British studio Sports Interactive has announced the postponement of its game Football Manager 25, which was due to be released in November and is now expected in March.
Football Manager 25 will not be released in the fall. The British studio Sports Intercative announced, Thursday, October 10, the postponement of the release of its game, which was scheduled for the end of November 2024. The new edition of the famous football management simulation is now expected in March 2025.
This “painful” decision is the consequence of the difficult development of this FM25which must be a revolution in the history of the franchise with the transition to a completely new game engine (Unity) and the introduction of women’s football. In September, Sports Interactive had already announced an initial postponement of a few weeks in order to give itself more time to refine its product. Removals of features and game modes had also been announced, such as the temporary disappearance of the possibility of leading a national team.
A postponement rather than a disappointing release
“This additional development time was unfortunately not enough to ensure that the quality of the game and the experience lived up to our expectations and our very rigorous standards,” explains the studio, refusing to give in to the temptation to release a game that is not finished and riddled with bugs.
“We explained that this development cycle had been very taxing for the studio. Many aspects had progressed more slowly than we had hoped, despite the fact that everyone on the team had been working at a breakneck pace to try to finish on time,” adds Sports Interactive, a subsidiary of Japanese publisher Sega.
“Visual and technical leap”
With its new engine, replacing the one produced internally and used for more than a decade, Football Manager must offer an unprecedented “visual and technical leap” in the history of the series. As for women’s football, it is not only planned to apply the game’s recipe to this new database, but also to make it possible for a coach to move from a women’s team to a men’s club.
