Sports Interactive and Sega have announced that Football Manager 25 has been fully cancelled, with the studio now turning its focus to Football Manager 26 that fans will now expect for later this year.
All pre-orders of the game will be refunded, though the process for this will depend on the retailer and platform.
FM25 was originally planned for release last November, in keeping with the yearly release schedule of the sport management sim, Sports Interactive struggled with the transition to a new game engine. Initially it was delayed by a few weeks, then pushed all the way back until March 2025. Any further delays would bring the game too close to the end of the regular footballing season, and too close to the expected November launch of FM26, so FM25 has been cancelled and all the work will be rolled through to the next release.
In their statement, Sports Interactive lays out the timing of this announcement, the challenges faced, and the simple fact that the game was not yet in a fit state to release:
We know this will come as a huge disappointment, especially given that the release date has already moved twice, and you have been eagerly anticipating the first gameplay reveal. We can only apologise for the time it has taken to communicate this decision. Due to stakeholder compliance, including legal and financial regulations, today was the earliest date that we could issue this statement.
We have always prided ourselves on delivering the best value for money games that bring you countless hours of enjoyment, that feel worth every moment and every penny you spend. With the launch of FM25 we set out to create the biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation, laying the building blocks for a new era.
Due to a variety of challenges that we’ve been open about to date, and many more unforeseen, we currently haven’t achieved what we set out to do in enough areas of the game, despite the phenomenal efforts of our team. Each decision to delay the release was made with the aim of getting the game closer to the desired level but, as we approached critical milestones at the turn of the year, it became unmistakably clear that we would not achieve the standard required, even with the adjusted timeline.
Whilst many areas of the game have hit our targets, the overarching player experience and interface is not where we need it to be. As extensive evaluation has demonstrated, including consumer playtesting, we have clear validation for the new direction of the game and are getting close – however, we’re too far away from the standards you deserve.
We could have pressed on, released FM25 in its current state, and fixed things down the line – but that’s not the right thing to do. We were also unwilling to go beyond a March release as it would be too late in the football season to expect players to then buy another game later in the year.
Through the cancellation, every effort is now focused on ensuring that our next release achieves our goal and hits the quality level we all expect. We will update you on how we are progressing with that as soon as we are able to do so.
Thank you for reading, your patience and your continued support. Our full focus now returns to creating a new era for Football Manager.
Sports Interactive
FM25’s development was deeply affected by a switch to the Unity game engine and ambitious efforts to incorporate a full simulation of women’s football for the first time. At the time of the game’s first delay, Sports Interactive also announced some features were set to be removed from FM25, including international management, which should return in future games, touchline shouts, create a club, challenge mode, and versus mode. It’s not clear if those will be brought back for FM26, or will still be held back until another future game.
in the FAQ for the cancellation, Sports Interactive stated once again that FM24 will not receive a 2024/25 season update to players and teams. They have said, however, that they will work with game subscription partners to extend deals for FM24 through to the release of the next game.
Source: Sports Interactive
