Good day everyone,
I hope you are all having a good day, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things sports. In this post I will be looking at the changes to the latest release of Football Manager, and how FM 25 will signal the end of an era for the video game series.
FM 25
It has been confirmed that the latest version of Football Manager, the beloved video game where players get to take control as the manager of a football club, has pushed back its release date until the 26th of November 2024.
Sports Interactive, the firm behind the game, announced this in a blog post where they gave fans the first indication of this years version of the game. Safe to say there are a lot of upcoming changes to the series, and fan reaction has been mixed at best. A number of Football Manager YouTubers have voiced their concerns over this years product, highlighting a number of issues they can foresee with the release.
The blog post gave limited information on the actual game itself, but a few key details to note are as follows:
- The title will no longer contain the full year, as in previous versions called 'Football Manager 2024', instead it will simply be Football Manager 25.
- The game is being moved to the Unity Engine, meaning players should expect enhanced gameplay and match engine graphics.
- Version for consoles (Xbox/PS5) and Mobile (Netflix) are also set to launch on the 26th of November, while the Touch version (Nintendo Switch) is currently scheduled to release digitally on the 3rd of December.
- This years version will include women's football teams.
- There will be no international management, instead that is being pushed back until the 2026 version of the game.
- The game will include Premier League licensing, meaning all the official badges and logos will be included for the Premier League as part of the base game.
- There will be no beta version available for those who prepurchase the game.
The biggest change for this game, anticipated for a number of years now, will be the shift to Unity Engine. With Football Manager becoming more and more popular on console, the development team are looking to maximise the capability of the game towards that audience, along with the longstanding PC gamers who adore the game. This should mean the graphics for the game engine, which has often been criticised, will likely have much better graphics and realism.
They have also released a roadmap, although much of it is left unconfirmed. Within it has been noted that women's football will be a part of the game, and more information on this will be dropped during the week of October 7th, next week.
Following on from that they are yet to confirm the dates, but more information will be released regarding:
- User Interface
- Tactics
- Match Experience
- Your Manager
- FM25 Mobile
- FM25 Deep Dive
- Console Recap
- Touch Recap
This is one of the most anticipated releases of Football Manager in over a decade. Over the past five years rumours have surfaced about additions such as moving to Unity, adding women's football, and a change to the game layout and format. Finally it has arrived, but some think its too soon. With the game due to drop next month, there is plenty left to be confirmed. This new era will enhance the User Interface along with the Match Engine, which is long overdue. The previous version was like below (on PC anyway).
We are yet to know what the new match engine will look like, but it will be a crucial point of the new game. For a long time people have been displeased with the somewhat poor standard of graphics on the previous versions, so the new Unity Engine will hopefully help to improve this graphically and also how the manager gets to interact with his team during the game.
The new User Interface will focus more on usable panels to display information for users. The demo image below is an example and shows how the developers are looking to condense the information into more user friendly data.
When it comes to player images, Evan Ferguson is the perfect example (apparently) as they have given us a demo image of how his player profile image will look.
The details from Football Manager 2024, as shown above, will be simplified in the new version going off the images released so far. Some have complained this is the developers 'dumbing down' the game to help draw in new users and not overload them with too much information. The new players image will be as per the demo image below, available to view on Steam.
Thats it really. No more information is available yet, although more should be released over the coming weeks. Fans of the game will eagerly wait to see what new videos and information follows.
The official announcement trailer is below.
YouTuber Zealand, who is one of the main Football Manager Youtubers, has voiced his opinion on the matter. He looks at the criticism of people towards the game and gives his views on the potential, good or bad, of the game.
Other prominent Football and Football Manager YouTubers have also released videos on this topic, with a selection included below.
DoctorBenjy FM
TomFM
WorkTheSpace
FM Console
Clayts
Lollujo
Vizeh
The community of players who adore Football Manager are worried, some even panicked with the lack of information available. While pre order is available, its probably a bigger risk than usual this year. This is the biggest change ever when it comes to Football Manager according to many, and the risk are great. Will the game work out as great as we hope? Or will it crash and burn as the team try and push out the game far too early. With key items such as international football removed so the developers can focus on other items, it is not looking good so far. Hopefully I will be proved wrong and the new features, engine, and women's football will make it worthwhile. Only time will tell.
Have a great day.
Peace. CryptoGod-1.
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