Football Manager 27 will be free to play on PC and Mac for five days before launch

Football Manager 27 will be free to play on PC and Mac for five days starting October 29, ahead of its full release on November 10, according to Eurogamer. It is the first time the series has done this.

The free period starts at 6pm GMT on October 29. It lasts until November 3, when the usual paid launch preview begins. That preview is open only to players who pre-order before the November 10 launch.

Developer Sports Interactive’s press release describes the offer as an industry first. “Making an annual title free to play with all game modes available is believed to be an industry first,” the studio said, adding that the move is part of its efforts to support its player community.

Pre-orders open when the free period starts, with a 10 percent discount that also unlocks the launch preview. Eurogamer reports that saves will carry over from the free period and the preview into the full game, including for players on Xbox Game Pass.

The studio says FM27 will have a reworked interface with easier navigation. It also adds new features such as Tactical Tweaks, which sit alongside the returning touchline shouts system.

The promotion follows a hard stretch for the series. Sports Interactive canceled FM25 while it moved the series from its own engine to Unity. FM26 was the first release in two years, and Eurogamer notes that its Steam user rating is still “Mostly Negative” almost a year after launch. According to Eurogamer, the move to Unity enabled new systems, such as separate tactics for when a team has the ball and when it doesn’t, but many long-standing features didn’t make it in. Its card-based interface was also widely criticized.