Sports Interactive announces the shock cancellation of Football Manager 25, but fans are weirdly pleased: 'Better to be honest and admit a mistake'
Sports Interactive has announced the shock cancellation of Football Manager 25, an unexpected and in the context of the series unprecedented decision. Football Manager games have been coming out like clockwork since 2004 under SI and SEGA, never missing a year in those two decades, and even the initial delays to FM25 were unheard-of for the series (the release was pushed back twice, and caused considerable fan grumbling). But no-one expected an outright cancellation.
«Sports Interactive regret to inform that, following extensive internal discussion and careful consideration with SEGA, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Football Manager 25,» reads an official statement, adding that all pre-orders will be refunded.
«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.»
Good old stakeholder compliance, eh? Jokes aside, the statement goes on to give the rationale for cancelling this entry of the series and, honestly, it sounds like the mooted upgrades FM25 was set to include were just a step too far within the annual release schedule.
«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,» reads the statement, which is credited to Sports Interactive rather than any individual.
«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 release was made with the aim of getting the game closer to the desired level but, as we approached
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