Football Manager 25 video game cancelled after series of delays

The makers of Football Manager have cancelled the 2025 release of the game after a series of delays.

Sports Interactive (SI) announced that FM25 had been scrapped, with the game’s makers turning their attention to future games, with the next release usually due in November. SI, which is owned by the gaming company Sega, apologised to fans after making the “difficult decision” to cancel the game after a number of technical hitches.

“We know this will come as a huge disappointment, especially given that the release date has already moved twice, and [fans] have been eagerly anticipating the first gameplay reveal,” a statement said.

The game’s makers said they had planned to “create the biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation” but that had proven impossible.

They said: “While many areas of the game have hit our targets, the overarching player experience and interface is not where we need it to be. 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.”

SI will not update the 2024 version of the game with 2025’s squad and transfer information, but said it would provide full refunds to fans who ordered FM25.