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Derek

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  1. Derek

    Football Manager 25 launching from 26 November

    By Derek,


    Football Manager 2025 Developement Update
    Football Manager 25 launching from 26 November
    Discover more reasons to love the beautiful game in Football Manager 25, launching globally from 26 November.
    Powered by the switch to the Unity engine, FM25 is year one of the new era for football management and puts you at the heart of a deeper, more authentic football universe where only you define your destiny.
    FM25 Console (Xbox/PS5) and FM25 Mobile (Netflix) are also set to launch day one, with FM25 Touch (Nintendo Switch) scheduled to release digitally on 3 December. Further information on the release of FM25 Touch will follow in the coming weeks.
     
    Gameplay Upgrades
    FM25 is the series’ biggest technical and visual advancement for a generation.
    The introduction of Women’s Football, a completely revamped game UI and a more visually impressive Matchday experience are among the changes we’ve revealed in previous Development Updates.
    That’s not all for FM25 - there are further, significant new upgrades, waiting for you to discover in every career. An overhauled approach to football tactics will bring you closer to the cutting edge of the professional game, while a complete revamp of the way to set up your manager will deliver more customised, unique stories wherever you step into the dugout.
    Alongside confirming FM25’s release date, we’re unveiling a roadmap that outlines what we’ll be talking about and when.
    Make sure to follow Football Manager on social media and sign up to FMFC to see those drops as soon as they’re released.
     
    Pre-Purchase Information
    From 30 September until the game’s release, if you pre-purchase FM25 (PC/Mac) from a SEGA-approved digital retailer you will receive a 10% discount. Pre-orders for FM25 Console (Xbox/PS5) will launch at a later date.
    Players across all FM25 titles will be able to carry forward save games from the corresponding FM24 release, with save game compatibility now introduced to our Mobile series for the first time.
     
    Football Manager 2025 | Roadmap

    Introducing Women's Football
    Unlocks week of 7 Oct

    Interface
    Unlocks - TBA

    Tactics
    Unlocks - TBA

    Match Experience
    Unlocks - TBA

    Your Manager
    Unlocks - TBA

    FM25 Mobile - Focus
    Unlocks - TBA

    FM25 - Deeper Dive
    Unlocks - TBA

    FM25 Console - Recap
    Unlocks - TBA

    FM25 Touch - Recap
    Unlocks - TBA
     
     
  2. Derek

    Development Update: Football Manager 25

    By Derek,


    Football Manager 2025 Developement Update
    Development Update: Football Manager 25
    I want to begin this latest Football Manager 25 Development Update by thanking everyone who read our previous one in June.
    We’ve been following the reaction and conversation and look forward to addressing many of your comments and observations when we start our FM25 gameplay rollout period.
    In June’s blog, I revealed the first-ever FIFAe World Cup of Football Manager, which wrapped up this past weekend. I was very proud to be in Liverpool for the final couple of days of a fantastic four-day competition that I thought FIFAe did a fantastic job with; from production, the players, the broadcasting and all the content across socials - everything looked incredible in person and online. 
    Seeing FM in the eSports domain was really exciting - and I hope those who attended the event, and those who watched and followed along online, agree. 
    For me, it was pretty surreal and emotional to be sat in the audience and hear the way the presenters and pundits spoke about the life's work of the entire SI team – and the way what is primarily played as a solo experience came to life as an eSport.
    Alongside the FIFAe team, we will digest and evaluate the tournament in the coming weeks to see what learnings we can take and what the future entails for collaboration between us.
    Congratulations to the winners, Ichsan Rahmat Taufiq and Budi Muhamad Manar from Indonesia – what an achievement.
    Commiserations too to the runners-up Sven Goly and Tery Whenett from Germany, who were fantastic throughout the event. The standard of play from all 20 managers was incredibly high and underlines how truly global the FM community is. 
    Our last Development Update gave you a picture of our world in June, and since then we've had to review some of the things previously mentioned. I want to take this opportunity as well to update you on some further FM25 development decisions we've made, as well as some alterations to our calendar for the months ahead. 

    Revising our timelines
    We previously stated that we would be confirming FM25’s release date at the beginning of September (with pre-orders starting at the same time), closely followed by our gameplay rollout period. 
    Firstly, we've had to shift the official announcement of FM25 to the end of September. The gameplay focus period will follow soon thereafter. Our target launch date has moved accordingly and is now scheduled for late November, rather than our usual early November slot.
    The FM25 development cycle has been challenging for the whole team. We knew that moving the entire game to the Unity engine was going to be a complex endeavour. As we’ve gotten deeper into the process and gained learnings, it’s fair to say it’s been trickier than we originally anticipated. The entire dev team has been challenged in a myriad of new ways and are doing an incredible job in the process. I’m excited to eventually share our hard work with you but we need a little more time before we can do that. 
    As I outlined in June’s blog, we’ve consistently held ourselves accountable to the same three core questions:
    Would we do it in the same way if we had our time again? Would we have done this at all? Do we have the time required to do this to the highest possible standard, in our first cycle of a new era? The challenges we’ve encountered in the development process over the last couple of months have led us to make another difficult decision around game content: international management will not be a playable mode in FM25, FM25 Console or FM25 Touch. 
    Coming off the back of a summer of tournament football and with this week even being an international break, we’ve looked really hard at international management in FM and determined that what we were planning to deliver wouldn’t reach our initial quality threshold. 
    We also considered the available game data. Only 5.6% of all FM24 PC saves have used the mode, which we feel validates our view that we need to do much, much better with the experience. That number is even smaller on Console. 
    So, rather than delay FM25 even further, we’ve paused work on that area of the game and allocated those resources to other key areas. It will continue to exist in FM25, FM25 Console and FM25 Touch as part of the wider simulation of world football, it just won’t be playable. 
    However, international management will remain playable in FM25 Mobile as that’s on a different development track and codebase. For all other versions, international management will return in a much more feature-rich way to FM26, FM26 Console and FM26 Touch in what will be an exciting year for international football with the World Cup expanding to 48 teams. To be clear, this will return as part of the base game and not as any form of additional downloadable content. 
    While difficult, these decisions are made for the good of the game and the majority of our players. We are determined to ensure that FM25, the first game in a new engine, is as good as it can be in the time we have. By pushing back FM25’s release date, we’ve given ourselves a few extra weeks of development time to try to deliver the best experience that we can for this first in the new era of Football Manager releases. 
    In recent weeks, I have also taken steps to free up more of my time to focus solely on development and supporting the wider team. One of our core studio values is Consider the Bigger Picture, and what’s most important right now is focusing on FM25. I mentioned in June that I’d be speaking at the Unite conference in Barcelona as part of the keynote. While we will still have an FM presence there, I will not be making the trip because I need to concentrate all my efforts on directing FM25. It’s for this reason that I will also not be attending Tokyo Game Show, an event I loved last year and really helped make our first-ever release in Japan a big success.
    I’ve also cancelled a trip to America which I was really looking forward to but the game, and you as the players of our games, are the bigger picture.  
    An update to Player Profiles
    When we begin our gameplay rollout, one of the areas I’m really looking forward to sharing is our work on Women’s Football. 
    As you know, it’s been a long-term project for us and one of the biggest things we've done in recent times outside of the move to Unity. Throughout the process, we’ve been laser-focused on introducing Women’s Football to FM in the most authentic way possible. We've applied that thinking to everything we've done, as we generally do with all areas of design and development. From a gameplay perspective, being able to move seamlessly between managing men’s and women’s clubs and vice-versa in one world, one ecosystem was the number one priority - but that’s forced us to consider how various game world aspects are currently portrayed.
    As such, we can now share a change we’ve made to all FM25 player profiles: a player’s weight will no longer be visible. 
    Through the creation of our Women's Football database, we discovered that while the weight of male athletes can change a bit month to month, women’s body types are very different from men’s and their weight fluctuates a lot more, often weekly. 
    This perspective encouraged us to review the wider game, much like we have with all other areas, and we’ve ultimately decided to no longer show weight for any players in FM25. A very basic measurement will still be included under the hood, but it won’t be visible on the front end anymore.
    Testing Update
    We also announced in June that we would be welcoming FMFC members within a reasonable travel vicinity to come to our campus in London and help with playtesting the new UI/UX of FM25. We received an enormous response to that, and I want to thank everyone who has volunteered and given us their availability. The playtesting will still be going ahead but as a result of the above milestones moving, the start date is shifting slightly. FMFC members who have applied will be contacted shortly with further date options as we begin to finalise the process.
    This should be my last development update until we start focusing more on what’s in FM25. We have lots of good stuff to show you that we’re excited about but I want to re-iterate that FM25 is the first instalment in a new era for the game, one that will give us a lot more possibilities than we had with the previous chapter.
    FM25 is just the starting point for what is a very exciting, long-term project.
    Thanks for reading.
    Cheers, 
    Miles
  3. Derek

