The Big FM26 Community Survey- Results

Introduction 

Sometimes, the minority is the noisiest. It’s why the whole country can appear anti-Tory and then somehow the Conservatives win a majority. Nowhere is this more pronounced than social media. An echo chamber can develop and everything becomes more dramatic than it actually is in reality. So I’ve posted this Football Manager 2026 survey to cut through the noise. The backlash to FM26 is immense, but is that what people really think? Let’s find out. 

NOTE: Each question got between 409 and 421 responses, so we’re looking at a solid snapshot of the current FM26 crowd rather than just a handful of loud replies.

 

Who answered = mostly long-time FM players, mostly on PC

 

How long have you been playing Football Manager? (421 responses)

This is not a “new game, new audience” sample. It’s overwhelmingly series veterans.

• 10+ years: 220 (52.3%) 
• 6–10 years: 70 (16.6%) 
• 3–5 years: 87 (20.7%) 
• 1–2 years: 23 (5.5%) 
• First FM: 21 (5.0%)

That means 290 of 421 respondents (68.9%) have been playing for six years or more. When people with that much FM mileage are negative about something, it’s usually because it feels less like what they’ve invested thousands of hours into.

 

Which version best describes your usual FM experience? (420 responses)

This group isn’t made up of dabblers either.

• Regular (1/2 long-term saves per year): 259 (61.7%) 
• Hardcore (multiple long saves, spreadsheets etc): 143 (34.0%) 
• Casual (short saves, instant result etc): 18 (4.3%) 

So roughly 96% of respondents are playing FM in the “proper save” mindset, with a third openly describing themselves as hardcore.

 

Which platform do you play FM26 on? (421 responses)

FM26 feedback is often split by platform in wider discourse, but your sample is essentially the traditional PC audience.

• PC/Mac: 391 (92.9%) 
• Xbox/PlayStation: 12 (2.9%) 
• Steam Deck: 11 (2.6%) 
• Mobile: 4 (1.0%) 
• Other: 3 (0.7%) 

If this survey says the UI is poor or immersion is down, it’s primarily PC/Mac players saying it.

Hours played = plenty of people have given FM26 a fair go

 

Approx how many hours have you played of FM26 so far? (420 responses)

There’s a healthy spread here, and it matters because early impressions can look very different to “I’m 10 seasons deep”.

• Under 20 hours: 52 (12.4%) 
• 20–50 hours: 105 (25.0%) 
• 50–100 hours: 89 (21.2%) 
• 100–250 hours: 109 (26.0%) 
• 250+ hours: 65 (15.5%) 

A notable point: 174 respondents (41.5%) are already on 100+ hours. Even if FM26 isn’t landing for everyone, a big chunk of you have still put serious time into it.

The overall score = it’s mostly a 3 out of 5 game right now

 

Overall, how would you rate FM26? (420 responses)

The most picked answer is 3, and it isn’t close.

• 1 (Very poor): 60 (14.3%) 
• 2: 105 (25.0%) 
• 3: 180 (42.9%) 
• 4: 72 (17.1%) 
• 5 (Excellent): 3 (0.7%) 

That gives a weighted average rating of about 2.65 out of 5.

The shape of this is important:

• 1–2 ratings combined: 165 (39.3%) 
• 4–5 ratings combined: 75 (17.9%) 
• 3 ratings alone: 180 (42.9%) 

So FM26 isn’t getting slaughtered across the board. It’s being graded as “fine, but…” by a massive block of players, with a much smaller group saying it’s actually great.

 

Compared to FM24 and older games = this is where it turns brutal. 

Compared to FM24, FM26 is… (417 responses)

The FM24 comparison is overwhelmingly negative.

• Much worse: 187 (44.8%) 
• Slightly worse: 142 (34.1%) 
• About the same: 40 (9.6%) 
• Slightly better: 46 (11.0%) 
• Much better: 2 (0.5%) 

Add it up and you get:

• Worse than FM24: 329 (78.9%) 
• Same or better: 88 (21.1%) 

Even if someone personally rates FM26 a 3/5, a lot of them still seem to think FM24 was a better place to be.

 

Compared to older FMs (FM20–F23), FM26 is… (412 responses)

This one is slightly less damning than the FM24 head-to-head, but still heavily tilted negative.

• A clear step back: 153 (37.1%) 
• Slightly worse: 134 (32.5%) 
• About the same: 41 (10.0%) 
• Slightly better: 73 (17.7%) 
• One of the best ever: 11 (2.7%) 

Combined:

• Worse than FM20–F23: 287 (69.6%) 
• Same or better: 125 (30.4%) 

So the dominant view is not “FM26 is flawed but part of normal yearly progress”. It’s “this feels like we’ve moved backwards”.

