Football Manager 27 arrived on Steam on 10 November and, this time, players liked it. A year after FM26 had one of the worst launches in the series, FM27 reviews are on the positive side. However, the numbers change from day to day. So we looked at everything: we collected the 2,278 public reviews that existed on 13 November, read the most voted ones and compared them with previous editions, with the critics and with player numbers.
FM27 reviews against previous years
On Steam, FM27 has 86.5% positive reviews among people who bought it there. In other words, it sits level with FM20 (87.8%) and FM24 (87.3%) in their launch months, though below FM21 (94.6%) and FM22 (92.7%). The big difference is last year: in its first week, FM26 managed just 22.9%, with more than 13,000 negative reviews.
Positive reviews at the launch of each edition (Image: FMPortugal, Steam data)
If we count every public review, including people who bought a key from another store, the result is similar. Of the 2,278, 1,957 recommend the game, or 85.9%.
But the score is dropping
Still, there is a warning in the numbers. On day one, 92.7% of reviews were positive. Then they fell to 86.7% on day two, 78.8% on day three and around 68% on day four, which was not over yet when we collected the data.
FM27 reviews day by day on Steam (Image: FMPortugal, Steam data)
There is a likely explanation. Day-one reviewers had been playing since the free Launch Preview, which opened on 29 October, and had dozens of hours in the game. In fact, the median across all reviewers is 48 hours. On the other hand, newcomers run into the match engine problems sooner. So the first patch, which SI promises for this month, could weigh heavily on the final score.
The more people play, the more they like it
Hours played tell a clear story. Among players with under 5 hours, only 66% recommend FM27. Between 5 and 20 hours it is 80%, and from 20 hours upwards approval sits at 87 to 88%. In short, the game wins over those who give it time, and the negative reviews come mostly from people who gave up early.
What players praise
In the positive English reviews, the most common comparison is with FM26: it appears in 38% of them, almost always as a big step forward. Also, 17% mention FM24, often to say it is “not quite there yet, but close”. The tidier interface with fewer clicks (18%) and the series being back (15%) come up a lot too. Finally, another 15% praise the extra challenge of Tactical Effectiveness, which makes you train a tactic before it pays off.
The most voted review, with almost 1,900 votes, sums up the mood in four words: “WE ARE SO BACK”. Likewise, a player with 175 hours rates the last three editions: four stars for FM24, one for FM26 and three and a half for FM27.
What players criticise
We read the 131 negative English reviews. As the chart shows, the match engine comes up in six out of ten. The complaints repeat: defenders who do not defend, pressing that does not work and odd results in AI matches, with big clubs in mid-table.
What the negative reviews talk about (Image: FMPortugal, analysis of Steam reviews)
Next come bugs and crashes (38%) and the interface (34%), which still does not win over players who want FM24’s sidebar. Finally, 24% complain about difficulty and Tactical Effectiveness, especially at small clubs, and 22% miss things FM24 had. If Tactical Effectiveness is costing you games, our guide on how to improve Tactical Effectiveness will help.
The critics: 81 on Metacritic
The press liked it too. On PC, FM27 has a Metascore of 81, with 18 positive reviews, one mixed and none negative. So it sits close to FM23 (80) and a little below FM24 (84), but well above FM26’s 68.
The critics score on Metacritic, edition by edition (Image: FMPortugal, Metacritic data)
The highest score comes from TheGamer, with 90, which praises the interface and calls Tactical Effectiveness a huge leap. On the other hand, almost every review says what players say: it is the series’ comeback after FM26, but the match engine, especially defending, still needs fixing.
And how many are playing?
So far, FM27’s Steam peak has been 76,444 concurrent players, on 11 November. That is fewer than FM24 (86,828) and FM26 (82,750) in their launch months. However, there are two caveats. First, the free Launch Preview spread demand over two weeks. Second, Steam does not count people playing on Game Pass.
Peak players at the launch of each edition (Image: FMPortugal, SteamCharts and SteamDB data)
The number that matters most comes next: how many keep playing. FM24 kept more than 50,000 players on average over its first four months. FM26, by contrast, fell from 43,775 in November to 30,556 in February.
How many kept playing FM24 and FM26 (Image: FMPortugal, SteamCharts data)
Our verdict
FM27 managed the hardest part, which was winning back the people who gave up last year. The reviews, the critics and the hours played all say the same. Even so, the daily drop shows patience has limits, and the match engine is the first test. If the November patch fixes defending, FM27 could end up level with FM24. In the meantime, if you have not updated yet, see what the launch patch brought.
Sources
- Football Manager 27 on Steam (reviews and review history of each edition)
- Metacritic (FM27 and previous editions critic reviews)
- SteamDB and SteamCharts (concurrent players)
