Football Manager 2023 vs Football Manager 2024

As a video game franchise that delivers a new installment yearly, you rarely expect Football Manager to have quite innovative sequels. However, Sports Interactive has mastered the art of making each release in the series a hit. With 5 million people building their dream squads on FM23, the edition set its record as the most successful game in the series.

But then, it’s time to kick off your career again with Football Manager 2024. FM24 came live on November 6, 2023, and is now available on all platforms, including FM24 Mobile. It is the twentieth addition to the now highly sought-after Football Manager series. The big question? Are we in for another season of thrills after FM23? Let’s see the details in this comparison of Football Manager 2023 vs Football Manager 2024.

What is Football Manager 2023?

Football Manager 2023 is a sequel to the football management video game from Sports Interactive. It was released on November 7, 2022, to become the most-played iteration of the Football Manager series. The console is one of the most realistic simulation sports video games that features a ton of professional football teams. Players have almost all sorts of playable clubs and leagues where they can build their careers to succeed in the matches.

This game brings you to the closest you can get to a real professional manager for any club. Considering the game mechanics like scouting, squad management, training, and tactical aspects. Players bring in the Pep Guardiola or David Moyes in them by putting to test their tactical planning and strategic thinking. You create the football world you’ve always imagined and become the manager. Take on new challenges with a team of your choice from the best, like FC Barcelona, AC Milan, FC Liege, and Palermo, and bring them to success.

What is Football Manager 2024?

Football Manager 2024 is now the most complete video game in the Football Manager franchise. The simulation video game publisher released the new edition on November 6, 2023. The console is now available on major gaming platforms, like the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. Like previous iterations, FM24 centers on football, providing players with a thrilling professional football management experience.

FM24 has new and innovative features that are not quite exciting but useful in gameplay. There are still entirely new additions that come in handy for players, although most of the improvements are merely tweaks to what we saw in FM23. For instance, football managers in FM24 will now buy and offload team members using the ‘Offer via TransferRoom’ button. Overall, the ability to import your career from FM23 and continue with it in FM24 will surely keep fans hooked on the franchise.

Gameplay

Football Manager’s core gameplay remains the same throughout the entire series. Once you start the game, you can personalize almost everything. From the background, your looks, and ultimately your management style. Whether you want to start your career with a couple of teams or choose to be unemployed and find a management spot, Football Manager gives you the freedom.

Once you secure your manager spot, you will be acquainted with the essentials, including your club, squads and dynamics, team scouting, training schedules, and more. Newbies can also switch to the tutorials available for all FM game versions.

With each FM release, the game developers try to add or remove features to enhance the gameplay. With FM24, Sports Interactive ensures an electrifying football management experience with new features.

Enjoy your FM23 game in the new video game version. Provided your saved files from FM23 are with you, you won’t be going to kickstart your career all over again. This also applies to players who took on the game in early access on Epic Games or Steam. This is quite a kicker, especially for new players who started in FM23.  All you need to do is launch FM23 first, load your files, and save them locally to be available on Football Manager 2024.

Game Modes

Football Manager 2023 treats players to five different game modes. Two of the five are single-player modes, while the other three are multiplayer. The career mode is, however, the most basic and has the most technical features in every mode. Players can switch to fantasy draft, online career, or versus. For FM24, it’s a complete overhaul of the game modes. Gameplay begins in any of the three modes: original, your world, or the real-world mode.

Players in the original mode appear in their respective clubs based on the current FM database. In real-world mode, players will start at the clubs they are at in real life at the time you begin your football management career. In your world, everything gets set when you start your career. You can even cancel and change scheduled transfers.

Notably, FM24 comes with AI-powered and more brilliant rival managers. Football managers who seek to dominate the leagues in FM24 must be top players and deal their A-game.

Features

Football Manager 2023 developers integrated features beyond the staples that give players a decent experience. The squad planner is helpful for every football manager. But to some extent, the other additions feel like they are only fit for managing a club and nothing more. Many tasks have cumbersome workarounds, plus the set pieces are adequately ignored. FM24 draws more attention to set pieces and adds a coach for each. The squad planner is also quite improved, with new icons that signal areas you may need to address.

Finally, the virtuous new addition in FM24 will be the negative transfer budget, allowing you to take over a team with a negative budget. It’s quite a catch on the sequel, but you still need a transfer budget.

Verdict

FM23 is a delight, especially when you've yet to try the new installment. In fact, the Football Manager 2023 vs. Football Manager 2024 debate may feel somewhat out of place. For those who had some time with the FM24 early release, it’s agreeable just how much it beats the prequel. Besides the new ways to sell players and the set pieces that give you an edge to dominate, the game overly focuses on giving you the best professional career experience in football. All its new features seem to fit the gameplay, but not without striking a balance. The next managers will be up against dapper AI rival football managers.

So, what’s your take? Do you think FM24 will live up to the expectations of unmatched gaming in the Football Manager series? Let us know your thoughts on our socials here.