Difficulty and tactics = about right overall, but the META debate isn’t dead

 

How difficult do you find FM26? (417 responses)

This is one of the more positive-looking charts.

• Far too easy: 29 (7.0%) 
• Slightly too easy: 92 (22.1%) 
• About right: 232 (55.6%) 
• Slightly too hard: 51 (12.2%) 
• Far too hard: 13 (3.1%) 

Most players (232 people) think the difficulty is about right, and only a small minority say it’s wildly off in either direction.

 

Do you feel FM26 allows you to “break the game” with meta tactics? (409 responses)

This is where the old FM argument creeps back in.

• Yes, very easily: 61 (14.9%) 
• Yes, with some effort: 109 (26.7%) 
• Occasionally: 127 (31.1%) 
• Rarely: 77 (18.8%) 
• Not at all: 35 (8.6%) 

Combined:

• “Yes” (easily or with effort): 170 (41.6%) 
• Occasionally: 127 (31.1%) 
• Rarely or not at all: 112 (27.4%) 

So the majority are not saying “meta is completely gone”. Most respondents either think it’s still there, or at least pops up sometimes.

 

Which best describes your tactical experience in FM26? (411 responses)

This is the only question where people could pick more than one option. 

• Several styles are viable: 199 (48.4%) 
• High press dominates everything: 133 (32.4%) 
• Counter-attacking is viable: 55 (13.4%) 
• Defensive football is viable: 22 (5.4%) 
• Tactical variety is worse than before: 44 (10.7%) 

The headline here is that “several styles are viable” is the most selected view, but a very large chunk still feel the high press sits at the top of the food chain. In other words, FM26 may be more flexible than the most cynical takes suggest, but it hasn’t fully escaped the gravitational pull of high pressing being the safest way to win.

Match engine vs transfer AI = one is holding up, the other is a shrug

 

How satisfied are you with the FM26 match engine? (418 responses)

This is a quietly strong result for FM26.

• Very dissatisfied: 24 (5.7%) 
• Dissatisfied: 54 (12.9%) 
• Neutral: 102 (24.4%) 
• Satisfied: 189 (45.2%) 
• Very satisfied: 49 (11.7%) 

Combined:

• Satisfied or very satisfied: 238 (56.9%) 
• Neutral: 102 (24.4%) 
• Dissatisfied or very dissatisfied: 78 (18.6%) 

So even in a survey where FM26 is being judged harshly versus older games, the match engine is coming out more liked than disliked.

 

How would you rate the AI’s behaviour in the transfer market in FM26? (410 responses)

This one sits firmly in “fine, but not impressive”.

• Very poor: 42 (10.2%) 
• Poor: 119 (29.0%) 
• Average: 206 (50.2%) 
• Good: 42 (10.2%) 
• Excellent: 1 (0.2%) 

Almost nine in ten respondents (89.4%) rate it as average or worse, and only 43 people (10.4%) call it good or excellent.

That matches the wider FM frustration: you can live with the match engine quirks, but the long-term health of a save often lives or dies on how believable the AI squad-building is.

Immersion and UI = this is the heart of the dissatisfaction 

 

How immersive does FM26 feel overall? (419 responses)

This is one of the clearest “problem” charts.

• Not immersive at all: 155 (37.0%) 
• Slightly immersive: 115 (27.4%) 
• Moderately immersive: 115 (27.4%) 
• Very immersive: 31 (7.4%) 
• The most immersive FM yet: 3 (0.7%) 

Combined:

• Not or only slightly immersive: 270 (64.4%) 
• Moderately immersive or better: 149 (35.6%) 

So even if people can tolerate the match engine and say the difficulty is about right, immersion is where FM26 is failing most players.

 

How would you rate the FM26 UI overall? (419 responses)

This is the most decisive chart in the whole set.

• Very poor: 172 (41.1%) 
• Poor: 125 (29.8%) 
• Average: 81 (19.3%) 
• Good: 40 (9.5%) 
• Excellent: 1 (0.2%) 

That means 297 of 419 (70.9%) rate the UI as poor or very poor.

When you combine this with the immersion responses, you get a pretty clean story: for a lot of players, FM26 doesn’t feel great to be inside, even when the actual football is holding up.

 

Does FM26 feel built for long-term saves? (417 responses)

This one will sting, given FM’s whole identity is “one more season”.

