FM 26 Steam Deck support hinted at, as Miles Jacobson name drops the gaming handheld

With the "Advanced Access Beta" finally confirmed, one of the biggest question marks over FM 26 and its handheld compatibility may have been answered, or at least hinted at, thanks to a new interview with Sports Interactive studio head Miles Jacobson.

The FM 26 system requirements take a considerable jump up compared to previous installments, but aren't entirely out of reach for the Steam Deck. Confirmation of a 2D match engine certainly helps the handheld, but it is comments made by Miles in an interview with Football Manager YouTuber, WorkTheSpace, that have us wondering if support is coming for the best handheld gaming PC.

Following a gameplay walkthrough that went live on Monday, an extended interview with Miles Jacobson was also posted by FM creator Jack Peachman, also known as WorkTheSpace. While this interview covered a range of topics, mostly gameplay-related, there was a brief interlude where the technical aspects of getting this new version of Football Manager to work on various screen sizes was mentioned.

The Steam Deck is specifically name-checked when talking about resolutions and platforms, with Miles asking Jack,  "Do you consider the Steam Deck a PC?" to which a rather indirect answer is given. However, Miles gets back to the point shortly after, stating that when designing the brand new UI for FM 26, the team needed to cater to screens anywhere from "9 inches to screens that are 60 inches."

Of course, the Steam Deck screens are only 7.4 inches for the OLED model, and 7 inches for the LCD, but the point remains that this range of screen sizes drops well below (and flies high above) typical laptop and monitor screens, and into the realm of tablets and gaming handhelds.

Does Miles bringing up the Steam Deck definitively indicate that there is a working version coming? No. But this is the first time the handheld has been mentioned directly, when it comes to FM 26, so we're keenly awaiting clarification on its compatibility.

We'll have to wait for the FM 26 release date to find out whether it can crack our list of the best Steam Deck games, should compatibility be confirmed.

Is Football Manager the kind of game you would play on a gaming handheld, or is it best left to PCs and laptops? Let us know over on our community Discord server.