FM 25 Delayed: What Features Were Removed?

FM 25 Delayed! What Features Have Been Cut?

The Football Manager series has been one of the games football fans have eagerly looked forward to for years. The game delivers the most realistic and detailed football management experience out there. However, Football Manager 25 (FM 25) just hit an unexpected snag: FM 25 has been delayed to the end of November. So what's behind this delay? What innovations and changes are in store for FM 25 players? Here are the details.

FM 25 Delayed! Why Was It Delayed?

The decision to delay FM 25 came about when the launch, originally planned for early November, was pushed back to the end of November. The main reason behind this delay is the technical challenges encountered during the game's development. In particular, the process of moving to a brand-new graphics engine turned out to be more complex and time-consuming than expected.

Unlike previous games, FM 25 will feature an entirely new graphics system built on the Unity engine. This engine change aims to significantly improve the game's visual quality and deliver a more immersive experience for players. However, this transition required more time and effort than developers had planned. Sports Interactive studio director Miles Jacobson had this to say on the matter: "The FM25 development cycle has been challenging for the whole team. We knew moving the entire game to the Unity engine would be a complex undertaking. As we got deeper into the process and learned more, it's fair to say it turned out to be harder than we initially expected."

FM 25 Delayed: Big Changes in the Game

The technical challenges behind FM 25's delay are actually the result of major innovations coming to the game. Beyond the graphics engine, the game is also bringing significant changes and additions.

FM 25 Delayed: New Graphics System: The move to the Unity engine is one of FM 25's most notable innovations. This change will significantly improve the game's visual detail and animations. Players will notice matches being simulated more realistically and a more immersive stadium atmosphere.

FM 25 Delayed: Women's Football: FM 25 will include women's football for the first time. This addition was introduced as part of the game's goal of delivering a universal football experience. Adding women's football means players will get the chance to manage both men's and women's teams. However, this addition has also reportedly led to some changes in the game's database and player statistics.

What Features Have Been Removed from FM 25?

Even though FM 25 is arriving with plenty of new features, it's also been announced that some features will be removed from the game. Chief among these is international football management. This mode, which has long been part of the FM series, will not be an option available in FM 25. Miles Jacobson said the following on the matter: "After a summer of tournament football, and with even this week being an international break, we took a really close look at international management in FM, and determined that what we were planning to offer wasn't going to reach our initial quality bar. So rather than delay FM25 further, we stopped work on that area of the game and reallocated those resources to other important areas."

Behind the decision to delay FM 25 is the fact that the international management mode simply didn't draw much interest among players. Jacobson notes that usage log analysis showed only 5.6% of Football Manager players used this mode. As a result, removing it is being viewed as a decision that won't negatively affect the game's overall experience.

Player Weights

One of the features being removed in FM 25 is player weights. Existing player stats used to include a player's height and weight. However, with the addition of women's football, these stats were re-evaluated. While building the women's football database, it was observed that women's body types differ significantly from men's. This led to player weights being removed from the game.

FM 25 Mobile

Some of the game's features won't be making it to mobile platforms with FM 25 either. This is mainly due to the technical requirements brought on by the new graphics engine. FM25 Mobile will remain a version built on the previous game engine. It won't be moving to the new graphics engine.

What About the Release Date?

Update

According to the latest information, FM 25 has unfortunately been delayed again, this time to March 2025. FM 25's developers stated that they made this decision to deliver a better experience in the game after discussions with their partners.

That wraps up our coverage of the FM 25 delay news — we hope for good news ahead!

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