Football Manager 2025 - Release Date Delayed & Several Features Removed

[Dave]

 

https://www.footballmanager.com/news/development-update-football-manager-25-0

I think these are all pretty alarming to be honest. No international management, player weights and tactical touchline instructions feels like a major step back. The first two inparticular were there when I first played in Christmas 2001.

[Whiskey]

Only 5.6% of people played international management on FM, I myself have only ever managed properly in this area of the game once in all the editions I've played - moving it to 26 to improve the experience is fine by me. 

Weights, again is fine by me as I never really used it when scouting a player. It's far less important than height for example.

Touchline shouts is a puzzling one though, as that's something that I use in every single game. To not have them (or an alternative) would be strange. 

[Dan+]

Touchline shouts are a bit crap though to be honest. It's one of those features that should be there but they've just done it really badly. It's either "fire up" or "encourage" for what's basically a 10 minute morale boost and anything else just seems to puzzle everything. I've seen people playing it before and they just hit that as a bit of a button bash if anything. It's a really badly executed feature.

I've tried international management and just can't do it. I managed Australia on FM once along with my own job and I thought at the World Cup I'm going to take this seriously enough to track the whole tournament properly and watch the 90 minutes, play it properly. Couldn't do it. Think I managed one half and went back to extended commentary. Went out in the groups. It's just one of those things that'll never be particularly enjoyable although I don't really understand why you would take the option away either.

[Tommy]

 

 I was looking forward to managing Germany's women's national team.  

But they're moving the game to a complete different engine. Sounds like it's a lot tougher than they expected. This is going to be interesting. 

[MUFC]

11 hours ago, Tommy said:

 

 I was looking forward to managing Germany's women's national team.  

But they're moving the game to a complete different engine. Sounds like it's a lot tougher than they expected. This is going to be interesting. 

Don't be kissing any of the players on the lips.

[Dave]

Miles 100% thought by mentioning he has cancelled holidays to work on this he was going to get brownie points from people and all it's done is concern people further .

[Whiskey]

2 hours ago, Dave said:

Miles 100% thought by mentioning he has cancelled holidays to work on this he was going to get brownie points from people and all it's done is concern people further .

I remember FM23 (might have been 22/24, they all merge into one) being an absolute bugfest at launch. It was the one where after one season no clubs could register players and SI took months to fix it.

I can see this being the same, it's to be expected with all the changes but yeah, I'm expecting a bit of a mishmash release.

[Smiley Culture]

I don’t think any of what isn’t there is a big deal. I’ve genuinely never even considered weight when looking at a player to buy or any player at the club I’m “managing”. I don’t even know if the number ever changes like when you get the “Player A has returned to training in great shape” or whatever the line is. 

I’ve never done create a club, either. That’s very FIFA. Also don’t think I’ve managed internationally for about 10 years, if not even longer. 

[Tommy]

 

[Dan+]

Which bit is the data chalkboard? I do actually use the data hub a fair bit, but I'm not sure I know which bit the chalkboard is referring to.

[Whiskey]

29 minutes ago, Dan said:

Which bit is the data chalkboard? I do actually use the data hub a fair bit, but I'm not sure I know which bit the chalkboard is referring to.

It's the data graphs I believe. Like how it shows the league and plots parameters like; Most shots, least shots, most converted, least converted etc.

[Dan+]

On 16/09/2024 at 21:34, Whiskey said:

It's the data graphs I believe. Like how it shows the league and plots parameters like; Most shots, least shots, most converted, least converted etc.

That sounds ominously like the ones I use. I use xg match story (or whatever its called), pitch tilt, set piece goals, match momentum etc... primarily.

[Tommy]

wow

 

 

[Dave]

After the trailer that gave as much information as a perfume advert I'm not surprised.

An update patch for the 2024/25 season feels like the way to go now. A bit like they did with CM02 when CM03 was delayed until Valentines Day.

[Dan+]

March is bloody ridiculous. They should can FM25, release a 2024/25 squad update for FM24 and release the proper thing for FM26 - in September 2026 so they can actually get on a decent timescale rather than November which itself feels a bit late.

You could sense this was coming though. They've really fumbled.

[Dave]

1 hour ago, Dan said:

March is bloody ridiculous. They should can FM25, release a 2024/25 squad update for FM24 and release the proper thing for FM26 - in September 2026 so they can actually get on a decent timescale rather than November which itself feels a bit late.

You could sense this was coming though. They've really fumbled.

I can only assume they have licensing agreements to release a game this football season. 

[Tommy]

6 minutes ago, Dave said:

I can only assume they have licensing agreements to release a game this football season. 

And a lot of people probably pre-ordered the game and they'd have to pay a shit ton of refunds. 

[Whiskey]

Absolutely no way on Earth I'll be playing FM25, fucking March.

When I need to scratch the FM itch, I'll be buying 24 (as I never picked it up) and doing squad updates.

[Dan+]

8 hours ago, Dave said:

I can only assume they have licensing agreements to release a game this football season. 

Yeah in reality there's probably too much committed to it for them to actually do this even though it would make sense - it's also basically sacrificing a years income for them too.

This is a real fuckup though. Like I say I think November is a bit late for them to release the game and FIFA / EAFC have it right with the end of September. March is appalling and what happens to FM26? Do they release that in March 2026? That would be a really bad pattern for them to get into, but then March 2025 to November 2025 feels too quick as well.

FM25 was being bigged up a few years ago as a gamechanger game. Well they might be right but not quite how they hoped. It's a real shame - you fear it could start to kill it.