Sports Interactive cancels FM25, shifts focus to FM26

Sports Interactive announced that it was canceling FM25 after facing multiple delays. The game developer announced that it would refund all the gamers who had pre-ordered the game using the method they used. Sports Interactive added that it would shift its focus to completing FM26.

Football Manager has become one of the most popular football management simulation games on the planet. The franchise has released multiple iterations of the game since the mid-2000s. However, due to several challenges, the studio had to cancel the highly-anticipated game.

Sports Interactive cancels FM25

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. pic.twitter.com/tLRbq8305K

— Football Manager (@FootballManager) February 7, 2025

Sports Interactive announced that it was cancelling Football Manager 25. The British developer revealed that the cancellation would affect all platforms and that the decision had been discussed with its publisher, SEGA. Sports Interactive added that the cancellation means the studio would shift its focus onto finishing FM26.

They apologized to gamers who had made pre-orders and provided them with instructions on how they could get their refunds. The refunds will only be available through official SEGA-approved retailers. 

The British game studio revealed that it hadn’t canceled the game earlier because it believed that it could deliver a high-quality product that players would be happy with.

However, challenges in production resulted in the project being scrapped, as they could not deliver a quality game or extend the release date to later than March 2025. The company admitted that past March 2025, it would be too late for gamers to buy the game only to have another game released later in the year.

Sports Interactive’s major delays were attributed to the studio’s inability to finish the game on time after making changes to its content and features. The studio shifted to the Unity game engine for FM25, a switch meant to create technical and visual enhancements that would lay the franchise’s foundation for its next era.

The delays were also due to the developer’s decision to include simulations for women’s football for the first time ever. The game was also set to discontinue features such as the international management mode. 

According to Sports Interactive, issues in stakeholder compliance have affected its ability to share information. They added that there will not be a game update with 2024/25 season data as it would take away resources from its next release.

After revealing that it was in talks with its various platform partners and licensors to extend the FM24 agreements, the developer promised to keep gamers informed.

Gamers react to FM25’s cancelation

Gamers took to the internet to respond to Sports Interactive’s announcement on the canceled game. Some gamers supported the decision, saying that it was better for the studio to take the time to make a quality release instead of releasing a poor-quality game and skewing its release calendar at the same time.

Other gamers thanked the studio and voiced their support, adding that it must be a difficult period for the studio and that they were looking forward to Football Manager 26. 

“Devastating but also inevitable, had been clear for a while that it had likely been an overpromise & underdeliver from the team but what happened as happened. Better than a game you weren’t happy with. It’s just a sad day, but we keep it moving with FM24 until.”

— Adam

However, some gamers did not take the news well and criticized Sports Interactive for its approach. They said that the studio’s communication strategy was lacking and that it should have announced such significant changes in January.

Others criticized the studio, saying that it shouldn’t have focused as much on women’s football, adding that it had ruined its previously stellar reputation in a few months. Several other groups called on the studio to give the game a database update that would help them carry on until the next release was ready.

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