After a tumultuous development cycle and delays, Football Manager 25 has been cancelled. Developer Sports Interactive will now turn its focus to the next version of the long-running football management simulation series. This marks the first time since the Football Manager 2005 series launched in 2004 that the FM game of the year will not be released. The release of FM25 was originally scheduled for November 2024, but was pushed back to March 2025 as Sports Interactive sought more time to polish the game.
FM25 canceled after delay
“Sports Interactive regrets to inform you that after extensive internal discussions and careful consideration with SEGA, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Football Manager 25 and shift our focus to the next version,” the studio said in a development update on the FM website on Thursday. “To those who have pre-ordered FM25, we are very grateful for your trust and support – and we are sorry to disappoint you.”
The cancellation affects all versions of the game across different platforms. Players who pre-ordered FM25 will receive a full refund if purchased through an officially recognized SEGA retailer. The developer said refunds will be processed by individual retailers in due course.
The latest update comes just a few weeks ahead of the game’s delayed March 2025 release. FM25 went through a difficult development period and faced two delays. Sports Interactive worked hard to move the entire game to the Unity engine, facing some technical issues during the transition. The target release date was first pushed back from the usual early November to late November, and then to March 2025.
The studio apologized to fans for the delayed communication about the game’s cancellation and said that stakeholder compliance, including legal and financial regulations, meant February 6 was the earliest it could make an announcement.
“With the launch of FM25, we set out to create the biggest technical and visual advancement the series has seen in a generation, setting the stage for a new era,” the developers said in the post.
“Due to the various challenges we have faced to date, and many more unforeseen challenges, despite the tremendous efforts of our team, we are currently not achieving the goals we set out to achieve in sufficient areas of the game. Every decision to delay a release was made to get the game closer to where it was expected to be, but as we approached key milestones at the beginning of the year, it became clear that even with adjusted timelines, we would not be able to achieve the required standards,” it added.
According to the British studio, FM25’s overall player experience and interface were not up to par, although it hit the mark in other aspects of the game.
Sports Interactive will now turn to the next game in the series, presumably Football Manager 26, which will likely be released around November 2025. “With the cancellation, we will now do everything we can to ensure our next release achieves our goals and reaches the level of quality we all expect. Once we are able to do this, we will update you on our progress as soon as possible,” it said.
