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SI have announced that FM25 has been delayed. This is the official statement.
In our last Development Update in September, we explained that we needed to push FM25’s original release back to give ourselves more time to deliver the best possible experience for this first instalment in a new era of Football Manager.
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.
FM25 is the biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation. We simply cannot compromise the delivery of this crucial juncture in Football Manager’s history by rushing to release it in November.
Of course, this is not where any of us expected to be seven weeks out from our release but, in the spirit of our studio values, we always consider the bigger picture – and the bigger picture here is that we need this additional time to deliver a game that we can all be proud of.For the large numbers of you who have already pre-ordered the game, we thank you very much for your trust and support. Given the delay, however, should you wish to claim a refund, please contact your retailer.
Something you noted as missing from our announcement on 30 September was mention of Advanced Access on PC/Mac. We can confirm Advanced Access will be available ahead of the new release date and, when we are confident on how long that period will be, we will update you at the first opportunity. The new gameplay reveal will also now move to the end of January 2025.
We are intensely aware that this will be massively disappointing for you. We share that disappointment and are extremely sorry.
Thank you for reading and your patience. It means the world to us as we continue to work on creating a new era for Football Manager.
Those old enough and with good enough memories will know that this has happened before 22 years ago. Last the time message from Sports Interactive read very differently “we make no apologies for the changes in dates” feels hilarious to read now.
Funnily enough many of the same people from this period are still there, including director Miles Jacobson.
So what will happen now?
Well last time the game was a complete bug ridden mess and we got SIX patches trying to fix it, most people will tell you it wasn't playable at all until CM03/04 came out.
A year later Sports Interactive split with their publisher Eidos. Could the same happen again with SEGA?
Who knows but I can confirm.
Our FM24 Data Update will continue until at least March 2025.
- Date Created
- 10 Oct 2024 14:59:09
- Date Updated
- 10 Oct 2024 14:59:50
- Last Comment
- 16 Oct 2024 06:55:36
Comments
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KEZ_7
I feel like they've really sh*t the bed here. The games never been as popular as it is right now and potentially a lot of people will drop out of playing. Surely the better option is to cancel 25, give us an update for 24 and then put all of the efforts into making an exceptional FM26 release?
Must have spent a load of time on that logo
Lorenzo Zhang
Respect to anyone contribute to data update.：）Glad have you guys there
Steven012
Pathetic.
Saw it coming from a mile off too.
Heads should roll over this. Especially Miles. I've had enough of that arrogant twat as it is. He acts like he IS Football Manager and without him it's nothing. Well, look at the state of it WITH him…
Shoutout again to all the people here who really make the game what it is year on year. If SI had any sense they'd snap up a lot of the folks here and pay them instead of the clowns they're paying to make a mess out of their game and its high profile relaunch. Morons.
Leeds1919
Hilarious!!
nobody will buy a game when the season is 90% done in real life
probably delayed as the womens game isnt quite right, and the highlights dont reflect the actual poorness of the quality
DazS8
Yep,saw that coming.
Your right the 24-25 season will almost be over, Ten Hag will still be waiting for the process to take shape and Leeds will have fell apart again……sorry @Bielsa is a Legend
Beanybaby01
Miles should of been sacked years ago! He is a dinosaur in a modern age, the reason FM is always buggy is largely his fault. Hopefully he gets fired soon.
Beanybaby01
I saw an Unity employee say something on another forum anonymously about working with Sports Interactive and the only word they could say was “shit show”. Really shows we have useless people running Sports Interactive.
priority76
I'm very happy with this news. Six more months of FM24, woohoo!
\'Appy \'Ammer
I've been banned from posting on si forum, until I acknowledge my incredulous question of asking if miles will be considering his position? Valid question if you ask me.
DazS8
I was banned many many years ago…..thay refuse to acknowledge their own failings, always have.
Its the FM Community that has carried this game over the years lets be honest
kingrobbo
How dare you question the leader you naughty boy
what is the point in releasing in March lol[I bet many people actually paid for the product on pre order as per the advertised November release…will they be refunded now if they want their money back]
They should miss a version now as by the time this is actually patched and ‘some’ of the many inevitable bugs addressed they will be launching the all new shiny FM26
PimpmyFM
Completely agree with you there Daz
Leeds1919
Fair point mate, it’s about the time of our end of season wobble
Leeds1919
It’s Miles that is the very naughty boy, yet SI staff think he is the messiah
kingrobbo
lol very good
bartdude
I completely agree with the comments made. Although not yet banned from the Si forums, I have been warned and threatened with such a thing. They're a closed shop and react strongly against any level of criticism. Also, as Daz has mentioned, it's the FM community that has kept the franchise alive by making the game far more immersive and “real”. There needs to be changes made at Si, from the top down.
