FM25 IS CANCELLED

[Johno]

Quote

Development Update: Football Manager 25

A Message from Sports Interactive, An Update on Football Manager 25

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 and shift our focus to the next release.

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. Please see the FAQs below on obtaining your refund.

We know this will come as a huge disappointment, especially given that the release date has already moved twice, and you have been eagerly anticipating the first gameplay reveal. We can only apologise for the time it has taken to communicate this decision. Due to stakeholder compliance, including legal and financial regulations, today was the earliest date that we could issue this statement. 

We have always prided ourselves on delivering the best value for money games that bring you countless hours of enjoyment, that feel worth every moment and every penny you spend. With the launch of FM25 we set out to create the biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation, laying the building blocks for a new era. 

Due to a variety of challenges that we’ve been open about to date, and many more unforeseen, we currently haven’t achieved what we set out to do in enough areas of the game, despite the phenomenal efforts of our team. Each decision to delay the release was made with the aim of getting the game closer to the desired level but, as we approached critical milestones at the turn of the year, it became unmistakably clear that we would not achieve the standard required, even with the adjusted timeline. 

Whilst many areas of the game have hit our targets, the overarching player experience and interface is not where we need it to be. As extensive evaluation has demonstrated, including consumer playtesting, we have clear validation for the new direction of the game and are getting close – however, we’re too far away from the standards you deserve. 

We could have pressed on, released FM25 in its current state, and fixed things down the line - but that’s not the right thing to do. We were also unwilling to go beyond a March release as it would be too late in the football season to expect players to then buy another game later in the year.

Through the cancellation, every effort is now focused on ensuring that our next release achieves our goal and hits the quality level we all expect. We will update you on how we are progressing with that as soon as we are able to do so.  

Thank you for reading, your patience and your continued support. Our full focus now returns to creating a new era for Football Manager.

Sports Interactive

Disappointment news to wake up to this morning. I'm not surprised they have eventually scrapped FM25. I think they knew it would never happen sadly. 

They have screwed up massively and got huge job to get trust again from FM community. 

[Derek]

At least it’s out there now. I was getting pretty bored with all the speculation as to what was happening.

There will be no data update either to bring FM24 in line with this season.

There are some great ones out there at Sortitoutsi and FMInside for example.

[VyKing]

It makes sense to ditch fm25 if it wasn't ready and concentrate on fm26 taking what they've already done and carry it on with the next version.

The community has a lot of great databases out there to keep the game upto date until fm26 and SI knows this.

I can't imagine the abuse Miles will be getting regarding this though which is uncalled for and unneeded but it seems the gaming community as a whole has gone down hill in that regards.

The problem for SI now is they need to do something very special with FM26 to win people back around.

[Derek]

I'm sure there was a lot of pressure over the last number of months. The timing of the decisions are the only thing that get me a bit as they clearly knew the game wasn't going to be ready when taking pre-orders.

I do understand that SI can't operate or communicate in the same vein as they once did 'due to stakeholder compliance'.

Do I just rename the sections to FM26 now? 

[Johno]

It is frustating. And look at all the hard work you have done @Derek for preparing FM25!! 

They have to make sure FM26 is the best one by far after cancelling FM25!

[Derek]

I think it will be or at least I hold out hope it will be several levels up.

I can't take a year of speculating though after the past few weeks 

 

[cameosis]

On 07/02/2025 at 11:33, Derek said:

I'm sure there was a lot of pressure over the last number of months. The timing of the decisions are the only thing that get me a bit as they clearly knew the game wasn't going to be ready when taking pre-orders.

I do understand that SI can't operate or communicate in the same vein as they once did 'due to stakeholder compliance'.

Do I just rename the sections to FM26 now? 

make it 27 or 28, just to be on the safe side of things.

i never believed they’d manage to release the game, to be honest. the process is interestingly enough always the same, whether politics, sports, business -- denial as long as it’s possible, then breaking the »news« (which everyone expected in the first place) with some fluff and buzzwords.

completely agree on the pre-order aspect, but again, to quote the great gil scott-heron from his song »we almost lost detroit«: money wins out every time. the non-update for fm24 is also poor -- so many players/staff that are not in the official db.

we need an open source alternative to the game, and i believe, there will be one eventually -- look what blender has accomplished for instance.

[AFKG]

When they missed the reveal at the end of January, I knew something was up. It only grew with each passing day.

Amazed how took them 1 week to tell something.

[Tempelman]

Regarding the community I don't see a lot of negativity, except that they aimed at transparancy, but stayed silent for so (too) long.

Me personally expected this would happen, but they should have cancelled in October. I don't care much, I want a playable and fun game and I don't mind the longer wait.

Because in the end, it's a game, not the end of the world. I believe the backlash would be a lot bigger if they delivered a half-assed unfinished game, which people paid good money for. 

My two cents