Football Manager 2020 makes its debut on the Epic Games Store today.

It's free to download and keep forever until 24th September. Of note: the game includes cross-network play with the Steam version. You can also bring your Steam save game across to Epic and continue your progress, if you fancy it.

Developer Sports Interactive has yet to unveil Football Manager 2021, but it did say today all future editions of the famous sim will be sold on Epic's store "on a non-exclusive basis". So expect Football Manager 2021 to launch on the Epic Games Store and Steam at the same time.

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Football Manager developer Sports Interactive has confirmed that "despite all the problems going on in the world", Football Manager 2021 will release later this year, albeit "a little later than originally planned".

"...[W]e have continued to work on our games throughout this troubled period - and we've managed to do this despite not being together in our office since early March," studio director Mile Jacobson wrote in a "State of FM" update on the official website (thanks, VGC). "Having a 'distributed' workforce isn't new to us, as some of the team have worked remotely for decades, but moving the entire team to work from home was a huge challenge. Everyone's personal situation is different, and our main priority as a studio was to ensure that the whole team and their families remained safe, healthy and happy.

"After that, our priority was to ensure that every team member was able to continue to work effectively (while taking their home situation into account) so that we could continue to create and deliver great games," Jacobson continued. "We're now in a position where we're set up to continue to work in this fashion for as long as it takes. None of us know when things will return to 'normal', but I would be very surprised if we're all back in the studio working together until well into next year."

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16 years after the release of Sports Interactive's first Football Manager game, and 28 years after the launch of the first Championship Manager game, Manchester United is suing the developer over the use of its name in the game.

As reported by The Guardian, Manchester United has launched legal action against Sega and Sports Interactive for allegedly infringing its trademark.

Countering, Sega and Sports Interactive said the use of the club's name in the popular simulation series is "a legitimate reference to the Manchester United football team in a football context", and pointed out it has been used in Football Manager and its predecessor Championship Manager since 1992 "without complaint by the claimant".

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Sports Interactive has announced that this year's iteration of Football Manager, better known as Football Manager 2020, will be coming to Steam and mobile devices on 19th November.

According to the developer, three versions of the game will be launching on the same day; the full-fat Football Manager 2020 will be available on Steam, while Football Manager 2020 Touch (described as a more streamlined version, "only focusing on the core responsibilities that a manager would have") launches on Steam, iOS and Android. Lastly, Football Manager 2020 Mobile will release on iOS and Android only.

Sports Interactive also notes that Football Manager launch dates for Switch (which will be getting the Touch version of the game) and Stadia are "coming soon".

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