I've enjoyed the Championship Manager/Football Manager series for a long time, since the early 1990s in fact. I've watched it grow and develop, as well as the community of players of the game, into what it is today.
FM25 is probably going to be the biggest change in the series since CM3. The new match engine and the adjustment to the aesthetics, the addition of women's football and the licensing agreements are unprecedented. I'll try and answer each one in turn.
Once again, SI are expecting us to purchase the game without seeing the match engine. I'm growing fed up of it. I get this is a big change but people have been buying this out of blind loyalty, a lot. The last few iterations have had us buy this on blind faith. When the game engine is so different, that isn't good enough. They need to do better next time round.
The aesthetics are clearly made with content creation and console users in mind. But I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. The game has needed a bit of freshen up and as long as the main aspects are there it won't really matter. Most players skin the game to their liking in any case, so I expect the community to end up figuring out ways to mod it, as usual.
Women's football was bound to be introduced at some point in tome as the amount of women engaging with the sport has increased exponentially in the last few years. I don't tend to play MLS, or African leagues, or Saudi Arabia. They don't appeal to me. Women's football is fine by me, it won't change if I purchase the game or not. I don't think that this is at the expense of international football and to be quite honest I like the fact that SI have held their hands up and honestly feel the internationals need a rethink.
Despite this, I'm not buying FM25. I'm fed up of SI and other companies expecting us to buy a product out of misplaced loyalties. They've reached a point where because there's little to no meaningful competition, SI can get away with half completed, bug-laden games that we have to pay a premium for. Whilst it doesn't cost as much as EAFC, for example, it still costs a fair amount. I'm not buying an unfinished playable demo for £40. I'm also not buying a game where all I get are a few token screenshot and a road map. It's high time SI did right by everyone and until they do that, I'm happy to play FM24 for the foreseeable future.
