Football Manager 26

32% of all reviews raise the interface, the largest theme in the corpus, and some recommenders complain about it too. Players describe tasks that took one or two clicks in FM24 needing four or more, information split across tiles and pop-up windows that cannot be enlarged, large areas of unused screen, text cut off or too small, and no proper scaling for 4K, ultrawide or 16:10 screens. Reviewers single out the training planner, staff screens, the back button that returns to the wrong tab, an inbox they read in the wrong order, and in-match screens that hide player ratings when making substitutions. 5% of reviews mention consoles, tablets, phones or controllers, usually to argue the interface was built for them. Players who stuck with it disagree about whether it gets better. Some recommenders say it takes a few hours or a season to learn, while others reject that defence. "I still feel like I have learned to put up with the interface rather than actually liking it." Another: "Horrendous usability. I've put in the 20 hours to get used to the UI. I'm used to it. That doesn't make it good." The interface share dropped from 38% of launch-month reviews to about 27% afterwards and then held steady for the rest of the year.

28% of reviews mention bugs, and 10% describe crashes, freezes, soft-locks, saves that would not load or corruption. Reviewers describe the same failures again and again: matches that freeze at half-time or the start of the second half and can only be finished with Instant Result, application errors on a particular date that stop a save from progressing, crashes after matches, and windows that trap the player. "If I bring up any pop-up during a match (settings, tactics, clicking on a player name etc.) it is impossible to close it". Others report being unable to substitute an injured player after using every substitution, registration and loan bugs, broken competition rules in some leagues, and lost weeks of progress. Some Mac players report crashes of their own.

10% of reviews talk about features that are missing, removed or stripped back, and 5% use words like soul, soulless or immersion. The losses they name include touchline shouts, in-match stats with heat maps and pass maps, transfer deadline day, live cup draws, international management (absent at launch), saved team selections, player and staff comparison, create-a-club, youth team training control and history screens. Players say these small things made the game feel like a living football world, and without them they click straight from match to match. "Matches look better and somehow mean less." "Matches feel like you are a manager with a touchline ban." Some reviewers report that the World Cup update in summer 2026 brought international management back, though a few said it still had problems.

14% of reviews name FM24, usually as the better game, and 4% say they returned to it or tell others to play it with an updated database instead. Reviewers say the comparison stings more because, as they put it, FM25 was cancelled and the wait was two years. A few add that FM24 could no longer be bought on Steam: "The worst part? You can't even fall back on FM24, as it's been delisted."

7% of reviews call the game unfinished, a beta or an alpha, and 6% bring up the two-year wait. Reviewers say they paid full price to test a game, and several complain that Steam's two-hour refund window is too short to judge a management game. Some recommenders hedge the same way and advise buying on sale.

2% of reviews discuss the in-game editor, and most of them describe crashes or tools that do not work. Reviewers report that it costs more than before ("The in-game editor is now £7.49, compared with £3.99 for FM21.") and that moving players or staff between clubs crashed the game, budget changes did not apply and contract edits reverted. "The editor I bought for $8 doesn't work."

5% of reviews call the game slow, laggy or stuttering outside matches, with delays after clicks, screens that load in pieces and transitions that drag; one reviewer describes waiting seconds for a click to register on a powerful PC. A few report overheating laptops or low frame rates in matches.

Players who run network saves with friends report freezes for anyone who is not the host, kicks mid-match and lost progress. "Playing multiplayer is insufferable."

A smaller complaint is that press conferences, player conversations and team talks reuse the same questions and options as earlier editions, and that players get upset over contract demands and promises in ways that feel unrealistic.

A few reviewers report inflated transfer fees, extreme wage demands after promotion and AI clubs that ignore budgets.