Sports Interactive has announced that Football Manager 25 has officially been cancelled. The decision comes after multiple delays of the game for various development reasons.
In a post on the game’s website, the studio says they will now shift focus to the next release of the game.
“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,” Sports Interactive said. “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.”
Originally scheduled to release last fall, Football Manager 25 was then delayed again into March 2025. The delays come, in part, due to the game’s transition from the proprietary Sports Interactive Operating System (SIOS) to the Unity engine. Despite the delays, the team says it didn’t achieve what it was hoping for in multiple areas of the game “despite the phenomenal efforts of our team”.
“Whilst many areas of the game have hit our targets, the overarching player experience and interface is not where we need it to be,” they said. “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.”
They continued by saying the game could’ve still been released “in its current state” while fixing things post launch. However, they didn’t believe it to be the right thing to do for the players who have been supporting the franchise for years. They were also “unwilling” to push the release date any further than March due to it being so late in the current season. Instead, everything will be put towards Football Manager 26.
As far as why they didn’t cancel the game earlier, the team says that there was a “strong belief” that they could reach their targets for the game despite the delays. However, more challenges that came up meant that they could no longer achieve their goals.
“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,” they said. “We will update you on how we are progressing with that as soon as we are able to do so.”
Players who pre-ordered the game will receive a full refund either through their retailer.
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