Football Manager 25 shown the red card — this year's entry has been cancelled

Football Manager 25, what was set to be the latest entry in the mega-popular and long-running football management simulation, has been cancelled.

The news was broken today as part of publisher Sega’s latest financial results, and follows a difficult development cycle for Football Manager devs Sports Interactive, with previous postponements for the game forcing FM 25 into a frustrating mid-season release window. That’s now been canned altogether.

"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,” says a statement from Sports Interactive.

"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."

From extra time to the full time whistle

So, why’s this happened? Sports Interactive says the decision was brought on by "a variety of challenges that we've been open about to date, and many more unforeseen".

"As we approached critical milestones at the turn of the year, it became unmistakably clear that we would not achieve the standard required, even with the adjusted timeline," the statement adds.

"Whilst many areas of the game have hit our targets, the overarching player experience and interface is not where we need it to be. 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.”

There have been eyebrows raised about Football Manager 25’s development plan for some time among the series’ hardcore fans.

Billed as a milestone entry into the long-running franchise and a generational leap, there was always the sense that the team at Sports Interactive had bitten off more than it could chew for a single annual release. The plan had been to totally revamp the match engine and add women’s football into its extensive database. Just one of these additions would be a grand undertaking — and the pressure seemed evident not only by FM 25’s two previous delays, but the announcement that international management would be off the table for this release.

On top of that, as an annualised franchise, delays would mean there would be two releases in 2025 — the FM 25, and this year’s Football Manager 26. Not only would that be a huge workload, but a bit of a stretch to expect series fans to cough up the cash twice in less than 12 months.

If you’d already pre-ordered Football Manager 25, Sports Interactive reassures that refunds will be issued out automatically. All eyes will now be on Football Manager 26 which, if previously stable years in the franchise’s history are anything to go by, would have been expected to launch before the end of 2025.

Here's hoping the stalwart British dev studio can recover — it's been a terrible couple of years for layoffs in the gaming industry.

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