Sports Interactive and Sega have announced that there won't be a Football Manager 24 data update for the 2024/25 season ahead of the release of Football Manager 25.
In a message on X (formerly Twitter), the two studios say that although they've been "exploring" the possibility of an update for the existing game, implementing such a thing would be a "substantial undertaking" which would divert "critical resources" from Football Manager 25.
Essentially, the studios say it would be impossible to "lift assets" being used in Football Manager 25 and drop them into FM24 "without recreating them in full". Since FM25 will contain data from the 2024/25 season, the studios would have to recreate that data within FM24's engine.
The same logic applies to "the many competition rules, translations and database changes that cannot be back ported", owing to the fact that Football Manager 25 will sport (no pun intended) an entirely new engine.
Updated assets and data would "both be required to obtain licensor approval", Sports Interactive and Sega say, and despite "a good initial response" from many licensors, the work involved seems like it would simply be too much.
In case you're wondering, Football Manager 25 was...