The Football Manager community has certainly grown in recent years and with extra growth comes extra scrutiny.
With the Football Manager 2023 Beta now playable, attention has turned to the changes - or lack thereof - seen in the game's visuals.
Many top FM content creators are now questioning the legitimacy of the series' improvements, with the great FM graphics debate once again upon us.
Football Manager Graphics
There's no doubt that the Football Manager series does not provide the same visual experience as FIFA or eFootball.
The game is far more focussed on the database-driven approach, providing fans with an immersive managerial experience.
However, some members of the FM community have grown tired of the dated visuals and would like to see major improvements.
This debate all seemed to start with a Tweet from FM content creator Zealand, with many agreeing with the sentiment.
Football Manager's shortcomings in its graphics department are well-documented, but the game has made strives in recent years to improve AI.
Last year, we spoke to Nic Madden, SI's chief gameplay developer, to discuss this issue.
We asked Nic for a glimpse into what fans can expect moving forward.
Nic: "There's so much improvement that we can still make. We have a development roadmap that we go towards. We're really trying to push the boundaries but this is also the foundation for the future. I would love to push as much as we can to work towards our vision of really making the simulation look and feel authentic. That's what drives us."
Admittedly, Football Manager 2023 may not deliver on these promises, but it's important to remember that this roadmap will span multiple years.
Limitations
Football Manager at its core is not a game about visuals and graphics, as many defenders of the series have pointed out during this debate.
Could the graphics be better? Of course they could, as room for improvement is vast and FM still has a long way to go in order to battle against football gaming's heavyweights.
However, FM sets itself aside as a game that delivers on authenticity found in non-matchday features.
There are many, like ourselves, who still choose to experience games in 2D classic, but it is important that FM continues to build upon the foundations and address their limitations.
Ultimately, if Football Manager introduUltimatelyced an incredible array of graphics, something else would likely suffer, and this would lead to FM losing its charm and authenticity.
Football Manager 2023 stands out from the rest as a game unlike any other, but with the rise of games like F1 Manager, it's hard not to see the potential being missed by Sports Interactive.