The much-anticipated Football Manager 2025 has been axed, the game's creator Sports Interactive disclosed.

The "difficult decision" to scrap this year's instalment of the hit Manager series came after the developers encountered insurmountable issues, despite having postponed its launch on two occasions, with the team conceding that they couldn't meet the high standards expected by gamers.

Sports Interactive is now pivoting towards developing Football Manager 2026 and has assured customers who pre-ordered the cancelled game that they will be eligible for refunds. Football Manager, which made its debut in 2004, quickly turned into a phenomenon within the football and community, allowing players to take the reins of their favoured squads and manage every aspect of club operations.

With plans to revolutionise the game, Sports Interactive had promised a thorough revamp of both the user interface and gameplay mechanics for Football Manager 25, including an eagerly awaited update featuring women's football as a new element.

Initially scheduled for an early November release, the game's arrival was first delayed to a later date that month, owing to a "challenging" development cycle. Subsequent setbacks led to another postponement announced in October, which rescheduled the debut for March, only to culminate in the regrettable announcement of the games complete abandonment.

In a blog post, Sports Interactive revealed: "We know this will come as a huge disappointment, especially given that the release date has already moved twice, and you have been eagerly anticipating the first gameplay reveal. We can only apologise for the time it has taken to communicate this decision. Due to stakeholder compliance, including legal and financial regulations, today was the earliest date that we could issue this statement."

They went on to express their commitment to quality: "We have always prided ourselves on delivering the best value for money games that bring you countless hours of enjoyment, that feel worth every moment and every penny you spend. With the launch of FM25 we set out to create the biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation, laying the building blocks for a new era.

"Due to a variety of challenges that we've been open about to date, and many more unforeseen, we currently haven't achieved what we set out to do in enough areas of the game, despite the phenomenal efforts of our team. Each decision to delay the release was made with the aim of getting the game closer to the desired level but, as we approached critical milestones at the turn of the year, it became unmistakably clear that we would not achieve the standard required, even with the adjusted timeline."

Ultimately, the company concluded that releasing an unfinished product was not an option: The company added that it could have "pressed on" and released the game in its "current state" and fixed issues "down the line", but stated clearly that this would have been "not the right thing to do".

"We were also unwilling to go beyond a March release as it would be too late in the football season to expect players to then buy another game later in the year," the statement read.

"Through the cancellation, every effort is now focused on ensuring that our next release achieves our goal and hits the quality level we all expect. We will update you on how we are progressing with that as soon as we are able to do so."