    Development Update: Football Manager 25

    By Derek,


    Football Manager 2025 Developement Update
    Development Update:  Football Manager 25
    The reaction to the two development blogs we released last year showed how much you appreciated greater transparency from the studio. 
    Finding the right level of transparency is really important to us. Many of you have been with us on this journey for 30 years—others have joined along the way - and you are our biggest ambassadors. That’s why we share information with you when it’s available, and explain our decisions so you can understand the processes that go into making Football Manager. This is especially relevant with Football Manager 25 marking a new beginning in many respects.
    Why “the right level of transparency”, rather than just “transparency”? There are always things we can’t discuss – we’re part of a publicly owned company, we have commitments to various partners and, as a game that simulates the real world of football, there are always several moving parts. There’s the reality that not everyone wants everything shared in minute detail and, as we’ve seen recently with a new major licence, surprises can also be great fun and provide unexpected excitement.  
    I’m continuing that theme of transparency with a promised Q2 update on Football Manager 25, summing up the last few months of the development cycle and pulling back the curtain on the exciting period to come. 
    We kicked off this important time in the studio’s history in recent weeks with the reveal of our new Sports Interactive logo and brand identity, followed by the huge announcement of our new partnership with the Premier League. It’s a license we’ve been pursuing for more than 20 years and are so proud to have finally succeeded in getting it – we can’t wait for you to feel how it adds to your FM experience. The more eagle-eyed among you may have also noticed an updated Football Manager logo in that video announcement trailer too.
    You may have also seen the news of  FM24 reaching a huge milestone of 10 million players — the most there’s ever been for a Football Manager game by a very long way. I want to thank each and every one of you, from long-term players through to those experiencing Football Manager for the first time, for all of your support.
    Today, however, I want to tell you about Football Manager 25 [PC/Mac], Football Manager 25 Console [Xbox One/S/X & PlayStation 5]. More news on Football Manager 25 Touch and Football Manager 25 Mobile will follow later in the cycle.
     

     
    The Next Era
    FM25 signifies the next major chapter in our journey to provide the most true-to-life football management game on the market. Put simply, it’s the biggest change we’ve embarked on since moving from our previous brand to Football Manager and the biggest tech change in more than 20 years. 
    Moving to the Unity engine is a huge undertaking. It gives us incredible building blocks to create new foundations, unlock our potential, and power our future vision for Football Manager, with enhanced graphical fidelity and more efficient development processes. In the future and with more experience, it will lead to faster creation and implementation of game features and design-led tweaks. 
    In essence, FM25 is the starting point for the studio’s next 20 years. 
    In this update, we giving you a first look at the brand-new User Interface [UI] that gives a flavour of what Unity enables us to do. There’s also transparency over a few tough decisions we’ve had to make affecting some of the ways a minority of our managers play the game. 
    Before we get into that, as you know, we have been working on adding women’s football to  Football Manager for several years now. I can confirm that we have already secured multiple licenses for FM25, and we’re confident more will follow. 
    Full details of which leagues will be playable will be revealed in the coming months, but, yes, you will be able to seamlessly move between managing men’s and women’s teams. One game, one ecosystem.
     
    Reviewing our approach
    When I first spoke about the changes that were coming for FM25 in last June’s Development Update, I emphasised that a new UI has always been key to our thinking.
    The question we asked ourselves in the development of this project was “would we do it in the same way if we had our time again?” 
    Over the last year, we’ve applied that question to every single feature and screen in FM. These conversations and processes have led to huge changes across some areas of the game. I’ll be talking about some of them today, but you’ll need to wait a little bit longer for the rest. 
    As well as “would we do it the same way” we also asked ourselves some other tough questions: “would we have done this at all?” and, importantly, “do we have the time required to do this to the highest possible standard, in our first cycle of a new era?” 
    We’ve been creating games for 30 years now, so we’re used to big decisions. Many of those we’ve taken have been informed by the way you play. As you may or may not know, we collect anonymous data on how people play FM to help us design each annual iteration. Crunching those numbers shows us how many players interact with something — in a number of those instances, we’ve seen that almost no one has used them outside of our internal Quality Assurance team. 
    So, I’m taking this opportunity to inform you of some cuts we’ve made thus far and why. While some of the features we’ve taken out no one will miss, others are used more regularly by a small proportion of our  FM24 PC player base. 
     
    What’s changing in FM25?
    First, let’s talk about the features and modes that won’t be immediately available in Football Manager 25:
     
    Touchline Shouts
    The most used feature that won’t be included in FM25 is Touchline Shouts and these won’t be back for the foreseeable future. 
    Shouts have been in the series for many years and, to be frank, I’ve never been happy with them. A “shout” should happen instantly, but they only came into effect after the ball had gone out of play. It also wasn’t clear to players how long the shout lasted for. So, for the time being, touchline shouts are gone from the game. 
    I do really want them to come back, but they’ll only reappear if and when we can do them properly. 
     
    Social Media Screen and the Data Chalkboard
    To optimise both the UI and the User Experience (UX), we’ve taken out the bespoke social media screen for FM25. Don’t worry: all the key information from this will still appear in other game areas, and supporters are still an integral part of the game.
    With the data used in football continually evolving and developing, we’ve also thought hard about how that is displayed in FM. Most of the existing data metrics and visualisations will still be in FM25 and we’re already working on further visualisations that will be added in future editions of FM. However, the Chalkboard, which was additional individual and team data accessed via player profiles, has been removed. With the introduction of the Data Hub in recent years, which is much better at presenting analytical data to you, the Chalkboard became superfluous and its usage dropped from 10% to below 1%. 
     
    Create-A-Club
    We know that this is our most popular mode away from Career and Network Career mode, with 5% of you using Create-A-Club on the platforms it's available. That said, this percentage has been steadily declining.
    We can’t improve the Create-A-Club experience to the level we’re looking for before this year’s launch. So, we’ve decided not to rush it, and will instead bring it back in  Football Manager 26 with lots of changes and improvements.
     
    Versus mode
    A personal favourite of mine, we know that the people who do play Versus tend to do so multiple times. However, it’s also only been played by 0.5% of our audience. 
    We haven’t started the re-design of Versus mode yet. We do still like it, but it may be superseded by something else or return in a completely different form. 
     
    Challenge mode
    Part of our Console, Touch, and Mobile series, Challenge mode is currently scheduled to return completely revamped in either Football Manager 26 or Football Manager 27. 
    It was popular when first launched but its use away from Mobile has dropped dramatically over the last few years and is now played by fewer than 0.5% of our audience. 
    We’re currently debating how and when Challenge mode will come back to ensure it returns with the best and most immersive experience possible.
     
    Fantasy Draft 
    This mode will not be playable day one of FM25 but will return much-improved later in the cycle alongside the Main Data Update. Mid-cycle feature releases are something that will become more regular for the series moving forward.
     
    When we first envisioned Fantasy Draft mode, we saw its potential as an esport. Over the years, we know that many of you have used the mode in this way – and a few tournaments have been run here and there in various guises.
     
    We had already made the decision to remove Fantasy Draft from FM25 day one when we had a very interesting reach out from someone in the esports space, with two decades of experience of organising tournaments and developing events, got in touch with us...
     
    We’ve therefore decided to partner with FIFAe, FIFA’s esports division, on an invitational FIFAe World Cup of Football Manager which takes place in Liverpool from August 29th to September 1, 2024. Using  Football Manager 2024, 24 players will contest the tournament representing their nation on the biggest stage. Not only a FIFAe World Cup title is on the line – also $100,000 in prize money are up for grabs!
    FIFA’s esports activities started in 2004 and developed into a professional sport in recent years – while breaking down boundaries between football and gaming for the sports we all love.
     
