Sports Interactive and Sega officially announded that they decided to cancel the release of Football Manager 2025. The announcement was made on Friday (7/2) through their websites and social media.
The cancellation was announced as part of Sega’s latest financial report. The decision to cancel Football Manager 2025 came as a shock, especially since the game was supposed to be released in March 2025, less than a month from now.
Sports Interactive said the cancellation was due to the inability to achieve their required standards for the game to be released to public, despite having already delayed it twice. Football Manager 2025 was initially planned to release on September 2024, and then delayed to March 2025 before ultimately being canceled.
The London-based company also said that they could’ve pressed forward to release the game, but decided against it as they feel it’s not the right thing to do. They also can’t delay the game any further than March 2025, as it is already too late in footballing season and they’re planning to release Football Manager 2026 later in the year.
“We could have pressed on, released FM25 in its current state, and fixed things down the line – but that’s not the right thing to do. We were also unwilling to go beyond a March release as it would be too late in the football season to expect players to then buy another game later in the year,” said Sports Interactive and Sega on their official statement.
What’s next for Sports Interactive and the Football Manager franchise?
With this official announcement, Sports Interactive will shift their focus and effort on the next edition of Football Manager. They also add that they’ll work hard to ensure that the next Football Manager will achieve the quality level they expect, and will provide details as soon as they possibly can.
Sports Interactive and Sega will also starting to work on the refunds process for all the pre-order purchases made on the official SEGA-approved retailers. They’re also currently in discussion with various platform and licensors, hoping to extend the availability of Football Manager 2024 on various subscription services.
Sports Interactive also confirm that they won’t release any 2024/25 season update for Football Manager 2024, as it requires many critical resources within the team and can diverts their focus away from developing the next edition of the game.
You can read the full statement by Sports Interactive: here.
