More than 30,000 Football Manager fans applied for early access to the next title in the series within the first 24 hours of the application window, according to developers Sports Interactive. The studio has now outlined the next steps for early access to Football Manager 27, warning that many applicants will be left disappointed.
Playtest to Begin in September
Chris Groves, a Senior Community Manager at Sports Interactive, confirmed in a forum post that the playtest is expected to begin in September. He stated: "We’re obviously keen to begin the playtest with enough time to gather thoughts from playtesters and help further refine FM27."
Groves added: "It’s also important, though, to ensure the development build provided is in the right state (with expected snags/issues for a pre-launch version) for testers to truly get stuck in and provide valuable feedback."
Limited Access and Survey Concerns
Not everyone who signed up will gain access to the alpha playtest. Groves explained: "Whilst the exact number is TBC as we assess registrations, this will be a small portion of the pool of folks who sign up."
He continued: "The aim is to balance the need to gather a large range of feedback/opinions, with the need to ensure it's at a manageable volume, so that feedback can actually go through our internal process and be actioned by the team. Finding that balance between quantity and quality is the best way for this playtest to create a positive outcome for FM27, which is what we all want!"
Groves also addressed concerns about a survey that accompanied sign-up, which asked about players' history with the series. He wrote: "A key goal of this playtest is to gather feedback from testers with a wide range of different experiences and preferences for FM. There isn’t a selection of answers that make you more or less likely to be invited in, because we need that variance in viewpoints to get a balanced and unbiased slate of feedback."
Email Notifications and Thanks
Everyone who registered will receive an email letting them know if they have been added to the playtest. Groves said: "I saw some questions on this so just wanted to make that super clear."
He concluded: "This post is mostly just to say a huge thank you to everyone who has registered their interest for the FM27 alpha playtesting program we shared last week. The whole team really appreciate your interest in getting involved and sharing feedback on a work-in-progress development build of the game."
