- Football Manager 2025 has been completely cancelled by developer Sports Interactive
- The game had already been delayed twice
- The developer stated that it “hasn’t achieved what we set out to do”
Sports Interactive has announced the complete cancelation of the next entry in its behemoth football strategy and management sim franchise, Football Manager 2025.
Announced on the developer’s social media accounts, such as the below on X (formerly Twitter), Sports Interactive apologized to fans, saying “we’re sorry to have let you down.” as the normally annual series will now skip a whole entry.
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. pic.twitter.com/tLRbq8305KFebruary 7, 2025
Previously touted by the developer as the biggest graphical and technical step up the series has ever seen, the transformation has not been deemed good enough for release yet, and Sports Interactive will now “shift our focus to the next release”.
The developer also, interestingly, reveals that total cancelation was preferable to releasing the game in its current state and then patching it with regular updates – a practice almost always seen with video game releases, annual or not.
Addressing that choice, the statement says “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.”
Sports Interactive adds that playtesting and internal evaluations have established that they “are getting close” but then added that “we’re too far away from the standards you deserve.”
It continued: “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 could not achieve the standard required.”
One can only hope that this means Football Manager 2026 will be something truly incredible, given the extra time that this disappointing news also offers the developer.
Usually released in October or November time, a couple of months into the European football season, all eyes will now turn to Football Manager 2026 with fans having to endure more of a wait, and a test of their patience.
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rob.dwiar@futurenet.com (Rob Dwiar)
