In a new statement posted on X, developer Sports Interactive has made the difficult decision to delay Football Manager 25. This isn’t the first delay the game has experienced, as the game was originally set to release in September, but after an update that was posted on the Football Manager website, they announced that they needed more time to work on the game. Unfortunately, those who were excited to jump into the new era of Football Manager will have to wait a little bit longer. The title has now been delayed once more, and the game is now set to release in March 2025.
Football Manager 2024 was a massive game for the company and was one of the most groundbreaking titles released by Sports Interactive. However, it seems that they’ve now got stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to meet the deadline to appease the football fans. However, the fans in the comments on the statement are not happy at all and are coming at them with total aggression. A lot of the comments are telling the developers to skip working on Football Manager 25 entirely and move on to FM26. Which, realistically, what is stopping Sports Interactive from saying that Football Manager 25 is Football Manager 26 after making some tweaks?
Tempers are rising, with most saying to scrap the game as there is “no point in releasing it at the end of the season.” For the vast majority, Sports Interactive has had a monopoly on this particular genre of sports gaming, with FIFA being a strong competitor in the football gaming scene. However, when it comes to combining football with a management sim, no one does it quite like Sports Interactive does.
In their statement, they mention, “Following discussions with Sega, our licensors, and partners, we have agreed the best course of action is to delay the launch until March 2025… This additional time has not been sufficient to ensure the game quality and experience meet your expectations and our very high standards.”
While most Football Manager games are a huge financial success for Sports Interactive, they are not the only company that is suffering during this time in the games industry. Companies that you wouldn’t expect to are having difficulties, with layoffs being a disappointing constant at this point in time, alongside many games either being scrapped or delayed. At this point, it’s uncertain whether there will be any development or release issues with Football Manager 26 or whether they will just skip a season due to timelines being too tight.
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