    Through what is essentially a test run, we’ll be collaborating with FIFAe to explore how we can jointly realise our esports potential. We’ll evaluate this together how the tournament performs and investigate the development of Fantasy Draft and, potentially, the first qualifiers on the Road to the FIFAe World Cup 2025 of Football Manager using the new Fantasy Draft in 2025.
     
    Everyone involved is keen on generating first learnings and to build a solid groundwork for potential future events. Regardless of the outcomes of the first test event, we’ll be bringing Fantasy Draft back bigger and better.
    In the meantime, enjoy FIFAe’s announcement of this year’s invitational including Arsène Wenger. Do you want to compete yourself? Sign up on FIFA.GG to get notified about local competitions.
     
    A new UI for a new era
    Now, on to a major new change you’ll experience on day one of FM25…
    I spoke earlier about how the UI will be very different. While we know how vital it is to get this right, what is equally important is the UX. 
    With the new UI, our team have built powerful design and technical foundations that can be easily scaled and improved in the future. This means that every future addition will strengthen the UX without compromising consistency in our UI.
    We’ve spent years researching these changes, learning how different types of people play our games: from first time players through to our most experienced.
    With these insights, we needed to find a way to make all the key information available at the right times while not overwhelming our players. And we know that’s a tough balance. 
    The same is true of crafting a design that’s platform agnostic, enabling ease of play whether you’ve got a mouse and keyboard, a controller, or even a touch screen. 
    In tackling this challenge, we worked very closely with the engineers at Unity to adapt their engine to give us the flexibility and dynamics we need from a UI perspective. We’ll be talking about this journey in more detail at the forthcoming Unite event in September, covering more of the technical details of how we worked together to make the FM25 UI a reality. 
    Of course, we’ll share most of that with you shortly after the conference, but, for now, we wanted to give you a first taste of the upcoming changes.
     
    Introducing Tiles and Cards
    FM25’s new UI/UX is driven by what we have called a “tile and card” system.
    A “tile” is a panel of information with multiple different states, from small amounts of information to larger “cards” which contain more material. 
    Our Design team wanted to create something that would help to build a sense of exploration for every player to reveal the depth and detail of  Football Manager.
    In this system, the tiles are a way of building curiosity by providing a snapshot of information, while clicking through into cards rewards your interest with further detail.
    Tiles come in multiple different sizes that we call ‘states’ – this is so that we can use the information appropriately in various different screens and scenarios. 
    Below is an example of one tile, Player Form, in these different states. For those who find the description above overly technical, this visual gives important context. 

    And then, in the screenshot below you can see what happens when you click on the form tile - it opens up a “card” with more information.

    This design reduces the volume of screens in-game, making navigation easier without compromising on detail. Less walls of text is a good thing, right? (he says 2,000 + words in 
     
    Goodbye Inbox, Hello Portal
    Another facet of our UI work has been studying the constant evolution in the way people interact, communicate, and consume information. Historically the screen that people spend the most time on in FM has been the Inbox – essentially, your in-game email. For a while, this has felt quite old school given that modern football managers spend way more time on their phones than laptops. 
    So, welcome to what we now call your “Portal”. 
    The Portal will be a richer window to the wider footballing universe. It’ll give you far better tools to develop your story through the Agenda and Messages sections, but also deliver you more insight into what’s happening elsewhere via News and Matches. 

    Finally, I want to share one more screen that shows off the potential of the new tile and card system. This is the new screen that you’ll see between your match highlights – more information on how it all works will follow during our gameplay rollout in September. 

    We know these changes represent a big shift from past editions of Football Manager. We’ve been making games for a long time and know from previous experience, research, and wider industry cooperation, that UI changes can take time to get used to. But, we’ve done our homework and could not be more confident that the direction we’re heading in is the right one. 
     
    How can you help?
    We also want your help to validate that direction. In the coming weeks, FMFC members within an initial, reasonable travel vicinity will receive an email to surface their interest and availability to come to our studio in London and help with the continued testing of FM25’s UI/UX. Depending on interest and uptake, we may well cast the net further. 
    We’re planning to run this through September into early October, so if you’re not already an FMFC member and want to get involved, please subscribe now. Be sure to opt-in to receive marketing or we won’t be able to email you. 
     
    A further taste of what’s to come…
    Thanks for your time and reading so far. That’s almost it, but I’ve got a few other snippets to leave you with… 
     Football Manager 25’s release date will be confirmed in early September, with pre-orders opening at the same time. We’ll begin unveiling new gameplay elements shortly thereafter. As you can see from what we’ve shared here, and have already revealed, there’s going to be a lot to dive into – make sure you are signed up to FMFC and are following @FootballManager across socials.
    In addition to FM25 and the FIFAe World Cup of Football Manager, there are a few other things we’re looking at, including the return of an official Football Manager Podcast. 
    In collaboration with a big player in the audio space and using an external host and production team, the Podcast will be looking beyond FM and into the wider world of football. Something for everyone, you might say. There’ll be interviews, features, and stories from within the professional game, as well as some segments enabling us to go into our games in a bit more detail. 
    Thanks for reading.
    Cheers,
    Miles
  4. Derek

    Set Pieces Refresh & Coaches Debut

    By Derek,


    Sports Interactive
    SET PIECES REFRESH AND COACHES DEBUT
    Whether they’re a potent source of goals or one of your team’s key defensive strengths, set pieces are an integral aspect of every football match and every manager’s tactical approach.
    Many elite clubs have added set piece specialists to their coaching teams in recent seasons as they seek to find that extra 1% to help them edge out their most fierce rivals.
    Their arrival on the scene has led to many of you making suggestions on our forums and socials for us to upgrade the way our Set Pieces system works in FM.
    Now in FM24, the most complete edition in our series to-date, expert insight from key industry contacts means that Set Piece Coaches are making their debut and will help to power a refreshed Set Piece Creator.

    A POWERFUL NEW VOICE IN YOUR BACKROOM TEAM
    In FM24, Set Piece Coaches are now a specialised staff role. In order to make this possible, we’ve added a Set Pieces attribute to every coach in the database that indicates their ability to train your players in the tactical aspects of set pieces.
    That said, the profiles of the Set Piece Coaches look a bit different to those of other coaches in previous editions of FM. Instead of a Scouting Knowledge panel on the right-hand side, you’ll now see their Set Piece preferences clearly indicated. These preferences cover everything from the sort of delivery style they prefer to how they like to set up defensively.
    If you’re lacking a Set Piece Coach at your club and you’ve got the space to hire one, you’ll be encouraged to sign one in a Staff Meeting.

    A NEW FLOW TO SET YOUR SET-PIECE PREFERENCES
    These new coaches will have a big impact on your careers pretty much straight away as they are the driving force behind our refreshed Set Piece Creator.
    This creator marks a significant shift from how we’ve approached set pieces in previous editions of Football Manager. Now, the focus of every routine and scenario is on the players with the most appropriate Attributes instead of their positions in your tactic.
    Whether you’re bringing forward a save from FM23 or writing a new footballing story, your Set Piece Coach will present you with six key questions that focus on both your defensive and offensive preferences from dead ball situations.
    The first question will ask you to indicate whether you want your team to defend with Zonal, Hybrid or Man Marking. Each option will have its own contextual explanation and visualisation, as well as a tooltip that illustrates the key pros and cons of each approach. We’ve also added in an indication of your Set Piece Coach’s preferred option.
      
      
    From there, you’ll be asked further questions about how aggressively you want to counter-attack from your opponent’s set pieces, whether you want your takers to aim for the near post, far post or centre of the box, and if your preference is for inswinging or outswinging deliveries.
    MORE ADAPTIVE AND INTELLIGENT ROUTINES
    Your Set Piece coach will use the answers you provide to craft some initial corner and free kick routines for every scenario. 
    When these routines are created, you’ll now see that every set piece has specific roles attached to it. For example, at a corner the key roles outside of the taker are:
    Aerial Threat
    Box Threat
    Recovery Defender
    Creators
    Instead of you needing to manually assign instructions to specific positions, instructions are now automatically assigned by your backroom team to each of these four role categories. For example, instead of saying that you want your right-side central defender to attack the far post, your biggest Aerial Threat will now be given that job. Each role category is ranked from top to bottom, with the top instruction being assigned to your most suitable player on a matchday.

