Football Manager 25 has been cancelled, shifting focus to FM 26

thesixthaxis.com:

Sports Interactive and Sega have announced that Football Manager 25 has been fully cancelled, with the studio now turning its focus to Football Manager 26 that fans will now expect for later this year.

All pre-orders of the game will be refunded, though the process for this will depend on the retailer and platform.

FM25 was originally planned for release last November, in keeping with the yearly release schedule of the sport management sim, Sports Interactive struggled with the transition to a new game engine. Initially it was delayed by a few weeks, then pushed all the way back until March 2025. Any further delays would bring the game too close to the end of the regular footballing season, and too close to the expected November launch of FM26, so FM25 has been cancelled and all the work will be rolled through to the next release.

In their statement, Sports Interactive lays out the timing of this announcement, the challenges faced, and the simple fact that the game was not yet in a fit state to release:

We know this will come as a huge disappointment, especially given that the release date has already moved twice, and you have been eagerly anticipating the first gameplay reveal. We can only apologise for the time it has taken to communicate this decision. Due to stakeholder compliance, including legal and financial regulations, today was the earliest date that we could issue this statement.

We have always prided ourselves on delivering the best value for money games that bring you countless hours of enjoyment, that feel worth every moment and every penny you spend. With the launch of FM25 we set out to create the biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation, laying the building blocks for a new era.

Due to a variety of challenges that we’ve been open about to date, and many more unforeseen, we currently haven’t achieved what we set out to do in enough areas of the game, despite the phenomenal efforts of our team. Each decision to delay the