The Streak is over: For the first time in 20 years, a Football Manager game is delayed

Football Manager key art - manager of a football team watching play on the field

(Image credit: Sports Interactive)

Sorry, footie folks, but Football Manager 25 is not going to make its November release date. Developer Sports Interactive announced today that after talking it out with Sega and its various other "licensors and partners," the studio has decided to push the release back to March 2025.

Trouble for Football Manager 25 first came to light in September when Sports Interactive delayed the announcement of a specific release date to the end of the month, and shifted the release target accordingly from early to late November. But that wasn't enough "to ensure the game quality and experience meets your expectations and our very high standards," the studio said in a message posted today.

"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," the studio wrote. "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."

After careful consideration, Sports Interactive have made the tough decision to further delay the release of Football Manager 25. Following discussions with SEGA, our licensors and partners, we have agreed the best course of action is to delay the launch until March 2025. Specific platform release dates will follow once confirmed. 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. — (Image credit: Sports Interactive)

The Football Manager 25 delay is particularly unusual for one thing in particular: As noted by GamesRadar, this is the very first time in the long history of the series that a Football Manager game won't be out in either October or November. In the spirit of "trust but verify," I decided to check it out for myself, and sure enough, that's how it is.

⚽ Football Manager 2005: November 4, 2004

⚽ Football Manager 2006: October 21, 2005

⚽ Football Manager 2007: October 18, 2006

⚽ Football Manager 2008: October 18, 2007

⚽ Football Manager 2009: November 14, 2008

⚽ Football Manager 2010: October 30, 2009

⚽ Football Manager 2011: November 5, 2010

⚽ Football Manager 2012: October 21, 2011

⚽ Football Manager 2013: November 2, 2012

⚽ Football Manager 2014: October 30, 2013

⚽ Football Manager 2015: November 7, 2014

⚽ Football Manager 2016: November 13, 2015

⚽ Football Manager 2017: November 4, 2016

⚽ Football Manager 2018: November 10, 2017

⚽ Football Manager 2019: November 2, 2018

⚽ Football Manager 2020: November 18, 2019

⚽ Football Manager 2021: November 24, 2020

⚽ Football Manager 2022: November 8, 2021

⚽ Football Manager 2023: November 8, 2022

⚽ Football Manager 2024: November 6, 2023

This is basically the equivalent of the end of the Streak for Football Manager fans, then: A shocking, mournful moment that will resonate through the future of the franchise, sparking passionate discussion and debate for generations to come.

(Okay, maybe it's not quite that big a deal, but it sure was a hell of a run.)

Sports Interactive said it is "extremely sorry" for the disappointment of the delay, and committed to a new gameplay reveal at the end of January 2025. It also confirmed that an "Advanced Access" period will be available ahead of the new release date; details on that will be shared as soon as they figure it out.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.