    These rankings automatically update as you change team selection, formation or make substitutions, meaning that you'll no longer need to micromanage your setups every time something changes.
    These player rankings are accompanied by a new Priority List, which allows you and your Set Piece Coach to determine which roles you think are the most important at each type of set piece. If one of your players, based on their Attributes, is ranked number one in more than one role, they’ll be assigned to the one that’s positioned higher in the priority list.

    We’ve also introduced a new concept of Set Piece Familiarity in FM24 to reflect the work your players do on each routine in training. Having this greater understanding, as well as a smarter way of prioritising your threats, will help you to unlock opposition defences and better implement your set-piece philosophy.

    When you want to add new attacking corner and free kick routines, you’ve got the choice of either duplicating the one initially created by your Set Piece Coach or selecting an alternative. The addition of any new routines will trigger a pop up that allows you to indicate the frequency with which you use each one in matches, giving you another tool to optimise your attacking threats.
    You’ll notice when reviewing your free kick routines that we’ve added some instructions to better reflect the way teams approach them in real life. These include one for defensive line height on wide free-kicks and a ‘Wall if needed’ instruction that allows goalkeepers to decide if they’re necessary.
    A MORE AUTHENTIC APPROACH TO THROW-INS
    Mirroring more closely how teams approach throw-ins in the professional game, we’ve changed our approach from previous editions of FM. Now, you’ll be asked by your Set Piece Coach to indicate how you want to tackle throw-ins in the defensive, middle and attacking third of the pitch. The first two give you the option to ‘retain possession’ or ‘work the line’, while for the attacking third you can choose to work the ball into the box or go straight for a long throw.
     
    Once you’ve selected your preferences for each of the three areas of the pitch, your Set Piece Coach will generate routines in the same way they did with the corners and free kicks and your players will be automatically assigned roles based on their Attribute breakdowns.
    STREAMLINING YOUR CREATIVE TALENTS
    Much like the personnel lists for every routine, your set piece takers are all now automatically assigned by your backroom team.
    The takers themselves are now ranked based on their relevant Attributes and you’ll notice that deliveries are now categorised by swing, rather than left or right side.
    As such, instead of having to copy over your setup to both sides, you now only need to create a routine and it will apply to either side of the pitch, as long as you have a suitable-footed player in your takers list.

    If you want your players to do outswingers from one side and inswingers from the other, you can now do this by either setting a player as your 'designated specialist' from the takers menu which makes them take every corner or free kick, or by only selecting right or left-footed takers for that specific set piece.
    Having made these changes to the Set Piece Creator, we’ve now separated Penalties into their own tab. There are two additional customisation options here, including one that allows you to change taker if your first-choice missed a penalty earlier in the game.
    DICTATING YOUR LEVEL OF RESPONSIBILITY
    Bear in mind that the routines your Set Piece Coach creates aren’t entirely set in stone and you’re empowered to edit, amend and customise them.
    If you are happy with them though, this is where your Set Piece Coach can come into their own as you can delegate full responsibility for all aspects of set pieces in your career. Should you want them to, they can handle everything in training and update the personnel and set piece takers lists as you make changes to your team selection and wider squad.
    Ultimately, this means that your set piece routines will now be better aligned with your specific preferences and that once they’re set, you can be involved as much or as little as you want knowing that you’ve got the expertise and support of a specialist behind you.

    UNDERSTANDING YOUR RIVALS’ SET PIECE STRENGTHS
    As well as helping you with the creation and development of your set piece routines, FM24 will also deliver you greater insight into the approach of your opponents.
    We’ve added some new visuals to illustrate how strong teams and individual players are at both attacking and defending set pieces. There’s also a new type of visual that will be useful for seeing where a team tends to aim their deliveries, allowing you to work with your backroom team to evolve and adapt for every fixture.

    MAKING AN IMPACT AT BOTH ENDS OF THE PITCH
    The introduction of Set Piece Coaches and a refresh of the Set Piece Creator delivers you new and refreshed ways to create match-winning routines in every scenario.
    Head over to our Features Roadmap to discover more of this year’s new additions and improvements, including positional play upgrades in our Match Engine and the ability to add new targets to motivate your players on and off the pitch.
  5. Derek
    TRUER FOOTBALL MOTION, MATCH AUTHENTICITY & POSITIONAL PLAY
    Matchdays are the moments that get the adrenaline flowing in every Football Manager career. They’re where tactical visions come to life, underdog stories are written and players win a lifelong place in your heart with their heroics.
    With every release of Football Manager, our Match team strive to make those moments feel closer to a perfect simulation of real-world football.
    In FM24, the most complete version in the series to-date, the team have vastly improved the way players behave in our engine. From animation locomotion upgrades that improve off-the-ball movement right through to player rotation enhancements that enable you to incorporate more positional play in your tactics, you’ll notice the changes from your first kick-off.
    The introduction of a brand-new player role brings you closer to the cutting edge of the professional game, while other roles have had their functionality refined to complement some of our other changes.
    We’ve also made upgrades to our ball physics and matchday lighting to level up the immersion, so let’s dive into why this year’s match experience is the best yet.

    DELIVERING NEW AVENUES FOR ATTACKING PLAY
    Thanks to the likes of Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, positional play has become one of world football’s most popular principles in recent years.
    Put simply, it’s an approach that sees players take up positions on the pitch that help their side to create numerical advantages with passing triangles and diamonds. The intention of these shapes is to create space, give the ball-carrier several passing options and allow the team to progress possession up the pitch towards the final third.
    Understandably, many of you have been keen to try and emulate those positional play-driven approaches in FM. Our Match team have strived to deliver you more tools to do so, particularly with regards to improving player rotations on the pitch.
    You’ll see that some players, based on their role and those you’ve included around them, can now move into another position while you’re in possession than would be expected from their default starting base.
    Take, for example, a 4-2-3-1 with two defensive midfielders where your pivot players are a Segundo Volante and a defensive Ball-Winning Midfielder and the player just behind the striker is an Advanced Playmaker.

    Following our rotation changes for FM24, the Advanced Playmaker now recognises the attacking runs of the Segundo Volante in behind. This means that the Advanced Playmaker will move across to open a new channel, freeing up the Segundo Volante to push up as a second number 10 and effectively create a 4-1-4-1 shape in attack. To accommodate this movement, your Ball-Winning Midfielder would occupy a more central position to provide more effective cover.
    These rotations work with other aggressive defensive and central midfield roles too, like Roaming Playmakers and Mezzalas. We look forward to seeing you all experiment with this fluidity but in the meantime you can see some of those midfield rotations in action in the video below.
    To complement these changes, we’ve also tweaked the behaviour of the Inverted Winger and Inside Forward roles. Now, when they recognise that you’ve got an additional midfield player pushing up into the half space on their side, they will stay wider to accommodate them and help you create more overloads.
    On a more defensive note, the Half-Back role has had some alterations for FM24. Now, depending on where you’re using them in a double pivot, it can take up either the left or right centre-back position while you’re in possession.
    In summary, these positional rotations mean that your players now behave more intelligently, adjusting their position based on the roles and movement of teammates around them. Your players should have more passing lanes open to them and a better ability to play through the lines, allowing your team’s shape to dynamically adjust between different phases of attack.
    A MODERN EVOLUTION: INTRODUCING THE INVERTED FULL-BACK
    Better incorporating positional play is just one of this year’s new additions that better reflects modern football trends. Another is a brand-new player role, the Inverted Full-Back.
    Popularised by Manchester City’s Kyle Walker and a highly requested addition on our forums, this new role functions as a traditional Full-Back when defending but in possession transitions to become a third central defender.
    When the Inverted Full-Back combines with your other central defenders to make a back three, the outermost two function like Wide Centre-Backs. This means that the defender on the side of the pitch where the ball is has licence to move slightly further forward to support the play.
    This new role enables you to experiment with three-at-the-back building shapes while defending in a back four, something that many of the world’s top teams are currently doing. It also frees up someone else in your backline to move up into midfield.

