some might even stick around.
Published: Apr 7, 2026 11:30 am