Adding the women’s game to FM25 has been “an enormous amount of work”. <\/p>
On the latest episode of the One More Life podcast<\/a>, host Rob Leane (RadioTimes.com Gaming Editor) is joined by Ant Farley (design manager for Sports Interactive on Football Manager) to kick off the new FM season and look ahead to the future of the franchise.<\/p>\n That future will include the addition of women\u2019s football in FM25.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a really exciting time for the studio,\u201d Farley said, speaking at Immediate Media\u2019s London office in the build-up to Football Manager 2024<\/a>\u2019s release.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re doing two games at once and it\u2019s challenging. It\u2019s very hard work at the moment, but it\u2019s very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n With this year\u2019s FM24 and next year\u2019s FM25 both being developed in tandem, Farley explained how each instalment has its own major upgrades and challenges.<\/p>\n Said Farley: \u201cFootball Manager 24, we are really considering a love letter to Football Manager. This is the last version of this kind of Football Manager before the big, bold new horizon with 25.<\/p> \u201cMy role is in the design team, so I manage the group of creatives that are working on new features for the game. And the remit this year really was, \u2018Let\u2019s take what we\u2019ve got and make it as good as we possibly can.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSome of those areas that might have been a bit underloved, we\u2019ve been able to put a lot of focus into \u2013 set-pieces being one that I think will go down very well with the community.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it\u2019s really about making it the best possible last version of Football Manager before we get this brave new world with 25 that we\u2019ve spoken about, and the change of game engine and the upgrade in visual fidelity that\u2019s going to give us, a whole new interface, which is an awful lot of work for my team at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n On the podcast, Farley also looked ahead to Football Manager 2025, which will relaunch the series this time next year, with a new game engine running the show behind the scenes.<\/p>\n In the long-form interview, Farley touched upon a number of key features that will be added in FM25, one of which is the ability for gamers to manage women\u2019s football teams for the first time.<\/p>\n Adding the women\u2019s game into FM is, in Farley\u2019s words, \u201can enormous amount of work\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to be doing it justice.”