Football Manager 26 finally revealed following FM25's shock cancelation

There are some series that would rather see the heat death of the universe than miss their money-spinning annual release cycle. EA FC. Call of Duty. Madden. You know the ones. Among those is Football Manager, and despite having never skipped a beat since 2004, the delay and subsequent cancelation of FM25 saw that streak come to a shocking end. However, it's time to start afresh - Football Manager 26 has just been revealed, and it's set to bring all of the innovations of its scrapped predecessor to the dressing room.

I was pretty gutted to see Football Manager 25 get the ax after already being hit with a four-month delay. Sega and Sports Interactive said at the time that it was due to difficulties implementing all of the big new features it wanted to add to the sports game, which included an engine switch to Unity. Women's football was also set to debut for the first time in the iconic series, and a huge UI overhaul was on the cards. However, in February of this year, the game was officially canceled, with all attention turning towards Football Manager 26. Not having a new game this year has been a killer - Sports Interactive couldn't even update FM24 with all the new player transfers and data to keep fans ticking over.

However, a much-needed ray of light has been cast by SI and Sega with today's reveal of FM26. While it's just a teaser for now, with no gameplay footage or major details, there's still reason to be excited. Not only does the reveal trailer show off some officially licensed Premier League branding, but the voiceover (narrated by the dulcet tones of commentator Peter Drury) sets the tone for the evolution the series will soon experience.

"The wait has been long. The build-up impossible to ignore. So much has changed. But that feeling? It never left." Chills. I can feel the pain of FM25 starting to heal.

The trailer also says that a full reveal of the match day experience - which should be one of the main areas of transformation thanks to the new engine - is "coming soon."

There's no word yet on when Football Manager 26 will release, but if Sega and Sports Interactive are looking to return to normalcy for the series, I'd expect to see it drop in late October or early November.

If you want to really geek out in the meantime, check out some of the best management games around. Alternatively, if your setup is in need of a summer spruce, here's our best gaming mouse guide.

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