Football Manager and the phenomenon of simulation games

 

The recent delay of the yearly release of popular sports simulation game Football Manager’s 2025 edition from November 2024 until March 2025 has sparked outrage and concern from players of the annually released franchise.

The game allows the player to take control of a fictional, user created character and assign them to the managers role at a real-life football club of the players choice. They are then able to perform all the tasks and face the trials and tribulations that a real football boss would such as transfers, training and of course managing the team in their matches.

However, a normal European football season lasts from August to May and with this release now so deep into the season many fans have been left disappointed and are calling for developers Sports Interactive to cancel the 2025 release in favour of a database update for the current 2024 game, and focus all their energy on having the 2026 release fully ready, updated and operational in time for its November 2025 release.

In a statement on their website SI explained the reason for the delay after what they called a “difficult development cycle for the studio” SI said: “Timelines were already tight and, as rightly pointed out by many of your recent comments, we were simply rushing too much and in danger of compromising our usual standards.

“This has put an enormous amount of pressure on everyone working across the studio, who are all passionately committed to delivering the best game possible.

FM25 is the biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation. We simply cannot compromise the delivery of this crucial juncture in Football Manager’s history by rushing to release it in November”.

The sheer level of disappointment shown by this delay for what could be effectively described by detractors as an ‘office simulator’ shows just how popular the game is and how far it has grown from its humble beginnings as a project between brothers Paul and Oliver Collyer under its previous guise of ‘Championship Manager’.

This is symbolic of a trend in gaming over the past decade or so that has seen a rise in popularity in the simulation genre. The genre has seen a rise in total revenue from $5.94m in 2017 to an eyewatering $12.60m in 2023 and projections show this is set to continue upwards.

While FM has been prominent in the news due to its delay, the simulation genre is not simply limited to sports, with pretty much every employment industry you can think of having some sort of simulation game release, whether it be from a major studio or an indie release.

The simulation genre can be traced back to the beginning of gaming, with computing powerhouses Microsoft releasing what can be considered the original simulation game, Flight Simulator, all the way back in 1982 and still releases regularly and lets wannabe pilots live their fantasies virtually to this day.

Now, some non-enthusiasts may look at this and wonder why a game such as GIANTS Software’s Farming Simulator series can be so popular with the series having sold over 25m copies to date, in a game where you take on what would be seen as a menial, time consuming role in real life.

These games offer an escape from realism and allow the player to create and build something of their own in a field out with their studies or career they find intriguing.

It also allows players to play a game in a setting that is less stressful than some of the bigger AAA releases as these simulation games often have a calmer environment with a slower pacing which makes them more appealing to perhaps more casual or even older gamers.

The genre also includes the ability to build cities, grow environments on other planets or sail the seas as a classical pirate, experiences that in the real world are not possible or could take entire lifetimes to complete, can be done in the gaming matrix at the click of a few buttons and allows those in less stimulating jobs to be creative in a way they find stimulating for them.

The rise of virtual reality in gaming will see this genre grow with more realism in the future, with players not just sitting behind a screen fulfilling their tasks in these industry simulation games but actually getting involved in some of the manual tasks included in the gameplay through their headset which can only add to the realism and therefore add to the overall experience.

So, despite the delay of FM25, simulation games are here to stay and based off projections will only continue to grow from strength to strength. Some may question why these games are popular but as long as the players are happy and enjoying the games themselves then there simply is no reason to answer any doubters.

Play what you enjoy and enjoy what you play, whatever that may be from the fastest shooter game to the slowest walking simulation game.