    LEVELLING UP THE INVERTED WING-BACK
    That player pushing into midfield could well be an Inverted Wing-Back on the other side of your defence, as this is another role with much more intelligent and responsive positioning in FM24.
    Now, the defensive midfielders are more suited to recognising this movement of the Inverted Wing-Back. This means that when an Inverted Wing-Back pushes up, a deeper-lying defensive midfielder on their side will move across to form a two-man pairing. This adaptation is very similar to the way Rodri tends to dovetail with the full-back on his side of the pitch at Manchester City.
    The clip below illustrates the sort of 3-2 build-up shape that combining an Inverted Full-Back and Inverted Wing-Back can achieve.
    BUILDING OUT FROM THE BACK WITH AN ENHANCED LIBERO
    Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola’s status as a tactical trendsetter came to the fore once again last season with John Stones playing as a centre-back stepping up into midfield.
    That ‘John Stones role’ is included in FM24 thanks to significant improvements made to the way the Libero functions.
    Available now in both a back four and all three central defensive roles in a back three, the Libero will move up into defensive midfield in a similar way to the Inverted Wing-Back.
    In addition to the midfielders adjusting their position to accommodate the Libero’s forward movement, we’ve also ensured that your central defenders suitably adapt to the Libero stepping out of the defensive line.
    As such, your central defenders will now alter their behaviour depending on the number of active players in your backline. If there are two, for example, they will function as a traditional centre-back pairing but split further across the pitch to cover space more effectively.
    Something to note is that if you play an Inverted Wing-Back and a Libero on the same side of the defensive line, the Libero will not push up. This is because the Inverted Wing-Back has priority when both roles are being asked to transition into the same space.
    These changes to the Libero, as well as to the other roles outlined above, ultimately mean that there’ll be greater fluidity and dynamism to your tactics and the way they perform on Matchday. The below clip illustrates a fantastic goal that was created by using some of the upgraded roles in tandem to open up the pitch.
    TRUER FOOTBALL MOTION
    Outside of their role behaviour, you’ll notice that players now appear more intelligent when they’re moving into positions.
    As outlined in our June Development Blog, this is thanks to data we've obtained from a new partner from the real world of professional football. This data greatly improves the authenticity and fluidity of the animations in our games and is a significant leap forward beyond traditional studio-based motion capture.
    We've also improved our in-house animation engine, utilising the Inverse Kinematics system to reflect the real-life captured data in the most accurate and realistic way possible.
    To make use of the new database of animations, we've introduced Motion Matching. This new system allows us to identify these more realistic animations and directly use them for every player in FM relative to the context of the match.
    Motion Matching, in combination with Inverse Kinematics, will bring a lot more fluidity to player movements. You’ll notice these animation changes most with off-the-ball actions like running, pointing and defensive jockeying. Players will now position themselves on the half-turn much more often, meaning that they can receive the ball and turn more easily, again allowing you to play through the opposition more than ever before. Have a look at the clip below to see some of these changes in action.
    Ultimately, these changes mean that without any extra processing requirements, you will experience smoother and more fluid player animations than in previous editions of FM.
    MORE AUTHENTIC BALL MOVEMENT
    In conjunction with the visibly improved player movement across the pitch, we’ve also rewritten our ball physics system to be more accurate to real life.
    Our engine now models drag and air resistance more effectively, meaning that the ball will float and spin more authentically. Similarly, deflections will also appear more realistically than they have in previous editions.
    Weather is another factor that will affect the movement of the ball, as will things like the temperature or the altitude of the stadium that you’re playing at.
    The video below illustrates some of these changes in action.
    Supporting these ball physics changes are enhancements to the way your players dribble and finish.
    We’ve implemented more authentic ball friction with the ground, meaning that dribbling attempts will be more realistically affected by the pitch and the weather conditions.
    Additionally, you’ll notice that your players are now less likely to dribble all the way to the byline before stopping and turning around. Instead, they’ll slow down earlier to face up the opposition defender.
    These changes also mean that your players are now able to volley the ball into the ground and are more likely to connect with downward headers when the right situation arises.
    ELEVATING YOUR MATCHDAY ENVIRONMENT 
    The more eagle-eyed of you will have spotted this in the first screenshots of FM24 that were revealed but lighting and pitch textures have been significantly enhanced by our teams.
    Day, night and interior lighting have all been upgraded to ensure that you get better colour grading based on the weather, season and time of day. We’ve also updated our fog settings so that the time of day and weather conditions are more obvious in every match.
    Pitch textures now have a much sharper and more natural look and feel to them, meaning that every match looks more authentic than it ever has.
    The graphic below illustrates how much of an improvement there is between the lighting and pitch textures in FM23, on the left, and those in FM24, on the right.
    MOST AUTHENTIC AND IMMERSIVE MATCHDAY YET
    Positional rotations and the brand-new Inverted Full-Back player role give you more avenues for tactical experimentation in FM24. With more intelligent player movement, you’ll score some beautifully crafted goals and all of them will be visually elevated by the changes we’ve made to ball physics and lighting.
    Head over to our Features Roadmap to discover the wider new additions and improvements that we’ve made for FM24, the most complete edition in the series yet.
  6. Derek

    Individual Player Targets & Interaction Logic

    By Derek,


    Sports Interactive
    Whether it’s your team scoring for the tenth game in a row, your robust defence keeping another clean sheet or your top prospect realising their potential, there’s nothing more satisfying than watching a plan come together in Football Manager.
    There can, sometimes, be bumps on the path to glory. Slumps in form, standards dropping in training and player unhappiness can derail your plans and force a rethink in your approach.
    So, in Football Manager 2024, you can now inspire your players to strive for more by setting Targets to elevate their performance levels. Alongside this, we’ve also made changes to the way you interact with your players and staff to ensure your conversations are realistic and constructive.
    Let’s dive into the detail…

    KEEP YOUR PLAYERS HUNGRY WITH TARGETS
    Incentivise your squad, and help players away on loan achieve the best playing time pathway, with individual performance targets to get the most out of your players. The areas that can be focused on are:
    Training Improvements (New position, role, traits and average ratings)
    Goals
    Assists
    Clean Sheets
    Match performances (first team or reserve team)

    The opportunity to set a target will be available when you praise or criticise a player for their recent performances, when you make a comment to a player leaving on loan, in contract negotiations for new signings and player renewals, or as a way of resolving a player’s unhappiness. Bear in mind that both the player and their agent may want to negotiate it.
    When setting a target, the player's personality, their relationship with you and the context of the situation are also important factors to consider.
    For example, in those all-important contract discussions, offering a playing time pathway can significantly boost a player’s interest in joining your club, but it can be difficult to justify whether your potential signing should be promised a regular spot in a few years.
    So in FM24, linking closely to a playing time pathway promise, you’ll be able to offer a target in the contract negotiation screen. For instance, if a promising striker has asked to be a Regular Starter as part of their playing time in the 2025/26 season, you can now respond with a target for the 2024/25 season, which could be goals in league matches. If they were to hit that goalscoring target, you’d be expected to honour the agreement by making them a Regular Starter in the following season.

    When targets have been set, you can track how your players are progressing using the new Targets tab on the Home screen, where you will also be able to monitor the players’ opinions on their progress.
    For loan players, any playing time, plans or targets will be highlighted in purple to make it clear that these only relate to their loan move, and are not specific to your club.
    For players that you sign on loan, they may arrive with targets that their own parent club has set, so keeping to the conditions of the loan will help that player meet their own targets.
    Your staff can offer advice, through Staff Meetings or inbox items, about where they feel it’s suitable for you to offer targets to a player.
    If a player successfully meets their target – such as scoring more goals, providing more assists or achieving a strong training rating - you’ll be able to congratulate them, but also may have some promises to follow through on, such as offering them a new contract. So, make sure you follow through with those to keep your players happy.
    On the flip-side, if a player fails to hit their target you’ll be notified by your Player Liaison Officer, who will explain their reaction to the target failure, and who they think is to blame - it’s then up to you to decide how to handle the situation.

