God of War & GT7 Delayed to 2022, Cross Gen For PS4/PS5

[Shiken]

Otter said:

Shiken said:

If you have been following the industry the past decade, you would know that when games get delayed that close to launch more often than not it is only a few months at most.  We were not even given a window of when GoW and GT7 might arrive, nor do we even know how far Horizon will be pushed back if it doesn't hit this year either.  If it is later than Q1 2022, it is obvious the game has been further off than what people were lead to believe (though I honestly believe this one is closer to being done).  In the case of GoW and GT7, it is without question the games were not even close to being ready for 2021, or we would at least have been given a quarter window at the time the delay was revealed.

Sony knows a lot more about what is going on within development of their games than you are giving them credit for.  But I suppose it would be easier to just take their word at face value and accept whatever they say to be the case.

A game targeting a holiday and being delayed by 6months is absolutely normal. Everything from 1month delays to 1 year delays happen, a big part of that gap can be determined by how much polish a developer does or doesn't want to add. How many bugs they're dealing with which is entirely separate from finished content, how much pressure is on them from the publisher side etc. In the case of Halo Infinite which was delayed 3 months before release, they said the game was more or less content ready in October 2020. 

https://www.altchar.com/game-news/halo-infinites-content-is-more-or-less-finished-devs-focusing-on-technical-aspects-now-avxWK0H7G8v3

GT7 had a window of 1st half of 2021

https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2020/11/09/gran-turismo-7-ratchet-clank-horizon-forbdden-west-release-date-2021/

Plenty of games are not given a speific Q4 window prior to their major reveal and that simply implies they'll be arriving later in the target year rather than sooner. Several insiders have eluded to GOW being internally delayed earlier this year (the first report was in march) and that is why Sony stopped mentioning it in press releases. 

(Sony actually delayed the next God of War to 2022 months ago)

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) June 2, 2021

GT7 being delayed so far despite being announced less than a year from the delay kind of proves my point.  You are only highlighting how obvious it should have been that it was no where near being ready for the window Sony implied.  Same applies to God of War, the game was revealed less than a year before being delayed.  They knew it would not be ready, but gave it the 2021 window to drive hype for the PS5 launch.  This also coincides with the fact that gen 8 versions for these games were also withheld and later revealed at the same time as the "delay" became official.

Halo is another story, and kind of a bad example.  They actually had gameplay footage to reveal, but due to fan backlash at how it looked it was delayed at least a year to deliver a better project.  This was also done BEFORE the Series X was announced, where as Sony waited half a year after the release of the PS5 to confirm their "delays".

These are not games that were announced years ago and got pushed back for polish.  These are games that were announced right before the PS5 launched under the impression that they were PS5 exclusive, with a release window of a year or less from the launch of the PS5, with no gameplay footage what so ever, and then conveniently delayed six months after the PS5 launched while also having PS4 versions.  The problem is not how close they were to launch, don't get it twisted.  The problem is how close they were revealed compared to the launch window, yet still delayed into the next year at best.  There are more factors going into this than "delays happen".

If you honestly believe Sony did not know that 2021 was a pipe dream for GT7 and GoW:R, then I don't know what else to tell you.  In any case, your previous post helped highlight what I was getting at, so thanks for that.

Last edited by Shiken - on 03 June 2021