Just 10 days after announcing a late November release date for Football Manager 25, Sports Interactive has delayed the soccer sim by several months. Developer and game publisher Sega announced in September that the release date would be pushed back several weeks to “deliver the best possible experience for the first installment in a new era of Football Manager.” However, the team says it will still take time to “ensure the quality and experience of the game meets our customers’ expectations and our very high standards.” As such, Football Manager 25 is expected to be released in March.
Sports Interactive is giving the long-running game a major overhaul in upcoming versions, but the studio says it’s been a difficult process. “Despite the entire team working to get everything done at an incredible pace, many things have been slower than expected,” Sports Interactive said in a statement. “The schedule was already tight and, as many recent comments have rightly pointed out, we were simply rushing too fast and risked compromising our usual standards. This meant that everyone working across the studio There’s a lot of pressure on us. Everyone is passionate about delivering the best game possible.”
The studio noted that Football Manager 25 represents the series’ “biggest technical and visual advances” in recent years, including the switch to the Unity engine. To that end, “we absolutely cannot sacrifice the delivery of this important milestone in Football Manager’s history by rushing a November release.” Sports Interactive currently plans to provide the first proper report of gameplay in January. There will still be an early access period for players on PC and Mac.
Developers and Sega typically release editions of Football Manager in early November each year (EA releases FIFA/EA Sports FC games in late September or early October). This gives Sports Interactive time to make the game as up-to-date as possible, taking into account player trades and other important real-world events that take place during the summer transfer window.
However, when the release of Football Manager 25 was postponed to March, that rhythm was severely disrupted. There may be ripple effects on the next entry. It also means this match will be nearing the end of the European football season.
Following Sports Interactive’s announcement, some players are calling for the studio to release a database update for Football Manager 2024 that at least reflects this season’s real-world changes. Some have even suggested that the developers cancel the planned game and focus on Football Manager 26 after bringing the current version up to date.