    If multiple players fail, you’ll be given the option to discuss any outstanding contentious issues directly with these players. This can arise because of any issues the player has with you, which can include game time, or any problems a loanee has with their manager.
    In fail scenarios, a player can respond in different ways. If they came close to completing their target, the player might come back to you and back themselves. The player can also reference other metrics that highlight positive performance levels. For example, while they might not have met the goalscoring target you set, they may have recorded several assists during the period.
    If injury causes the failure of the target, either at an early stage or at the end, the player will accept that the target couldn’t be met at this time.
    So, if you feel your star striker needs a bit more motivation in front of goal, or you want to see your youth prospect make big strides out on loan, Targets give you the opportunity to challenge your players as you look to maximise their ability.
    BETTER CONVERSATIONS WITH INTERACTION LOGIC CHANGES
    The newly added player targets are part of a wider group of changes to try and make Football Manager 2024 even more immersive than previous versions of the game – and that required some big changes under the hood to how the logic of interactions works.
    It’s not just new interactions added with targets for players, or agent interaction, we’ve also looked at hundreds of other areas of the game where you are having conversations with your players or their agents to try and make them even more believable. We often speak about how important the suspension of disbelief is to the experience you have when playing Football Manager, and there were times in-game where your players may have had an extreme reaction simply because they didn’t have options not to.
    One of the big changes we have made to interactions in FM24 are the improvements to the string severity system, which allows each positive or negative AI response to have three different variants of severity - with over 2,000 new AI responses.
    So, you’ll now witness fewer instances of overly severe and unrealistic responses from players. For example, if your star striker has just single-handedly led your team to victory and you’re keen to shower them with praise, they’re less likely to react to extremes. Now, positive, netural and negative reactions of differing levels more accurately reflect their opinion.
    Increased context for reactions will also be provided where suitable, helping to provide additional reasoning and opportunities to convince them to change their opinion if you’re not quite on the same page about a conversation topic.
    Issues have also been resolved to address instances of unrealistic player unhappiness, and providing clearer reasoning behind their concerns. So, if a player is considering exploring options at the end of their contract, their desires should be made more obvious – be it the lure of continental football, or waiting for the club to be promoted.
    Elsewhere, requirements for promises are clearer, making it easier for you to see how your players feel about the current progress – such as the promise to strengthen your defence, for example. If you complete a promise earlier, that player will become satisfied – rather than having to wait until the end of the promise date for their happiness to change.
    As a result of this extensive work, your interactions in FM24 will result in a wider range of more realistic reactions, both from a verbal and body language perspective, ensuring you have truly constructive conversations with the players and staff at your clubs.
    GET THE KEY INFORMATION YOU NEED IN STAFF MEETINGS
    We’ve also improved Staff Meetings in FM24 with them now being more customisable and surfacing the most relevant information you care about.
    When the meeting agenda arrives, you can now skip individual topics if they’re not of interest or relevant to your focus. For instance, if you really want to speak to your staff about Coaching but would rather leave Recruitment to another week, a new option gives you the opportunity to directly shape the conversation.

    When clicking on ‘Meeting Preferences’, you can now customise the delivery of each staff topic. You'll have the option to include subtopics in Meetings, get summaries to your inbox or skip certain topics going forward – whatever’s important for you.
    In your Meetings, when suggested hires for your backroom staff appear, their club and rating have been removed to show more relevant information. Now, you’ll see their key Attributes for the suggested job role, along with some context as to why they have been recommended. A new pop-up also allows you to look at your existing staff members in that role at your club.
    GET MORE FROM YOUR PLAYERS AND STAFF
    Targets, interaction changes and Staff Meeting enhancements bring you closer to the key people at your club. Realistic conversations help you set important goals for your players and communicate vital information with your Staff.
    Make sure to check out the other feature drops detailing new additions, including new Intermediaries that help to offload players and changes to Squad Building. Sign up to FMFC for exclusive feature content in October on gameplay upgrades and wider enhancements to your FM24 experience.
  7. Derek

    What's New In FM24

    By Derek,


    Sports Interactive
    SMARTER TRANSFERS, SQUAD BUILDING AND FINANCE
    Our continued drive to mirror developments in the real footballing world make Football Manager 2024 the most complete edition in the series yet.
    Two areas where we’ve worked extensively that powerfully reflect this are recruitment and finance.
    On the recruitment front, we’ve significantly improved the decision-making and team selection capabilities of AI managers. You’ll also see that your game world better reflects the current trends of the real-life transfer market.
    It’s not just recruitment that’s been made smarter, though. We’ve also put vast work into upgrading the in-game Finance system to ensure that there’s greater dynamism and volatility in every career.

    BRACE FOR MORE TRANSFER BATTLES
    The global transfer market is continuously evolving, and the most recent transfer window was unprecedented in several ways. As a result of these recent global developments, we have made some wider coding changes for FM24 to try and reflect those trends in every career.
    Firstly, to ensure that the way your rivals buy and sell players resonates with a clear identity, we’ve done a lot of work under the hood to improve their transfer market decision-making.
    Smarter opposition recruitment is the order of the day for FM24, with AI managers now programmed to consider factors like form and reputation more so than ever before.
    AI Managers are now better geared up to recognise imbalances in their squad make-up and will take their tactical style into consideration much more when shortlisting players. In essence, this means that they’ll look to fill Attribute gaps in their squad. So, a manager using a Gegenpress approach will look specifically for midfielders with high Stamina and Work Rate Attributes if they determine that their squad is missing such a player.
    Their approach will now place a stronger focus on a player’s Potential Ability rather than their Current Ability when players are looking for backup/rotation options to an established first-team starter.
    That improved logic also applies to outgoing transfers, with AI clubs now making much more considered and contextual decisions concerning loans for young players. If it was felt that a player was lacking in terms of physicality, the club would try to facilitate a move to a more physical team to improve the aspect of the player’s development.
    Ultimately, this suite of changes means that your opponents will make more informed, reactive squad-building decisions. It means that you will face more competition in the transfer market and that when your rivals make mistakes, they’ll feel more authentic and realistic.
    VARIATIONS TO PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
    To complement the changing recruitment decisions of your opposition managers, there are some upgrades to the way your rivals pick their Matchday squads.
    Previously, AI teams were less likely to pick youth prospects in the first team because they had low Current Ability scores. Now, those talents have a higher probability of being on the bench and will see more playing time when teams are ahead or controlling games in the latter stages. We have also worked on how the AI prioritise matches throughout the season, which should see improved rotation to help aid player development.
    Elsewhere, we’ve also made a few tweaks to player development. Some will see an accelerated improvement in their teenage years before hitting their potential ceiling earlier on. Meanwhile, a new system has been introduced to recognise ‘Late Developers’, or those players who don’t breakthrough until slightly later than would be considered typical. 
    The other aspect of transfers we’ve made amends to is in-game transfer histories. Here, we’ve upgraded the user interface and given you the ability to filter league transfer histories by ins and outs.
    BALANCING THE BOOKS
    Connected to these transfer market changes, we’ve also made several upgrades to the Finances system for Football Manager 2024 to better reflect the way it works in modern football.
    Across the game we’ve added a number of news items and improved some existing ones to provide you with greater clarity on your income and expenditure throughout the season. You’ll also notice that key financial information is surfaced more clearly when you need it.
    In certain instances where you’ve overspent your available funds, you’ll notice that we’ve incorporated negative transfer budgets. If you go into the red, you’ll receive an inbox item that informs you that you need to either sell players or transfer clauses in order to generate fresh income. Examples and candidates for both are included in the inbox item, as is a clear indication of how much money you need to recoup before you’ve got a positive budget again.
    If you’re unable to generate enough money within the agreed time period, your board will take control of your budget and begin to sell your players. The control will then be relinquished back to you when either the cash has been raised or the transfer window has closed.
    Should you take over at a club that’s got a negative transfer budget, you’ll face a more challenging start in the dugout.

    NAVIGATING FURTHER FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY INTEGRATION
    There are also a number of upgrades to the Financial Fair Play (FFP) system for FM24, as well as other nation-specific financial rules.
    Should a club breach FFP rules in-game, there are now new sanctions in place, including squad size and transfer spending restrictions, as well as fines and competition income being withheld. If your club is close to breaching the rules, there’ll be a note in the Finances menu to explain that your wage budget is locked.

