The latest update in the popular Football Manager series has been cancelled, its makers have announced. Fans of the long-running video game began to speculate about its fate when an update due to be unveiled late last month did not arrive. In a blog post, developer Sports Interactive told players it had made the "difficult decision" to cancel the 2025 edition as it was "too far away from the standards you deserve". It said it would now shift focus to the 2026 version of the game and fans who had preordered the cancelled release could obtain a refund. Football Manager, first launched in 2004, allows fans to step into the shoes of a gaffer and guide a chosen team through a season.

Just before the launch of Football Manager 2017 [official site], with the beta already released to the many people who preordered the game, I spoke to Sports Interactive director Miles Jacobson about the changes his team have made in this latest game in the series. We talked about AI improvements, Brexit, and whether Leicester winning the Premier League was a happy day or a sad day at Sports Interactive. With updates to the beta arriving regularly as the people playing provided feedback, commentary and complaints, Sports Interactive is a busy place around this time of year. The fortnight before launch day is an enormous playtest, in which more eyes are on the new version of the game than have been at any point during development. Jacobson seems happy to take time away from assessment of new release candidate builds to talk though.