Hello,

For our second PCM 25 devblog, we will discuss sponsors, a major aspect of the game that we will split into two articles. Today, we will cover finances, some major changes, and the new sponsor parameters introduced this year.

To start, the financial system has been revamped, allowing a shift in how we approach the PCM series for 2025 and beyond. Previously, the budget depended entirely on sponsor contributions, resetting to zero each season without the ability to save funds. When signing riders, the player was directly limited by the sponsor's budget. This was a simple approach, in line with the financial constraints of the game, but in order to evolve, this system needed an overhaul.

Now, the team has its own account, and sponsors deposit their funding at the beginning of the year. Players can choose not to spend everything at once, allowing them to save money for future seasons—for example, if the transfer market is not favorable (e.g., targeted riders are still under contract) and they prefer to keep the funds for later.

We will discuss difficulty settings in a future article, but one of these settings allows players to start with more or fewer existing funds (a percentage of sponsor contributions), adjusting the financial pressure.

These are just the foundations being set for 2025, but with a clear vision for the future of the series. The goal is to gradually expand the ways players can spend their budget, introducing strategic choices that can be challenging especially for teams not at the top of the hierarchy.

A major evolution in sponsorship is that sponsors are now better defined with several parameters that differentiate them, making career mode decisions more interesting.
Overall, sponsors have different parameters, some mandatory and others optional, meaning not all sponsors will have the same characteristics.

The first parameter concerns geography and will interest those who missed the territorial aspect in sponsor evaluations last year.

As an aside, you may wonder why this system disappeared, the reason being that it didn't fit in well with the new PCM 2024 system and, above all, it had major flaws in the timing of evaluations, which we simply didn't manage to revise thoroughly last year... We know you don't like it when we take things out of the game from one year to the next, but the choices aren't always so obvious, and a decision that may be disappointing in the short term can pay off if we take our time and integrate it better in the long term. So this year, the system is back in a different guise, and is certainly much better integrated than in the past.

This parameter is optional, meaning not all sponsors have it, though it is common, especially among smaller sponsors.

A sponsor can have only one targeted territory, which can be regional, national, multi-country, or continental.

The requirements vary, from needing 3% of the roster to be from the specified region to demanding an entire roster that fits the criteria. Sponsors from countries with fewer cyclists tend to have lower percentage requirements to keep the system realistic and playable.

However, there is a unique case where some sponsors require a roster with at least 10 different nationalities. These are typically larger, international sponsors—be cautious when combining such a sponsor with another that has strict requirements for a specific country!

This parameter comes with a secondary characteristic importance. Some sponsors are very strict about this requirement, while others are much more lenient (there are four levels of importance).

The evaluation takes place in early November, after the offseason, when new sponsors are in place. During the recruitment period from August 1st when sponsor signings conclude (we will explain this in Part 2) the interface will show if you have territorial requirements and how close you are to meeting them.
The evaluation focuses on whether the goal was met (e.g., 50% of riders from Italy). Depending on how far off the team is, the sponsor may be more or less satisfied.

This evaluation influences a coefficient that can either boost or damage the sponsor's confidence throughout the upcoming season, making it a crucial factor, especially if the associated importance level was high.

Additionally, the difficulty setting for sponsors affects this evaluation, a topic we will revisit in a future article about game difficulty.

Similar to territorial requirements, some sponsors may demand a certain percentage of young riders (25 years old or younger).

This parameter is rarer than territorial requirements and is much less common among large sponsors. It has a lower impact on overall sponsor evaluation, and there are no varying degrees of importance.

All sponsors funding teams want good results, but for some, merely sponsoring a cycling team is enough to promote their product or brand.

There are four different levels of performance expectations, affecting two main aspects:

• Season objectives – The higher the sponsor’s expectations, the harder the objectives will be to achieve (if multiple sponsors exist, the primary sponsor’s expectations dictate the difficulty).
  
• Confidence calculation – A strict sponsor will penalize a missed goal more heavily than a lenient one.

We have adjusted how team finances can evolve when a sponsor is signed for multiple seasons. A new parameter, evolution conditions, determines this aspect.

