Sports InteractiveThe latest update in the Football Manager series of games has been pushed back until next March – just two months before the end of the season in the UK.
Sports Interactive had originally planned to release its popular simulator in November this year.
But in an update it told fans releasing next month would not allow the developer to meet its “very high standards” and fans’ expectations.
The company said it was “intensely aware” that the delay would be “massively disappointing” and said it was “extremely sorry”.
The long-running Football Manager series, first launched in 2004, allows fans to step into the shoes of a gaffer and guide a chosen team through a season.
Sports Interactive said the latest game was its “biggest technical and visual advancement for a generation” and it didn’t want to compromise its quality by rushing its release.
The developers have been adding new features this year, including big changes to the game’s user interface.
They’ve also introduced the ability to manage women’s teams for the first time.
Sports Interactive previously told BBC Newsbeat that it had to build a new stats database and record new motion-capture sequences to build the feature.
It also announced it had scaled back its international management mode and removed or paused work on some other features seen in previous games.
Fans responded to the announcement by pointing out that the March release date put the game’s release towards the end of the football season in the UK.
Writing on social media, some suggested that it would be better to update current title Football Manager 2024 and hold the new title until the 2025-26 leagues kick off.
Others said they were happy for the developers to take their time, rather than release a game with bugs and other problems.
The company said trying to meet the November deadline had “put an enormous amount of pressure on everyone working across the studio”.
It added: “We always consider the bigger picture – and the bigger picture here is that we need this additional time to deliver a game that we can all be proud of.”
