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Football Manager 2022 launches day one on Xbox Game Pass

Deadline day transfer.

Wesley Yin-Poole avatar
News by Wesley Yin-Poole Former Editor-in-Chief
Updated on
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Football Manager 2022 launches day one on Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft has announced.

Football Manager 2022 and Football Manager 2022 Xbox Edition both launch 9th November, the former on Xbox Game Pass for PC, the latter on Xbox Game Pass for console. You can of course still buy Football Manager 2022 from Steam, the Epic Games Store and the Microsoft Store.

Cover image for YouTube videoFootball Manager 2022 | Release Date | #FM22 Announce Trailer
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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members get access to both titles, and can continue their progress on Football Manager 2022 Xbox Edition from any supported device through Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Sports Interactive didn't say whether the Xbox version of FM22 is based on the stripped down Touch version, as the Xbox version of FM21 is. It did say the Xbox version of FM22 has "improved controller integration", and Microsoft said it "takes full advantage of the Xbox controller to make navigating from the tactics board to the touchline a breeze".

Football Manager 2022 is a big get for Xbox Game Pass - particularly on PC. The annualised sim is usually one of the most popular games on Steam throughout the year.

Developer Sports Interactive said new features and game upgrades will drop in late September.

What about a PlayStation version? Sports Interactive boss Miles Jacobson spoke about this in reference to last year's game, which saw Football Manager return to Xbox for the first time since 2007 but skip PlayStation.

"Our friends at @Xbox have spent years asking for us to come back to their consoles," he said.

"It's how both FM19 & FM20 ended up on gamepass towards the end of the cycle, and now FM21 on Xbox One & Series X/S.

"Sony didn't."

Then, explaining further, Jacobson said Sports Interactive did speak to Sony, but did not receive a PS5 dev kit. (Developers use dev kits to make games for consoles, but these dev kits must be sent out with approval for their use by their manufacturers.)

"... to make games for a platform, you need a dev kit," Jacobson said. "To get a dev kit, the platform holder have to want the game on the platform. We spoke with Sony, we have no dev kits. We spoke with Microsoft, they sent them to us."

So, no PlayStation version of Football Manager 2022. There is a Nintendo Switch version planned though, and of course Football Manager 2022 Touch.

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