Powering FM’s reimagined UI system across C++, Unity, and Figma
8M+
players
across all platforms
Second
most played
edition in series’ history
/ Project overview /
Pingle & Sports Interactive
About the game
Football Manager 26 is a football management simulation where players take control of every aspect of running a club, from tactics and transfers to player development and match decisions. Developed by Sports Interactive and published by SEGA, it marks the series’ transition to Unity with a fully rebuilt UI system across PC, consoles, and mobile platforms.
Client
SEGA, Sports Interactive
Solution
Co-Development
Engine
Platforms
Release
PC, Apple TV, iOS, PS 5, Xbox Series X/S, EGS, Steam
November 2025
Nintendo Switch
December 2025
Partnership timeline
2024-2026
About the Pingle & Sports Interactive partnership
Pingle joined the FM26 project to support the transition to Unity and help connect it with the existing C++ game core. Our role? Contribute to scalable UI systems, bridge between C++ and Unity, and support game performance across platforms.
The switch to Unity from our proprietary engine that powered the last 30 years of Football Manager is one of the biggest technical projects SI has ever undertaken. The Pingle team were excellent to work with on this transition, bringing both expertise and collaborative instincts.
Svein Kvernoey
Studio Technical Director @ Sports Interactive
/ The Challenge /
A system between systems
FM26 wasn’t just a UI rebuild. It was a project built across three fundamentally different layers: a legacy C++ game core, a new Unity-built UI, and a Figma-driven design pipeline.
The game logic lived in C++, the interface was rebuilt in Unity, and the visual source of truth came from Figma. Connecting these parts required a custom binding layer to transfer data, synchronize states, and keep everything responsive.
On paper, it looked like a straightforward engine transition. In practice, it meant building a system that could translate data, behaviour, and design across three different environments.
Here’s how we contributed to making them work.
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/ Phase 1 /
The project ramped up fast.
What started as a group of 5 developers gradually and strategically expanded to 29 to support the workload across UI, data, and integration. New developers needed to dive into a C++ and Unity setup, pick up the binding system, and start shipping right away.
/ Phase 2 /
A bridge between C++ core and Unity UI
The project combined a C++ game core with a new Unity-based UI layer, with designs coming from Figma.
We worked with Sports Interactive’s existing binding and UI workflows to help integrate these systems in production.
Worked with Sports Interactive’s custom binding layer to support data transfer between C++ and Unity.
Provided implementation feedback and support that helped iterate and stabilise the data marshalling workflow.
Helped build UI templates and reusable components to support Figma-to-Unity workflows.
Much of the early effort went into integrating with these systems, supporting further UI development, and helping the approach scale across platforms.
/ Phase 3 /
Core UI systems: navigation and match experience
Once the integration approach was in place, Pingle supported the parts of the UI players interact with directly: how information is presented, navigated, and updated during play.
We contributed to the following:
1
Tile and card-driven UI implementation
Contributed to tile and card-driven UI implementation supporting the rebuilding, recreation, and mapping of screens from the previous engine
Supported multi-resolution layouts so UI could scale across platform formats
2
Carousel UI work
Implemented carousel UI work for relevant tile-based match UI flows
Supported smooth switching between states and content within those flows
→ This supported specific tile-based navigation flows within the FM26 match UI.
3
Match Overview system
Contributed to the compact match view that combines live gameplay with stats
Supported switching between full match and overview views, working alongside SI leads
→ This supported a match-view experience where key information could be followed without moving away from the match context.
4
Custom UI widgets
Supported development of custom widgets for data-heavy UI
Helped fill gaps where Unity did not provide ready-made solutions
These were important implementation areas for supporting how information is presented, navigated, and updated across the UI.
/ Phase 4 /
Scaling, stabilising, and shipping a data-heavy UI
Finally, the focus shifted to helping the UI hold together at scale.
This meant:
Handling large volumes of data-driven UI across many screens
Fixing issues across C++, C#, and UI layers, and helping identify where problems originated
Helping stabilise integration points between game logic and UI
Supporting cross-layer investigations into issues where data could break at different points in the chain
Result: support for data-heavy UI implementation across multiple platforms, within a new UI design language and hybrid C++/Unity setup.
/ The results /
Supporting a large-scale UI rebuild in Unity, working with the existing C++ core
Before
After
Existing C++ core with no Unity UI layer
Hybrid setup supporting the connection between the C++ game core and Unity UI
No established Figma → Unity production workflow
Figma → Unity implementation workflow supported through templates, components, and manual implementation where needed
UI spread across legacy, platform-specific approaches
Tile and card-driven UI implementation supporting a more unified interface approach
Need for scalable UI navigation and match presentation
Tile carousel implementation for relevant FM26 match UI flows
Data flow complex and difficult to debug
Supported issue investigation and implementation work across C++, C#, and UI layers
High risk of UI breaking under real data load
UI implementation that supported heavy data and real gameplay scenarios
/ The team /
Cast
29 specialists
Unity developers
/ Cases /
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