Football Manager 25 Cancellation: Why Releasing It Would Have Been 'Embarrassing'

The Decision to Cancel Football Manager 25

• 💡 The cancellation of Football Manager 2025 was due to the unsatisfactory quality of the game, which would not have provided good value for money.
• 🎯 Releasing the game in its state would have been embarrassing and permanently damaged the studio's reputation.
• 🔑 The game was initially postponed due to unforeseen development issues, including a forgotten feature, a legal matter, and a third-party problem, all occurring on the same day.

Development Challenges and Quality Assurance

• 🧠 The game was the most ambitious title yet, involving a new engine and significant changes, but several issues arose during development.
• ⚠️ Even with perfect development, the quality might not have met consumer expectations.
• 📊 Internal QA and consumer testing yielded an average rating of 7 out of 10, which was deemed insufficient for Sports Interactive's standards.
• 📌 The studio head personally found the near-final build to be "not good enough" after two hours of gameplay.

Communication and Transparency

• 💬 The studio acknowledges criticism regarding the communication of the cancellation, attributing delays to Japanese stock market rules that required public companies to disclose information first.
• 🚫 The studio head stopped using social media due to experiencing anti-Semitic abuse, which was the final straw after dealing with other forms of harassment, including death threats.
• ⚖️ Legal and corporate regulations limit the extent to which businesses can be fully transparent about development issues.

Impact on FM26 and Future Development

• 📈 The cancellation of FM25 has had an impact on the development of FM26, allowing the team to analyze what went wrong and implement improvements.
• 🛠️ A previously planned WhatsApp-based communication system was removed from FM26 after proving ineffective in-game, reverting to a more familiar system.

Introduction of Women's Football

• 🚀 The decision to include women's football in FM25, now for FM26, was influenced by feedback from Lionesses players who stated it wouldn't be commercially viable without industry support.
• 🌟 The studio is now committed to supporting women's football, aiming to help smash through the glass ceiling by integrating it seamlessly with men's football in the game.
• 🗓️ Upcoming announcements will detail the extent of leagues and licenses available for women's football.