❌ Why the F1 Manager series FAILED

With the F1 Manager series all but confirmed not to return in 2025, just where did it go wrong?

#f1 #formula1 #formulaone #f1game #f1gaming #f1manager24 #frontierdevelopments

[MatthewJones]

One of the biggest issues was the yearly release schedule. They gave a bare minimum of support to the released game, then all development effort went on next year's game, leaving you with a broken game that you knew would never be fixed, only to find new bugs in next year's title that never get fixed.

An annual turnaround does not give you frequent enough feedback from players to iron out problems, and expecting people to pay every year for a new game with minimal changes was not very attractive.

[mike-ydpy]

This game needed to be released as a strong stable base platform with yearly DLC updates for new content. A yearly release schedule like Madden on a shoestring budget would never work.

[haiyolo]

I don’t think it’s niche nor that the concept was bad, the issue is that these days many game companies think that it’s ok to sell games that aren’t ready yet, and instead of updating to fix older games they rather sell another game with the same underlying development issues, thus leading to making of a bunch of underwhelming overpriced games that the concept advertised hooks players in but the implementation and execution leads to players not playing the games all that much

[NotAcvplla]

It should've been a game with yearly updates detailing the new season and not a new release every year considering how minimal those "updates" were.

[crit-c]

Completely disagree with the closing statement. It had good enough appeal, they just squandered it by not executing on the promises. It ended up feeling like each game was unfinished and would never be finished.

[JustinZúñiga-zh]

It’s a really sad they’re not continuing the game series 😢

[mcraig]

My biggest problem with the game is that it doesn't feel like a real management game in the ways something like Football Manager does... Never mind the crazy obvious racing specific stuff like not being able to save setups so that you can hit the ground running next time you visit a circuit; I'm talking stuff that makes you feel like management not psuedo driver! No conversations with staff, no ability to do deployment strategy maps so you don't have to micro manage deployment and engine modes, drivers don't ever go off script and have any personality beyond making mistakes, too few modifiers for setups, no pre/post press conferences.... Almost everything they would've needed is there or thereabouts just far too shallow to warrant more than a season or two of gameplay.

[MX-RT]

Lets all return to Motorsport Manager series

[earotinaj]

24 was brilliant if they had started with that copy and with the switch edition it's great, it's such a shame it's cancelled just as it was getting good

[Myrvold]

It's not a too niche concept, but manager-games needs to cater to the manager-game fans.
This was way more like a race engineer-game, and lacked serious management-features. They focused on looks and not gameplay mechanics.

Motorsport Manager showed that it is possible to sell racing manager game, but the emphasis should be on "manager". F1 Manager 22, 22+1 and 22+2 failed at that.

[CarimboHanky]

yearly releases for a niche market will never work.

the best option is releasing a solid base game, support it and improve it through patching, then DLC 🤷‍♂️ maybe once or twice a year with new stuff.

[samsonlovesyou]

I really enjoyed the first one. Yeah, it wasn't what it could be, but as a first outing, I was expecting it to be the start of an evolution.

[inuitwinit]

Motorsport manager was very successful, and continues to be on mobile. It's not too niche, this just wasn't a good game

[wahbzbwwnjss]

The car setup feels like the same routine every time, the AI making absurd mistakes
and weird racing lines and car movement

[Chaka]

I think it's a fun game, play it all the time still

[serapeach]

sucks to hear, I never played 22 but I put 200+ hours into 23 and felt if 24 had a bit more added to the main game it could be a very impressive followup.

almost felt like F1 manager was mirroring Madden or NBA 2k in that each year is effectively just a roster update more so than a new game. F1 manager needed more innovation between games, especially given it's essentially all the models and voice lines etc from 23 slapped with some new logos and a create a team feature.

hopefully another developer will take up the license cause I really enjoy this style of game (and for God's sake DO NOT LET IT BE EA GAMES)

[LukeSV]

A better game developer and it would make a good game

[Rohancarrick]

The concept is there, would be cool to walk around an f1 garage at a Grand prix and see the cars go out.

[Mattuk]

I bought 22 on the Xbox but never seemed to have enough time to invest into it. So I skipped 23. However, I bought 24 on the Nintendo Switch, and whilst it was a big graphical downgrade, the gameplay elements are exactly the same, and the ability to play anywhere on a handheld has allowed me to play a good few season and develop a good team to a Championship! It might be lacking in a few features outside of car and driver development, with very basic facility upgrades, but the race management side of things was a lot of fun!
One downside was the car setups at each race feeling like a monotonous and repetitive minigame, and I eventually found a setup calculator to speed this process up.
It’s a shame to see the franchise end so quickly! Perhaps it could have been a bi-annual release for big changes, whilst providing DLC updates between games for drivers, liveries and basic rule changes.
After all, the purpose is to play through multiple seasons. Do management games really need annual releases? Football Manager seems to have hit the same wall with FM25 in jeopardy

[burtron]

Personally think some if the driving was horrendous… when an overtake was clearly possible but never happened.