Popular video game "Football Manager" announced on Friday that its delayed 2025 edition has been cancelled as the "overarching player experience and interface is not where we need it to be."
The release date for the game had previously been moved twice, but developers Sports Interactive announced their "regret" at having to make the "difficult decision" to cancel the game's release and pledged to shift their focus onto the game's 2026 edition.
"For the large number of you who pre-ordered FM25, we thank you enormously for your trust and support -- we're very sorry to have let you down," Sports Interactive said in a statement.
"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."
The game was originally due to be released in November 2024 and feature women's football teams and players for the first time. The 2024-25 season will be the first without a new "Football Manager" release since it was first launched in the 2024-05 campaign.
The statement continued: "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 he game closer to the desired level but, as we approached critical milestones at the turn of the year, it became unmistakably clear that we would not achieve the standard required, even with the adjusted timeline.
"Whilst many areas of the game have hit our targets, the overarching player experience and interface is not where we need it to be. As extensive evaluation has demonstrated, including consumer playtesting, we have clear validation for the new direction of the game and are getting close -- however, we're too far away from the standards you deserve.
"We could have pressed on, released FM25 in its current state, and fixed things down the line -- but that's not the right thing to do. We were also unwilling to go beyond a March release as it would be too late in the football season to expect players to then buy another game later in the year.
"Through the cancellation, every effort is not focused on ensuring that our next release achieves out goal and hits the quality level we all expect. We will update you on how we are progressing with that as soon as we are able to do so."