Joe5p
It is probably unrealistic to think this, but if Miles or the team in general read this board, there is always opportunity amongst chaos.
The best bet would be patch FM24 with correct competition data and a data update soon and again after the window closes, give the option (or default) to August 2024 start.
Forget a March launch, the only draw, even if minimal, will be the data update and for those with more money than most who want to take a punt to see the new engine.
I think most of the community would prefer shelving FM25 if they move to a new release cycle that has FM26/27/28 etc. released by mid to late September each year, to align closely with the majority of transfer windows and give people a chance to shape their season almost in line with the real calendar (albeit I know not all leagues have an August start in real life).
If we end up with a solid FM26 with -85 potential, and an earlier release cycle in perpetuity, many hardened and loyal fans would prefer that as opposed to a semi-complete FM25 in March followed by November release of FM26 etc.
I could be miles out (no pun intended), but I think the above would be their best PR/marketing option.
Wayne Wilson
By March half the football season has gone is it really worth buying the game then it seems we will be getting half a game for half a season but getting ask to pay full price where is the value is in that. Treating customers in this way is disgusting I will give this one a miss.
Leeds1919
Couldn’t resist mate
KEZ_7
Don't see the women's game being the issue. That's just a league or DB to add, much like people add obscure leagues in the men's game at the moment.
…Don't want to get into the quality debate
Leeds1919
My tongue was stuck to the side of my mouth mate, I think the issue is the quality of the staff at SI, they are only used to working on a platform that hasn’t materially changed in 20 years, which is a lifetime of advancement in the industry.
im firmly of the view that the community has significantly more talent than Miles and his mates
bring back the Collyers brothers😊
KEZ_7
You're so right RE the community. I honestly think the majority of users would be much happier with OUR update and the game being delayed to 2026…
Such a shame man, huge hit for them
kingrobbo
yes its nothing to do with that at all its as you say like adding some extra leagues and some additional players etc in DB[they are already there that is why FM24 editor is so slow loading, certain sections are closed to us plebs but the data is there]
the issue is they cant do what they wanted in the timescale, they are having issues and it seems they can't deliver what they were saying they could, so they are moving it back nearly 5 months which either indicates they have hit a real big issue since announcing the 26/11/24 release or it was
being rushed out to meet that date and they have decided it won't be ready in time
I was expecting it to be a bit of an anticlimax anyway if I am honest,but now its a bit of a disaster on the marketing front, as it isn't being delayed for a week or 2 its months
\'Appy \'Ammer
If they had fixed the AI squad development, and AI match management, FFP (which has never worked as far as I can see), & International management and called that FM25 then I'd have been delighted.
What is so annoying is that they could fix these issues if they put the right resources into it, but unfortunately they down tools after the final March update each year to focus on the next iteration.
So, instead of having a really polished game they end up with one that has the same bugs year in year out.
There needs to be a change at the top, there needs to be a shake up.
kingrobbo
I have always wanted to see competition, another franchise to compete with them, then they would have to step up as it is now they are the only option
but users may vote by not buying FM25 that is the only way by the look of it, as the dialogue with reasonable long standing paying customers is frankly dreadful, and if you dare to speak up then you get treated as you have, that is really poor, it seems the only feedback allowed has to be positive
They are getting away with the fact, the game is made better by the likes of yourself and others in the community/staff here who provide content SI should be doing in the first place.
tylerowen
why am i not suprised! so glad i didnt hit the pre order button this year. SI have two choices as i see it, either offer any buyers of FM25 a free upgrade to FM26 or face the face that FM25 sales will be down the pan. As a life long FM/ Champ Man player, this is the only yearly release of the new game i have absolutely no intention of buying.
LudoxPendragon
We all knew FM25 would be a failure. And in fact…
philip
Yeah, you can safely skip this version of the game and wait for FM 26.
flaaxoo
This is very funny. I was angry because the launch date was postponed to November. However, I pre-ordered the game and now the launch has been postponed to March. It has become unbearable. It is good that I was able to return the game and get my money.
Dima1515
what about a data update for console edition on game pass?