    You’ll now notice that when a club is placed into administration, you’ll receive a new news item that shows their net debt, profit and loss graphs, overall expenditure and overall income.
    Should your club go into administration, you’ll be notified that transfer funds have been withdrawn and that the administrators will listen to and consider any reasonable transfer offers that are made for your players. If you’re unable to meet player wages, the players’ association will step in, and you’ll be under a transfer embargo until that money has been repaid. A club can also now enter into a Company Voluntary Agreement, a government bond that allows an insolvent company to pay off their creditors over a fixed period while they continue to operate.
    NEW AND DYNAMIC INCOME STREAMS
    It’s not just expenditure where we’ve made changes. Now, there’s greater fluctuation in the income your club receives, thereby creating more dynamism and intrigue in every career.
    Indeed, you’ll now see that we’ve included fixed-length TV deals. The news items indicating these show changes in a deal’s value and what percentage effect that has on the competition prize money for the seasons the new agreement covers.
    Elsewhere, there are new news items providing contextual information on parachute payments and details on how your ticket prices and sponsorships have changed based on whether you’ve been promoted or relegated. There’s also a new Season Tickets League Table located in the Competition Overview dropdown, which shows the clubs in order of the tickets sold and the revenue recouped.

    This greater information is all designed to improve the clarity of how finances work in-game. Less money will now be described as ‘general’ or ‘other’ in the Finances menu and committed spend calculations for future transfers have been improved. Additionally, loan income and expenditure are now listed as separate from permanent deal income and expenditure.
    For clubs in the lower divisions, they will now turn Professional at the point of promotion rather than at the end of the season. Conversely, there will also be more discernible sporting and financial setbacks from not switching back from Professional to Semi-Professional following relegation in the lower divisions.

    OUR MOST INTELLIGENT MARKET YET
    The upgrades to AI Squad Building and the Finances system dramatically level up the immersion in FM24, adding greater variety, dynamism, and competition to every career.
    In the coming weeks, you’ll learn more about this year’s other features, including a new Intermediary role and how they’ll help you offload players, the introduction of Targets for Players, changes to the Match Engine, a refresh of Set Pieces, and much more in the general gameplay blogs. Make sure you’re also signed up to FMFC, as more feature content will be released on there throughout October.
  8. Derek

    FM24 Release Date Confirmed

    By Derek,


    Sports Interactive
    FM24 RELEASE DATE CONFIRMED AS NOVEMBER 6TH
    The relentless pursuit of progress defines Football Manager 2024, which debuts globally across platforms from November 6th.
    Driven by a constantly evolving quest to deliver complete football authenticity, FM24 is the most complete edition in the series yet, filled with new additions that deepen your immersion and elevate your gameplay experience. 
    FM24 Console, FM24 Touch and FM24 Mobile are also warming up for the new campaign, with all three set to launch from November 6th. 
    NEW ADDITIONS TO THE FM LINE-UP
    FM24 heralds a significant milestone for the series and the wider SEGA family as it marks our official debut in Japan and the first time Japanese language will be officially supported in our games. 
    Also joining the squad this season are Netflix, the exclusive home for FM24 Mobile. More information on FM24 Mobile and what the move to Netflix means for you is available in our dedicated announcement.
    FM24 Console will also be available through Xbox, Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass for PC from November 6th. Xbox Game Pass for PC subscribers will also be able to enjoy the full immersion of the desktop classic.
    Elsewhere, after a debut to remember earlier this year, Football Manager 2024 Console will be returning to PlayStation 5 for a second season. 
    FM24 Touch is also returning to Nintendo Switch™ for another campaign, with further platform information to follow in the coming weeks.
    NEW FEATURES AND GAMEPLAY UPGRADES
    Initially revealed in June’s Development Update blog, the brand-new ability to transfer careers* from Football Manager 2023, FM23 Console and FM23 Touch is just one of this year’s headline developments.
    Further additions, including a refresh of Set Pieces and smarter transfers and finances, are heavily influenced by the ever-evolving world of football and driven by expert insight from new and existing partnerships within the professional game. In a first for the studio, FM24’s announcement trailer ends with a roadmap outlining our key feature drops and reveal dates across all platforms. 
    Gameplay upgrades for the PC/Mac title will follow throughout the remainder of September. New features for FM24 Console and FM24 Mobile will drop during the week commencing October 23rd, with FM24 Touch’s new additions getting the spotlight at the start of November. 
    Make sure to follow Football Manager on social media to see those drops as soon as they’re released. Sign up to FMFC, our dedicated members club, to get exclusive access to additional feature blogs. 
    PRE-PURCHASE AND EARLY ACCESS
    Between September 12th and November 6th, fans who pre-purchase FM24 (for PC and Mac) and FM24 Console (Xbox and PlayStation 5**), from a SEGA-approved digital retailer will receive a 10% discount.
    Those pre-purchasing on PC and Mac can kick-off their managerial career ahead of schedule with Early Access to FM24***. Early Access will be available via Steam and the Epic Games Store circa two weeks prior to the official street date, and single-player careers started in that period can be carried across when the game updates for launch on November 6th.
    *The ability to transfer save games to FM24 Mobile is not possible at this time.
    **On PlayStation, this discount is only available for PlayStation Plus subscribers. 
    ***Early Access is available from SEGA-approved digital retailers only. Please check to see if the store you’re purchasing from is participating in the offer. The Early Access version may go live at different times on different platforms.
  9. Derek

    The Future of Football Manager - By Miles Jacobson

    By Derek,


    Sports Interactive
    This blog is one that I have been looking forward to writing and we’re delighted to finally be able to update you all on the future direction of Football Manager. I’m going to talk about FM23, FM24, and in a first for us as a studio, look a bit further ahead beyond the next iteration of the game to one of the biggest changes in our history. And there’s a lot to talk about so, whilst I apologise for the length, I hope you find it an interesting insight into what we’ve been up to at the studio.
    FM23: OUR MOST PLAYED GAME OF ALL TIME
    Let’s start with FM23 which, at this stage of the game’s lifecycle, is the most played in the series’ history. Over the last few years we’ve been embracing new platforms to improve the reach of our work – which hasn’t always worked that well (may Stadia rest in peace). But, with the success of our launches on Game Pass for Xbox and PC, this year saw us bring back Football Manager Touch for Apple Arcade and launch FM23 Console on PlayStation 5. Both exceeded all expectations.
     
    Before we embraced these new types of platforms, we were getting close to 2 million players a year. With FM23, we have just this month hit a once unimaginable milestone of 5m players, and it’s still growing. The games have also gone down tremendously well with the majority of the audience – Steam reviews are at 87%, Apple Arcade at 4.6/5 and Mobile at 4.8/5 on iOS.
    However, we cannot ignore that some of our longer-serving players felt that FM23’s progression had not lived up to the standards and expectations we have set over the years – and to be frank, we agree.
    The FM23 feature set wasn’t what we’d wanted to deliver. We tried a few new processes last year, some worked, some didn’t. A few months before release we faced the reality of having to drop a few features that we’d wanted to introduce to ensure we were able to deliver a working game. While FM23 was released with some great new features and the overall quality of the game was still very high, it also contained some features which just didn't hit the mark. Also, we weren't able to add enough of the smaller features, that really add to the experience for players that go beyond the average 200-300 hours a year. So for people playing the game for the first time, or the first time for a couple of years, there was a top-quality game for them to play – but for the most hardcore of players, there were fewer new features than normal.
     
    There are lots of reasons why this happened – but at the end of the day, as the head of the studio, the responsibility lies with me. Some of the criticism of FM23 was constructive and fair, whereas some of it was both unfair and ill-informed. The only people who know what goes into making Football Manager are those of us at the studio. But we know more people than ever are interested in how our games are made, hence this blog – which is something we are committing to do more often going forward. It’s also why we’re going to talk about the next couple of years rather than just looking ahead to the next iteration of the game.
    But before we can discuss the long-term future of the series, we need to let you know what is coming next…
    FM24: THE LAST 20 YEARS REALISED, AND THE LAST OF ITS KIND
    Football Manager 2024 will be the 20th game in Sports Interactive’s Football Manager series, and will be the last of its kind. 
    It’s a love letter to football and the FM series as we know it. 
    It’s the closing of this chapter of our history.
    You can expect a host of improvements, big and small, both in new features and revamps to existing areas of the game. This is all thanks to ideas and feedback from within the studio, the world of football and contributions from our feature request forum.
     
