The long-awaited Football Manager 2021 Beta is finally here, and you can get started and play FM21 early right this instant! Of course, the process is a tiny bit more involved than that, but it's nothing to be frightened by. We'll go over all the ins and outs of this beta release, teach you how and why you should be playing it in the first place, and show you other stuff that's going to get handy if you'd like to play FM21 early.

Naturally, we've been covering FM21 news since the game was first announced. Our most recent article regarding the game dealt specifically with its many feature reworks and revisions. Precisely the kind of nitty-gritty that genre veterans might be extremely interested in. If that's not exactly your speed, however, and you'd just like to get on to play FM21 early, fret not! Scroll on ahead and you'll know everything important real quick.

How to play FM21 early?

If you'd like to get immediate access to the revered Football Manager 2021 Beta, you're going to need to place a pre-order on the game. Much as has always been the case, the only way to play FM21 early is to pre-purchase the base game.

Granted, this does mean that you get a neat selection of extra goodies on top of early access to FM21. For example,  you get a special pre-order discount that will easily save a few bucks for further investment. More importantly, however, you'll also nab Football Manager 2021 Touch, which is a streamlined standalone experience that's otherwise an extra $30!

The Football Manager franchise is nothing if not reliable, with the kind of pedigree that most other game devs would practically kill for. If you're 100% positive that you'll be playing the game sooner or later, grabbing the pre-order may well be the way to go. In fact, you can do so right here at 2Game, discounts and all.

Football Manager 2021 Beta Release Times

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As per the latest information we are privy to, FM21 Beta is going to go live on Monday, November 10th. For a more specific release window, a little birdie has told us we're to expect it between 8 PM and 10 PM GMT. We've gone and converted this time window into a variety of useful time zones, which might come in handy depending on where you're from.

We hope this sets you up for a nice day to play FM21 early. If - of course - the release window doesn't hit you right in the middle of your working hours. In which case, no matter, because the game will be right and ready by the time you're finally done.

For those who might be keeping track, this means you get two weeks of early beta access if you get the game today. During this time, bugs will get squashed depending on player reports, leading to a far more pleasant and polished experience across the board come November 23rd.

FM21 Beta Content: What is there to do?

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Firstly, it's important to mention that the Football Manager 2021 Beta is not a game demo. Obviously, you do need to pay to gain access to this build of the game, but its primary goal isn't to get people playing early anyway. Quite the opposite, in fact. Those who play FM21 early might be expected to report bugs and issues with the game at large. Having said that, the Beta build of FM21 will naturally be rather close to the final product. It's just that final layer of much-needed polish that beta testers will be helping with.

Are FM21 Beta Save Games compatible with the full game?

Regardless of our paragraph above: if you were hoping to get started with the season early, and to transfer your save from the beta to the full game, you'll be happy to hear that you can do so!

In practical terms, the switch from Beta to full release will be essentially a patch. This means that you don't generally need to worry about progression transfer. However, this is a Beta, so you never know if some sort of save corruption bug might hit. If you're okay with the (admittedly minuscule) risk, have fun!

Is any content missing from the FM21 Beta?

In a way, some content is missing from the Football Manager 2021 Beta. From what information we could gather, two potentially important features will be missing from the Beta: Pre-Game Editor and In-Game Editor. This was to be expected, of course: makes no sense for the devs to enable these features in what is essentially an unstable product. They ought to drop alongside the full release, on the 23rd, however.

Another caveat to keep in mind is that multiplayer functionality might get disabled if major issues with the infrastructure pop up. No guarantee whether this will happen, of course, but it's something to keep in mind for those who enjoy Football Manager's online features.

FM21 Touch Delay

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As you may have noticed by now, we've got a bit of an FM21 Touch delay in-store today. Following the small-ish pushback of the FM21 Beta, which has come out a full day later than we first anticipated it to be coming out, the streamlined Touch version is getting pushed back.

Its new release date - courtesy of the ongoing pandemic - is December 1st. This isn't exclusive to any particular platform, either. All of the versions of FM 21 Touch are being nudged into December, so if you were hoping to start playing the bugger on your mobile phone - bad news.

Should everyone Play FM21 Early?

While it's easy to get caught up in the hype and jump on the opportunity to play your most desired game early, we don't think this is necessarily always the case.

Just as with previous releases, Football Manager 2021 Beta is just that: a Beta. It's not a Demo build for you to check out, and it's not a polished experience everyone's hoping the game to be. That - and more - is coming on November 23rd. Instead, the Beta is for those who don't mind the bugs. Expect them to pop up, and in potentially game-breaking ways. There's no way for quality assurance to tackle every potential issue: that's where Beta-testers come in. By getting to play FM21 early, you participate in that beta. In turn, you should report the bugs you come across.

The obvious upside is early access to Football Manager 2021, yes. However, there's also the sense of helping the devs to do what they set out to do, and there's much to be said about that, we feel. So, here's a shortlist of what you need to do and expect out of the Football Manager 2021 Beta:

That's essentially everything we can offer in this regard. Grab the game using the links below, and enjoy your early access to FM21, Beta or no Beta!

The long-awaited Football Manager 2021 Beta is finally here, and you can get started and play FM21 early right this instant! Of course, the process is a tiny bit more involved than that, but it’s nothing to be frightened by. We’ll go over all the ins and outs of this beta release, teach you how and why you should be […]