Football Manager 25 Canceled, Dev Apologizes for Letting Fans Down

Sports Interactive and Sega have announced the cancellation of Football Manager 25 across all platforms. This marks the first time the long-running series has skipped a year since its 2004 debut. The decision follows a challenging development process hampered by the transition to the Unity game engine. While initially touted as a significant technical and visual leap, the new engine presented unforeseen difficulties, particularly affecting the player experience and user interface.

Sega Sammy Holdings' recent financial results reflect a writedown of costs related to the game's development. Sports Interactive, in a blog post, explained that the cancellation came after extensive internal discussions and careful consideration with Sega. The company assures fans that no job losses resulted from this decision.

Furthermore, there will be no Football Manager 24 update incorporating 2024/25 season data. This is to ensure all resources are dedicated to Football Manager 26, slated for a November release. Discussions are underway with platform holders and licensors regarding extending FM24 agreements on subscription services like Game Pass.

The cancellation follows two previous delays, the last pushing the release to March 2025. Sports Interactive is offering refunds to those who pre-ordered FM25 and apologizes for the delay in communicating the decision, citing stakeholder compliance requirements. The developer emphasizes its commitment to delivering high-quality games and explains that despite progress in several areas, the overall player experience and interface did not meet their standards, a conclusion supported by extensive internal testing and consumer feedback. Releasing a subpar game, or delaying it further into the football season, was deemed unacceptable. The team's full attention now shifts to ensuring Football Manager 26 meets the expected quality.