Football Manager 2018 beta | How to download

It's not coming out until November 10, but you're able to get an almost-complete version of the game to play right now! Nothing shady, it's all legitimate: Football Manager 2018's public beta testing period is now underway, meaning those who have pre-ordered the digital game are able to start playing right now.

The public beta refers to how the game isn't quite finished yet, with some polish, bug fixing, and other changes likely to arrive before the full release, but it's in an almost-good-enough state. For the most part, though, it's the full release, with pretty much all of the features already available to try out.

For example, that's the new graphics engine, improved artificial intelligence, or tactical revamp. This year's edition of the popular management simulator has made a lot of changes to reflect both how far the simulation has come from a technical perspective, and the current footballing climate. For example, the rise in transfer fees over the last few years is being reflected in the game with, well, increased transfer fees.

So, if you do want to get into the public beta, you'll have to pre-order the game through one of the approved retailers. The official site, Steam, and Amazon are all applicable for that, so chances are, if you've pre-ordered it, you're probably able to get into the beta.

So, how do you get in? If you've pre-ordered on Steam, you can simply launch it from your Steam library. If you've pre-ordered digitally elsewhere, you should have a Steam code to redeem, and can do so through the Steam client by going into the Games -> Activate a product on Steam menu on the far top left.

Football Manager 2018 where to buy

What's not available in the beta is the data editor, online game modes, Fantasy Draft, the Steam workshop, and the FM Store, which will only be available when the game releases on November 10. Single player career progress will carry forward into the main game, although it's unclear if any online multiplayer games will. 

To reiterate, though, this isn't the finished game, not quite. It's mostly there, but not quite, with changes coming for the full release. There might be issues, bugs, and incomplete segments to the game. Part of the point of this beta is for these issues to be highlighted, and fixed prior to full release.