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Football Manager 25 Canceled After Multiple Delays, Dev Moves On To Next Game

Sports Interactive and Sega have revealed that Football Manager 25 is canceled and will the developer will instead focus on their next release.

The developer provided a lengthy explanation as to why Football Manager 25 was canceled. While many of the game's areas hit the developer's internal targets, the overarching player experience and interface weren't up to standard. Through evaluations and playtesting, the development team was confident in a new direction, but the desired standards were ultimately still too far away. However, the team will take their learnings onto the next project.

Sports Interactive regret to inform that, following extensive internal discussion and careful consideration with SEGA, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Football Manager 25. [website] — Football Manager (@FootballManager) February 7, 2025.

"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," Sports Interactive and Sega introduced in a statement.

Football Manager 25 was already delayed twice from its original early November 2024 release to later that month, then again to March 2025. The developer considered delaying the game further and fixing it down the line via patches, but decided against that. Additionally, anything past a March release would've been too late into the football season to expect players to then buy another game later in the same year, presumably Football Manager 26.

Those who've preordered the game are eligible for automatic refunds, which are expected to take place soon.

Football Manager 24 will also not receive an revision with 2024/2025 data as that would take away development resources from the studio's next game.

Football Manager 25 isn't the only game to get canceled so far this year. The Celeste dev's next game, Earthblade, was canceled last month, and Sony has canceled two live-service projects.

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Sega and Sports Interactive have scrapped Football Manager 25, and will now refocus on getting ready for the series' next release.

After a rough start that stuck it with a.

Football Manager 25 cancelled, as Sega shifts focus to FM26

Sega and Sports Interactive have scrapped Football Manager 25, and will now refocus on getting ready for the series' next release.

The announcement this morning, made as part of Sega's latest financial results, is a surprise move for the annual sporting franchise. But it follows repeated delays for FM25 - which had been billed as the biggest leap forward for the series in a generation.

Previous setbacks saw FM25 delayed twice, with its most recent postponement meaning it was set to arrive at an awkward moment, mid-football season. It would also have meant Sports Interactive needing to sell two entries in the series - FM25 and the expected FM26 - within the same calendar year.

Now, FM25 is no more - something Sports Interactive has today issued an apology for, and mentioned that anyone who had pre-ordered the game would now be automatically refunded.

"For the large numbers of you who pre-ordered FM25, we thank you enormously for your trust and support – we're very sorry to have let you down," a statement from Sports Interactive reads.

"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."

As previously presented, there will be no improvement to the series' most recent entry, FM24, with fresh player data. This would be a "substantial undertaking" that would "divert critical resources away from the development of the next release which requires our full focus", Sports Interactive presented today, and the cancellation of FM25 has not changed this.

Sports Interactive had previously stated it would improvement fans in January 2025 - a deadline it says it was forced to miss by a week due to compliance with Sega being a publicly traded firm.

"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."

Sports Interactive blamed the decision on "a variety of challenges that we've been open about to date, and many more unforeseen".

"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," the statement continues.

"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 improvement 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."

Last year, Eurogamer's Chris Tapsell sat down with Sports Interactive boss Miles Jacobson for an in-depth chat on the studio's plans for the future of the Football Manager franchise, and to hear why "FM25 is not a continuation of FM24". The chat covers discussion on the state of Game Pass, AI and the Premier League - plus detail on why some past Football Manager elements had to go.

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Football Manager 25 canceled just weeks before March release

is senior editor, [website], providing news, analysis, and criticism of film, TV, and games. He has been covering the business & culture of video games for two decades.

For the first time in its 20-year history, soccer management sim Football Manager will be skipping a year. Football Manager 25, already delayed twice, has been canceled shortly ahead of its proposed March 2025 release date.

In a statement, developer Sports Interactive and publisher Sega mentioned they had decided to shift their focus to the next game in the series after it became clear that FM25 would not be able to hit its quality targets without further delays, which were ruled out.

Football Manager 25 had been envisioned as a major revamp for the series, with Sports Interactive promising the “biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation, laying the building blocks for a new era.” The game was due to introduce advanced animations, improved UI, and an overhauled match day experience, and to include women’s soccer for the first time.

But Sports Interactive appears to have struggled with the scope of the revamp; it had already taken the unprecedented step of delaying the game past its usual fall release until March, meaning it would miss the lion’s share of the soccer season. The developer had yet to publish a gameplay reveal, and had missed a promised development modification in January.

“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,” Sports Interactive mentioned. “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.”.

The studio noted that releasing the game in its current state and fixing it via patches was “not the right thing to do,” and it ruled out pushing the release date any further back “as it would be too late in the football season to expect players to then buy another game later in the year.” So the decision was taken to skip this entry and concentrate on the next version of the game, presumably due in fall 2025.

“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,” Sports Interactive mentioned.

Sports Interactive apologized for not communicating the game’s cancellation earlier due to legal and financial regulations stemming from its ownership by Sega, a publicly traded enterprise. It mentioned that players who had already pre-ordered the game would automatically be refunded in full. It also ruled out updating Football Manager 2024 with data from the current season of the sport, as this would be a “substantial undertaking” that would detract from development of the next release.

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