When signing a sponsor, you are now informed of their intention to adjust the budget over time. There are four possible scenarios:

• No evolution: The signed contract is fixed—there will be no additional funds in future seasons. Sometimes, limited choices force teams to accept these terms until a better option arises.
  
• Small automatic annual increase: If a basic confidence level is met (easily achievable), the budget slightly increases after the final race of the season.
  
• Annual increase based on company health: The decision is announced in June, allowing time for recruitment adjustments. A minimum confidence level (easily attainable) is required at the end of the season.
  
• Higher increase requiring strong confidence: A higher confidence threshold must be met, but the budget increase is more significant.

This parameter reflects a sponsor’s long-term commitment to cycling.

It interacts with confidence levels when deciding whether a sponsor will extend its contract. A high confidence score improves renewal chances, but after a certain number of years, a sponsor will eventually move on.

Similarly, the likelihood of receiving multi-season contract offers depends on this parameter.

This final parameter determines whether a sponsor has specific requirements regarding association with other sponsors. There are three possibilities (a sponsor may have none, or one of these three):

• Exclusive sponsor: No other sponsors can be signed.
  
• One additional sponsor allowed: The team can sign one more sponsor.
  
• Main sponsor requirement: The sponsor must be the primary partner in any sponsorship deal.

This parameter affects team-building strategies and must be considered carefully.

For modding purposes, all parameters can be manually configured in the database (each sponsor can be customized) or left to random generation. Each parameter can be set individually for each sponsor, allowing a high degree of customization for those who wish to fine-tune their experience.

In the next article (Part 2), we will discuss the new scouting and contract-signing systems, both of which have been completely redesigned.

>> https://linktr.ee/cyclinggames <<

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2511310/Pro_Cycling_Manager_25/

Hello everyone!

For this first dev blog on Pro Cycling Manager 25, we want to talk to you about our new engine. To do so, we first invite you to read the one for Tour de France 2025, where the genesis of this evolution is detailed.

As you’ve understood, with our new engine, we’re not just talking about short-term changes but about a new era made possible by pooling technologies and production tools with TDF.

For years, although there were synergies, discussions, and some shared elements between our two games, the technical aspects remained completely separate. This limited the potential for evolution.

A simple example: for the same building in both games, once the raw asset was produced, we had to perform the technical work twice, followed by as many verifications and corrections, because the technologies were different. Apply this constraint to tens of thousands of elements, and you’ll easily understand the benefits of unifying the technology.
We were also held back by certain evolutions that were too costly to develop twice in different ways. Now, they are becoming feasible for the future of the series.

The two games will not be strictly identical, and even the technology unification is not yet fully completed. It’s a gradual evolution that must happen in stages, like a Grand Tour.

Just like the recent Paris-Nice, unexpected events sometimes made our task more complicated, forcing us to redraw our initially planned course. But in the end, as with the arrival on the Promenade des Anglais, the blue sky returned.

Speaking of Paris-Nice, and not just for its nickname "the race to the sun," but rather for the capricious weather it offered riders in 2025, rainy conditions are a first clearly visible improvement in PCM 25. The rendering has been significantly enhanced in this regard.

Sunny conditions and the overall scene rendering have also been greatly improved, with much more detailed distant terrain rendering. This allows for better distinction of mountains, such as Mont Ventoux, which is visible from afar, fully justifying its nickname as the "Giant of Provence."

With the old engine, the potential of multi-core processors was barely utilized. Having a high-end configuration did not provide better graphics or improved game performance.

However, Unreal Engine 5 now allows us to fully leverage high-end configurations while opening the door to future evolutions in the coming years.

We can already hear some of the hardcore players in the back of the room saying, "Yeah, but visuals don’t matter; what’s important is the gameplay, career mode, and AI…"
And they’re not entirely wrong—those aspects are the core of the game. But for the series to continue existing and evolving in all areas, it needs visuals that do justice to the beauty and richness of this sport. It was about time!

Rest assured, the work on the engine has neither slowed down nor prevented improvements in other aspects of the game. We’ll talk about that very soon!

>> https://linktr.ee/cyclinggames <<

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2511310/Pro_Cycling_Manager_25/