Football Manager 25 gets delayed (again) to next year, citing developmental difficulties

Once more, Football Manager 25 developers Sports Interactive have decided to push back the launch the upcoming game in the series, this time all the way to next year.

FM25 is supposed to be a big step for the popular franchise as it changes its game engine to Unity for the future. The developers had already shifted the original launch date towards the end of November (from the usual launch window of the first week of the month). While the community was okay with the initial shift, the latest news will surely upset the hardcore fans.

Football Manager 25 will release in Q1 2025

When Football Manager 25‘s planned release date was first revealed in September, the developers explained that the switch from the start to the end of the month would allow them to deliver the “best possible experience.” Unfortunately, the deadlines have proved to be a tad too tight for them to manage.

This additional time has not been sufficient to ensure the game quality and experience meets your expectations and our very high standards. 

In the previous blog we explained that it has been a difficult development cycle for the studio. Many things have been moving slower than we had predicted – despite everyone in the team working at an incredible pace to try and get everything done. 

Timelines were already tight and, as rightly pointed out by many of your recent comments, we were simply rushing too much and in danger of compromising our usual standards. This has put an enormous amount of pressure on everyone working across the studio, who are all passionately committed to delivering the best game possible.”

Sports Interactive has also considered the community’s feedback when making the harsh decision. The developers felt that they were rushing too much and compromising the expected standards.

Despite the delay, Sports Interactive has once again vouched for Football Manager 25 to be the biggest technical and visual advancement for the series, and they don’t want to jeopardize its potential chances of success. As of writing, the exact release date for the platforms has not been announced. The new dates will have advanced access once again, and as a hardcore fan, I genuinely hope that the wait will be worth it in the end.