The Football Manager 2020 beta kicks off early

The Football Manager 2020 beta is available now to anyone who has pre-purchased the game. It was due to launch on November 5, but because so many of this year’s features are aimed at long term play, Sports Interactive decided to release the beta early.

An extra week isn’t much time by Football Manager standards, with players often spending months playing through numerous seasons. But every bit of feedback the developers can get will help get the final game polished for its November 19 release.

Players will be able to play online in the beta version of the game, but they will not have access to the Steam Workshop or the game editors. If you haven’t pre-purchased Football Manager 2020 yet, but would like to get in on the beta, you can pick up the game anytime from now until November 19 and you will receive instant access to the beta in your Steam library. While it’s still in pre-purchase, you can also pick up the game for 10% less through Steam.

Get your head in the game

If you start a single-player campaign in the beta, you will be able to carry it over to the full release of the game. However, there isn’t much point playing online because you won’t be able to carry those saves over. Stick to single-player and get your pre-season scouting done. Then, when you jump into an online game, you’ll already have some quality signings in mind.

Sports Interactive has said that the beta version of the game is near complete, but players might encounter a few bugs and issues during play. There’s a report bug button on the in-game sidebar to make for quick and easy reporting if anything that does go wrong.

To find out more about the new features coming with Football Manager 2020, you can check out our previous article on the game. There’s a lot of emphasis on player development and great improvements to your background staff. There are also improvements to the graphics and the match engine AI.

Sega and Sports Interactive have been running a clever campaign leading up to the launch of Football Manager 2020. They’ve been focusing on how every decision you make matters. If you’d like to get a sense of that, you can check out the interactive experience on their website. I gave it a try and was fired from my first job. That’s what I get for trying to be realistic about the type of football Hamburg could play. I probably should have negotiated the board’s expectations better.