• Not at all: 146 (35.0%) 
• Slightly: 143 (34.3%) 
• Moderately: 104 (24.9%) 
• Very much so: 24 (5.8%) 

So:

• Not at all or only slightly: 289 (69.3%) 
• Moderately or very much so: 128 (30.7%) 

Even among regular and hardcore save players, FM26 isn’t convincing most people that it’s the game they want to sink years into.

 

Patches = people see improvement, but it hasn’t changed the wider judgement

Do you think FM26 has improved with all the patches from Sports Interactive? (411 responses)

There’s a genuine positive tilt here.

• No, it’s got worse: 9 (2.2%) 
• No, it feels unchanged: 31 (7.5%) 
• Only minor changes: 108 (26.3%) 
• Yes it has improved slightly: 163 (39.7%) 
• The game is much better now: 100 (24.3%) 

Combined:

• Improved (slightly or much better): 263 (64.0%) 
• Unchanged or worse: 40 (9.7%) 
• Minor changes: 108 (26.3%) 

So most players think the patches have moved things in the right direction.

The catch is that the comparison charts still have FM26 being called much worse than FM24 by 44.8%, and a clear step back from FM20–F23 by 37.1%. In plain English: people can recognise improvement while still believing the base version launched too far behind.

 

Do you trust Sports Interactive to further fix FM26 with updates? (418 responses)

This is mixed, and it’s probably the most “real world” sentiment in the whole survey.

• Not at all: 62 (14.8%) 
• Slightly: 95 (22.7%) 
• Moderately: 83 (19.9%) 
• Mostly: 115 (27.5%) 
• Completely: 63 (15.1%) 

There’s no runaway winner here. If you group it:

• Mostly or completely: 178 (42.6%) 
• Not at all or slightly: 157 (37.6%) 
• Moderately: 83 (19.9%) 

So trust exists, but it’s fragile. There’s a sizeable chunk willing to believe SI can keep fixing it, and nearly as many who are unconvinced.

 

Recommendation and retention = people will keep playing, but they’re not selling it to mates

Would you recommend FM26 to a new player? (417 responses)

This is a serious warning light.

• Definitely not: 101 (24.2%) 
• Probably not: 111 (26.6%) 
• Not sure: 60 (14.4%) 
• Probably: 108 (25.9%) 
• Definitely: 37 (8.9%) 

Combined:

• Probably/definitely not: 212 (50.8%) 
• Probably/definitely: 145 (34.8%) 
• Not sure: 60 (14.4%) 

Half of the respondents would actively steer a new player away from FM26. That is a bigger issue than any single bug, because it hits word-of-mouth, long-term growth, and the willingness to bring fresh blood into a series that thrives on community.

 

What best describes FM26’s place in the series? (415 responses)

This result lands in “necessary but painful”.

• A transitional point: 207 (49.9%) 
• A low point: 140 (33.7%) 
• An average entry: 45 (10.8%) 
• A strong entry: 20 (4.8%) 
• One of the best ever: 3 (0.7%) 

Nearly half see it as transitional, which sounds forgiving, but a third outright call it a low point.

 

How likely are you to still be playing FM26 in six months? (421 responses)

Despite the criticism, most respondents think they’ll still be on it.

• Very likely: 107 (25.4%) 
• Likely: 124 (29.5%) 
• Not sure: 65 (15.4%) 
• Unlikely: 50 (11.9%) 
• Very unlikely: 75 (17.8%) 

Combined:

• Likely or very likely: 231 (54.9%) 
• Not sure: 65 (15.4%) 
• Unlikely or very unlikely: 125 (29.7%) 

So FM26 might not be loved, but it’s still sticky. That’s classic Football Manager. Even when the game is annoying, people stay because they’re attached to saves, stories, squads, and routines.

 

Conclusion

If you had to boil all of this down, it’s this:

• The match engine is broadly liked (56.9% satisfied/very satisfied). 
• The difficulty is mostly judged “about right” (55.6%). 
• Patches are recognised as improvements (64.0% say it’s improved). 
• But the UI is being hammered (70.9% poor/very poor). 
• Immersion is weak for most players (64.4% not or only slightly immersive). 
• Long-term save confidence is low (69.3% not at all or only slightly built for it). 
• And when you compare it to FM24, almost 80% think it’s worse. 

That combination explains why FM26 can simultaneously be a game people are still playing, while also being a game they don’t recommend and don’t rate as a strong entry in the series. It’s not collapsing on the pitch. It’s struggling in the stuff that makes Football Manager feel like Football Manager.

 

Make sure you check out our Feature Articles section for more FM26 news and tips.