Football Manager fans will have to wait a little longer for the new game to be released due to the coronavirus pandemic.The franchise is usually released annually in November but FM 21 currently doesn’t have a release date.However, an update from studio director, Miles Jacobson, revealed they’re currently trying to overcome difficulties to have the new edition of the game ready as soon as possible."It’s a bit of an understatement to say that 2020 has been a difficult year so far, and although we at Sports Interactive have had it easier than many, it’s still been a tough time for the studio," he wrote."It would be great to say that this whole process has been easy, but the truth is that we’ve learned over the course of this bizarre and unprecedented global crisis that it’s a lot easier to make games when the bulk of the team are working in close physical proximity.
"It’s not just been harder from a production perspective – it doesn’t help that the world of football that we aim to simulate in our games is also in such a world of flux. Some leagues have confirmed their plans, some are still up in the air (although we are very much ‘in the loop’ with many of the possible decisions), the transfer window has moved in England at least, there are new emergency rules that may, or may not, be present next season. And there’s a lot more besides."
However, it was the penultimate paragraph that really caught the attention of fans.
"Our games will be on more platforms and available on more stores than ever before when they’re released later this year but, with regards to features and release dates, it’s a little too early for us to talk about the specifics right now. Please cut us a little bit of slack and rest assured that we will once again deliver a set of games that provide hundreds of hours of entertainment and remain the best value for money on the market – and something to help you escape from the real world at the moment, at least for a while."
“More platforms.”
Does that mean FM 21 will be available on PlayStation and Xbox!?
Well, that’s the conclusion many gamers drew from it as they claimed FIFA is in trouble if that's the case.
Football Manager is predominantly played on a PC but there is a ‘touch’ version which can be played on an iPad or mobile phone.
But it hasn’t been on Xbox since 2007 and has never been played on a PlayStation console.
Could it happen?
It will obviously be interesting to see how playing Football Manager with a console would work but it seems fans are excited by the prospect.