Highly anticipated sports sim Football Manager 25 has been delayed out of November and into next year, the developer announced Thursday.
In a lengthy statement published to X (formerly Twitter) and its website, development studio Sports Interactive said the team needed more time to ensure it was up to certain standards, and that it’s targeting a March 2025 release window. While not specified, this seems to pertain to all versions of the game, including Football Manager 25 Touch on Nintendo Switch and the mobile version.
While the original November 26 release was only announced just last week, Sports Interactive had previously delayed announcing that date due to problems with development. These issues seem to have continued, according to the new statement.
“In our last Development Update in September, we explained that we needed to push FM25’s original release back to give ourselves more time to deliver the best possible experience for this first instalment in a new era of Football Manager,” it reads. “This additional time has not been sufficient to ensure the game quality and experience meets your expectations and our very high standards.”
We have made the tough decision to delay the release of Football Manager 25 until March 2025.
Statement: https://t.co/zW7dRd1Lkp pic.twitter.com/UKPnz4l0Gb
— Football Manager (@FootballManager) October 10, 2024
Sports Interactive says Football Manager 25 will be a huge change to the series, as it not only adds the option to play through a women’s league for the first time, but also moves the series to the Unity engine for improved visuals and performance. Studio director Miles Jacobson wrote in that earlier blog post that development has been “challenging” in part due to the transition to Unity. “We knew that moving the entire game to the Unity engine was going to be a complex endeavor. As we’ve gotten deeper into the process and gained learnings, it’s fair to say it’s been trickier than we originally anticipated,” he wrote.
This led to the team having to cut familiar game modes, including international management (although it will still be in the mobile version). Jacobson promised it’ll be back in Football Manager 26.
Fans can look forward to a new gameplay reveal at the end of January, along with a still-planned Advanced Access period for PC and Mac. Since preorders have already gone live, Sports Interactive is allowing users to claim a refund.