There’s some very disappointing news for soccer fans who were looking forward to Football Manager 25. Sports Interactive and SEGA have announced that Football Manager 25 has been canceled and will be shifting their focus to the next release. As a result, those who preordered Football Manager 25 will receive refunds. The announcement comes after the game was delayed twice and it still had not revealed any sort of gameplay. According to Sports Interactive, the announcement couldn’t be made until now due to stakeholder compliance, including legal and financial regulations.
It sounds like the project got too big for the team, as it aimed to “create the biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation, laying the building blocks for a new era.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to achieve what it set out to do, but as it approached critical milestones in early 2025, it became clear the game wouldn’t meet the standard the team aimed for, even with an adjusted timeline. Sports Interactive didn’t feel it reached its goals on the overarching player experience and interface. It conducted consumer playtesting and, based on the feedback, felt the title was too far from the standards players deserve.
While this could be purely marketing and PR speak, the team said it could have released the game in its current state and fix things down the line, but felt that’s not the right thing to do. It was also unwilling to go past a March release date because it would be too late in the football season to expect players to buy yet another game later in the year. We’ll just have to wait and see how Football Manager 26 turns out.
As for refunds, all preorders will be automatically refunded in full if it was purchased through an official SEGA-approved retailer. The team also confirmed it’s currently in discussions with partners and licensors in hopes of extending its Football Manager 24 agreements, and an update for that will be made in due course.