    The vast majority of the team at Sports Interactive are working on FM24, with the idea that it will inarguably be the most complete version of Football Manager to date.
    The FM24 feature set was confirmed and fully designed earlier than previous releases, thanks to additional resource joining the studio, and huge improvements of various practices and workflows. We’re also due to be feature complete (when every feature design is implemented by the dev, art, and UI teams) earlier than before too. Crucially, this gives us more time to finesse the new features, fix known issues and catch any new ones that may crop up.
    That doesn’t mean though that we’re going to announce those features significantly earlier as we want to get it all working first! 
    However, as a sneak preview, I can share progress that’s been made towards one of the most requested features from our forums over the last 20 years – and that’s the ability to transfer saved games from one version of FM to the next.
    From our data, we know that people play FM in a wide range of different ways. Many will play each version until the next one is released, while others may continue with previous iterations not wanting to give up on their save game. As the best "create your own story" game there is, this is both a blessing and a curse.
    But, thanks to many years of hard work from across the studio, I’m delighted to announce you’ll be able to bring your FM23 career into FM24 across all platforms. This means, when you first launch Football Manager 2024, you'll be given the option to continue your FM23 story, picking up exactly where you left off - powered with the new features and revamps that FM24 will introduce. And it’s not only for this year’s version of the game that this feature will be active. It’s also the plan to bring saved games from FM24 into FM25, despite the big changes coming for FM25, which I’ll talk about more shortly.
    This is especially good for those playing via Game Pass and Apple Arcade who, by subscribing to those platforms, would lose access to their career shortly after the new game is released. This has been unavoidable to date due to the expiry of our licenses which require us to remove titles from platforms upon conclusion. We’re still working out the finer details with the platform holders, but the idea is that you’ll be able to seamlessly move from FM23 to FM24 on those platforms and continue your save or start a new one.
    This won’t be the only long-time requested feature update coming to FM24, and is one of many major tech projects we have been working on as a studio, which leads me nicely onto the final part of the blog…
    FM25: THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE LIKE NOTHING BEFORE
    As mentioned before, FM24 will be the closing of a chapter after 20 years at the top of the management simulation league. But it is far from being the end of our story…
    For many years now, we have been planning the next revolution of Football Manager, something we haven’t claimed since the 3D engine first came into the series back in FM09. 
    With the average play times we enjoy and the health of our game’s performance in the market, it's an important decision to get right. How can we bring new people to the series, whilst not alienating our existing audience? How can we cater for all the different ways that people play our games?
    There are a number of key projects we have been working on for some time now that we’re supremely confident will propel Football Manager forward for all of our player types.
    PROJECT DRAGONFLY: A DEEP DIVE INTO OUR TECHNOLOGY
    We last had a revamp of the graphics engine running behind our match engine in 2017.
    The last major update of the engine behind the wider game, such as the UI, was way earlier than that. 
    Whilst what we did in 2017 was good for the 3D engine, some other things actually went backwards from a consumer-facing perspective. For example, we made the decision back then that the faces of Newgens would appear on the player bodies in the graphics engine, but the technology we use for that has stagnated and we’ve been a bit stuck. The rendering engine we chose to use also didn't keep pace with other engines - and nor did our own internal engine.
     
    Whilst we’ve constantly been having discussions over the years on how to improve our backend technology, back in January 2020 a small group in the team were assigned to start discussing the future more intently across the studio, to work out what to do to really push our technology forward. This became known as Project Dragonfly; a root and branch look at all the technology we use in the studio. Alongside this, we also started looking at different business models, platforms, working practices, and Games as a Service, and if and how we might tie these things together.
     
    The original plan was to deep-dive into the potential and then propel the learnings forward with the aim of a new-look Football Manager for FM22. Due to the pandemic and the impact on working practices at the studio, Project Dragonfly slowed down, mainly so we could deliver the games that we did during this time on time, which many other studios weren’t able to do. So we switched the planned revolution to FM23.
    We started adding to the team to not impinge on other releases and games projects in the studio to try and deliver Project Dragonfly, but in the run up to the release of FM22, we still weren’t where we needed to be to hit our FM23 deadlines. The strong recommendation from those working on the project from a design and engineering perspective was to move not to FM24, but to FM25.
    And that’s what we’re talking about here today.
    NEW CHAPTER, NEW ENGINE
    So, Football Manager 2025, FM25 Console and FM25 Touch will be our first Football Manager releases to use a new engine – Unity. Incredibly well-known in the gaming space, Unity powers many of the best-known games in the world, from Genshin Impact through to the Cities Skyline series. Project Dragonfly explored a number of game engine partners, but after all our research was concluded, Unity was the clear favourite to take us into an exciting new era for the series. 
     
    The switch to Unity is going to give us a lot more power graphically, across all formats, alongside powerful user interface tools. We’ve been working closely with Unity over the last few years to be able to deliver a whole new UI which will dramatically improve the ways you are able to interact with the game, both inside and outside of a matchday. Unity's Universal Render Pipeline (URP) allows us to create more optimal graphics across a range of platforms, from mobile to high-end consoles and PC/Mac - but we're also adding some enhancements on top. The switch to Unity means there is the possibility of better-quality graphics across all supported devices, however it should be expected that there will be some changes to the minimum spec requirements, which will be communicated ahead of FM25’s release.
    For those of you who are not familiar with gaming technologies – in simple terms, FM25 will have a significantly better looking matchday experience - both on the pitch and the supporting stadium environments, alongside a vastly improved user interface that will dramatically improve how you navigate through screens and access all the information available to you as manager. We’ll also have new technology for Newgens and manager creation which are already looking really promising at this early stage.
    The only platform that won’t benefit from the switch to Unity in time for FM25 is FM25 Mobile, but it is absolutely our intention to incorporate the new tech in Mobile at some point in the future.
    A TRUER REFLECTION OF REAL-LIFE FOOTBALL WITH NEW ANIMATION TECH
    We’re also taking a big jump with animations, through new integrations with an exciting partner from the professional world of football. The first part of a multi-year shift will happen in FM24, so you’ll get some of the benefits in our next instalment, with a particular focus on ball physics and player locomotion. This lays the foundations for the bulk of improvements to come alongside the graphical upgrades in models, stadiums and the surrounding scenes that will be introduced in FM25 – although FM24 will still look better graphically than FM23.
    Simply put, the way that everything looks and moves will be far more true-to-life than ever before with FM25. This obviously requires considerable investment – but with the aforementioned growth of the studio in recent years, we now have the resource available to ensure both FM24 and FM25 are progressing simultaneously.
    WELCOME, WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
    The FM25 cycle will also see the long-awaited introduction of women’s football to the Football Manager series. Before I go into the details, I want to acknowledge that since we first announced our commitment to introduce the women’s game back in July 2021, we haven’t provided any further public updates on the project which has led to speculation and some frustration.
    The facts are that we’ve made really good progress in many areas, including research, the match engine and translation. But there are other areas that haven’t made enough advancements, a lot of which are legal issues. The women's game deserves to be the best it possibly can be when it is released - and the new graphics engine will help deliver that.
    Supporting us in bringing this project to life are some key people from inside the women’s game, who are passionate about helping us deliver the most authentic experience possible. We look forward to announcing some of those in a future development update blog.
    THE BIG QUESTION
    By this point that I’m sure that most of you are asking the same question – when can we see what this all looks like? Well, as mentioned earlier, we've had resource on FM25 for some time now, building towards a key milestone at the end of 2023. So, this means we're aiming for the first major FM25 reveal in Q2 of 2024. Until then, the updates from the studio will be informing you all about Football Manager 2024 - and you'll be hearing more about that very soon.
    So, to sum everything up…
    FM24 – Marking our 20th anniversary of Football Manager by delivering the most complete version in the series' history, across Steam, Epic, Microsoft Store, Game Pass, PS5, Xbox, Apple Arcade, Switch and iOS & Android for mobile.
    FM25 – For the first time in decades, a true sequel. The Unity engine will bring a new graphics engine, a fresh user interface and advanced animations, alongside the introduction of women's football (plus lots more, across platforms).
     
    Thank you, as always, for your continued support. We look forward to having you on board for many more years to come as we tackle this enormous change and raise the bar even higher in our genre.
     
    Cheers,
    Miles
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