Sports Interactive and Sega announced the cancellation of Football Manager 25, the first year the series will skip a release since its inception, shortly before its proposed March 2025 launch.
Details on the cancellation
The decision to cancel Football Manager 25 followed two prior delays as the developers recognized the game’s quality targets could not be met without further postponements, which were ruled out. The game had been envisioned as a significant overhaul, promising the “biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation” and including enhanced animations, improved user interface (UI), and a reworked matchday experience, plus the integration of women’s soccer for the first time.
As the project progressed, Sports Interactive encountered difficulties with the scope of the revamp and had already postponed the title from its usual fall release to March, ultimately missing a significant portion of the soccer season. The studio had not published a gameplay reveal and missed a scheduled development update in January.
In a statement, Sports Interactive noted, “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.” The studio explained that releasing the game in its current state and subsequently updating it with patches would be “not the right thing to do.”
Sports Interactive clarified that further delays were not viable, indicating it would be too late in the soccer season for players to purchase the game. Consequently, they decided to skip Football Manager 25 and instead focus on the next title in the series, expected for release in Fall 2025.
After announcing the cancellation, the developers expressed their intent to concentrate efforts on ensuring the next release meets the anticipated quality, stating, “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.”
The studio apologized for the timing of the announcement, attributing the delay in communication to legal and financial regulations related to Sega’s status as a publicly traded company. Players who pre-ordered Football Manager 25 will receive full refunds. Sports Interactive also confirmed it will not update Football Manager 2024 with current season data, citing this as a “substantial undertaking” that would detract from development efforts for the next game.
Franchise history
Football Manager has maintained an annual release schedule since the debut of Football Manager 2005 in November 2004. The franchise’s history in soccer management gaming extends back to Championship Manager, which launched in 1992. The developers acknowledged that the cancellation would likely be a “huge disappointment” for their community of dedicated players.
In a recent update, Sports Interactive indicated that they made the “difficult decision” to cancel Football Manager 25 after “internal discussion and careful consideration with Sega.” The series continues to adapt, with the most recent installment released in November 2023, and Football Manager 26 is anticipated to arrive later in 2025.
The latest version of Football Manager can be played on various platforms, including Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. The franchise has become notably popular, with the latest title achieving seven million players within the first 100 days of its launch.
Featured image credit: Emilio Garcia/Unsplash
