I recently discovered that I am towards the micromanagement end of the scale when it comes to Football Manager. Or maybe more accurately, off the end of that scale, a spec in the distance visible only with the kind of magnifying glass I use to inspect my player’s daily training habits. I’m the one you hear about with the spreadsheets and the 100 percent press conference attendance record, and while I have no shame at all, it has always made me a bit sceptical of FM’s portable modes, the recent Xbox versions included.
Having played it for a good few hours of it up at developer Sports Interactive’s studios, however, the new PS5 version of FM23 goes a good way towards putting me at ease. There are a few versions here, so for clarity a quick whip-round: Football Manager is the fullest version, which you can only play on PC; FM Mobile is the lightest version designed for playing on commutes and sun loungers, with a heavily trimmed-back set of features and systems; FM Touch is a slightly more in-depth version of FM Mobile, designed for the Switch; FM Xbox was brought in more recently and is a slightly more in-depth version of FM Touch, but still a long way off from full-fat Football Manager.
This year, with the arrival of the PS5 version, things have been rejigged a little. The Xbox version is gone, and there’s now FM Console, which is the same across PS5 and Xbox (but Switch is still Touch). FM Console is definitely lighter than the full version, but also far, far closer to it than ever before. In brief, it feels like the main, PC Football Manager game was the starting point here, with things tweaked to fit into a console-style user experience, as opposed to being built from the Mobile version outwards.
