This question gets asked a lot. Here is the history of the release of new roster sets:
| YEAR | VERSION | DATE |
| 2000 | 3 | 11/1/2000 |
| 2001 | 3.1 | date unknown…EA |
| 2002 | 4 | 10/23/2002 |
| 2003 | 5 | 11/13/2003 |
| 2004 | 5.1 | 11/18/2004 |
| 2005 | | |
| 2006 | 6 | 10/27/2006 |
| 2007 | 6.1 | 9/20/2007 |
| 2008 | 6.2 | 10/5/2008 |
| 2009 | 6.3 | 12/29/2009 |
| 2010 | 6.4 | 10/13/2010 |
| 2011 | | |
| 2012 | | |
| 2013 | 7 | 12/13/2013 |
| 2014 | 7.1 | 11/21/2014 |
| 2015 | 7.2 | 12/8/2015 |
| 2016 | 8 | 11/23/2016 |
NOTE: FOF1 came out in 1998 and FOF2 came out in 1999. I don't have dates for those.
So, some comments on the above information...
1. Apart from Jim's personal struggles that he posted about here that impacted the 2011-2012 time frame, there's only been one time in the game's 18-year history when either a new version or free patch with roster updates was not released.
2. That version has almost always been released during Q4. 2007 rosters came out very late in Q3, and I *think* FOF1 was a Q3 release.
3. Sometimes if it's a new game, he will give some notice, though sometimes that notice is quite short. For example, FOF2007 was only announced ~24 hours before it was released.
4. I don't think he has *ever* given any notice at all of a free new roster set being released. In those cases, it just shows up one day.
Therefore, until we start seeing different behavior, the statement below applies in 2017, 2018, 2019, and in any other year:
Based on Solecismic Software's history, it is extremely likely that:
1. There will be either a new game with a new roster set or a free roster set for the current game released some time in Q4 of this year.
2. There will be little/no notice prior to said release.