Status & Updates

Open Beta: Franchise Architect: Football is browser-playable today and in active development — the notes below ship straight from the build.

Found something broken? Use the in-game Tell the Commissioner button or email football@playfranchisearchitect.com.

Release Notes

2026-08-27 — Every round gets its own decision

The postseason now keeps the same inspect, plan, commit and resolve rhythm as the regular season: one controlled-team game advances at a time, and the plan you chose survives a save and return. Owner investment is grounded in available football-operations capital, obligations and runway instead of an unbounded cash pile. Cloud saves now distinguish corruption checks from optional passphrase authentication. On phones and tablets, the navigation control is larger, notch-safe and fully scrollable in both themes.

2026-08-23 — The Boardroom, and a face across the table

Running the club is no longer filed under Settings. The new Boardroom holds your owner, the facilities you build, your coaching staff and your franchise identity in one place, because deciding what to spend the owner's money on is a decision, not a preference. On draft day, rival clubs that call to buy your pick now arrive as a named general manager with known tendencies and a memory of every deal you have done together — including the ones they are still annoyed about. And there is now one place to learn the game instead of four. If you want to know how honest the simulation actually is, we wrote that down too: see the simulation page.

2026-08-22 — The owner's office stops being a cheat code

Training, rehab and analytics facilities used to be three boxes you could type any number into, for free, on your first turn. They are now capital: you break ground against the owner's cash, the price climbs steeply with each level, you can only build so much in a league year, and every wing you own charges upkeep forever. Ticket prices answer to a real market — charge far above what the league charges and the seats empty faster than the extra revenue arrives. And the other thirty-one clubs invest in their own buildings now, so a training edge is something you have to keep earning.

2026-08-19 — The league stops minting stars

Player development was quietly handing every club a bonus on top of the declared progression curve, and a decade in, the league was thick with elite players in a way real football never is. Progression is now measured against how rare elite talent actually is in the NFL — anchored to the real number of First-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl places against a real active-roster population. A great player is rare again, which is what makes finding one matter.

2026-08-16 — Your decisions reach the field

Three of the calls you make every week turned out never to reach the simulation at all. The weekly tactical focus you set now genuinely changes how your team plays, and you can see the difference in the result. Contracts are priced by one consistent market across opening deals, free agency and rival bidding, so a fair offer looks fair everywhere. And the salary cap is a real constraint again rather than a number that quietly stopped biting.

2026-08-11 — Every command lands where it points

Ranked commands now take you to the exact player, pick or contract they name, on desktop and on a phone. Contract-year agents negotiate with their own persona and leverage instead of a generic script. Weekly predictions settle themselves as the season advances and tell you honestly whether you were right. And the first load of the game got materially faster.

2026-08-08 — See what other GMs are doing

Community Stats is here: an optional, anonymous look at how other players build teams, work the market, attack the draft and chase championships. It is off until you turn it on, it never receives your save, your names or your notes, and a trend stays hidden until enough players are represented for it to mean anything. Read exactly how it works on the methodology page.

2026-08-03 — The front office gets sharper

Season theses now demand real proof — a bad week can no longer certify your grand plan. Welcome Back reports only what actually happened in your last session, for the exact franchise you open. Your GM legacy screen shows every remaining path to the next tier with exact numbers.

2026-08-01 — The offseason became real

Contracts genuinely expire. Rival clubs fight to re-sign their own stars before the market opens, free agency resolves in three bidding waves that wait for your moves, the draft honors every traded pick, and compensatory picks are finally awarded. The full offseason is now a calendar you live through, not a screen you skip.

2026-07-31 — 31 rival front offices woke up

Rival GMs now send you trade offers worth reading, premium free agents weigh competing bids week by week, your owner's patience is a live meter with real ultimatums, and home-field advantage, bye-week rest, and a neutral-site championship all shape results.

2026-07-25 — Command the week

A decision-first weekly plan composer, a progressive Week Room with one clear next action, pre-game tactical briefs with honest post-game film receipts, and a persistent Priority Inbox that never loses a critical decision.

2026-07-02 — Make it yours

Full light/dark themes with five accent presets, situational play-calling and fourth-down brains, preseason predictions graded at season's end, and a narrative continuity engine that remembers your press-room history.

2026-07-01 — Franchise Architect

VaultSpark Football GM became Franchise Architect: Football — new name, new home at playfranchisearchitect.com, same league memory.