Game delays are more prevalent in the games industry now than they’ve ever been before. With media shining a bright light on the future of this Generation of games, hype has hurt more than helped the final product of many big releases as people look for the next big thing.
This week we’ve seen the official delay of Uncharted 4 to Spring 2016 and speculation of Quantum Break following suit. An overall sense of optimism for 2015 could be swiftly replaced by a pessimistic attitude if games like The New Zelda, Persona 5, No Man’s Sky, The Division and Rainbow Six Seige also skip this years Fall party.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62ovnMHBEsA
Video Link (embedding is giving me trouble :/)
With that speculation in mind and the information we already hold from the last few years, now more than ever felt like a good time to highlight key reasons we’ve seen games slip their release dates over the past few years
Scope and polish is the biggest obstacle facing modern triple a releases looking to go gold. Naturally as games grow in size, so does the work put in to finish these titles. With most triple a games pushing the boundaries of size and systems, we’ve found ourselves in a position where games aren’t as simple as they once were.
This lack of simplicity ties into online connectivity as most modern games push a connected aspect of their product. Games such as Driveclub, Halo MCC and Battlefield 4 have been disastrous examples of inter connected gaming experiences not working, due to either player load or structure. The emphasis is now on Developers to not make these mistakes, and in turn make sure if they are online centric that everything works before launch.
Over time developers will become more accustomed with the current tool set and scope of what is possible while creating online experiences. Until then though expect companies such as Ubisoft to play it safe going forward in hopes of building up good will once more. Specifically expect The Division to not release until they are near certain the game will stand up upon release, even if that means another delay.
The other side of this coin is marketing. Generating pre-orders through hype and anticipation has become a deadly balancing act that has proven successful for titles such as Watchdogs and Destiny in 2014. Watch_Dogs in May 2014 broke all-time pre-order records for a new ip only to be broken once again by Destiny a wee 4 months later. Both games subsequently saw a large lead up of promotion, and years of anticipation dulled upon release.
With the next BIG THING seemingly around the corner, Publishers are marketing games to entice video game players way earlier and more aggressively than ever before. Public lead ups to major triple a games now span years instead of months in hopes of building continued interest. Batman Arkham Knight being announced in May 2014 as a Fall release seemed absurd, but pre-orders for the game were available from the get go. 4 months later WB confirmed speculation that Batman: Arkham Knight was being delayed from October 2014 to June 2015, a full 9 months later.
In a case like this, Pre-Orders were taken, interest was spiked and the wait was prolonged leading to a secondary build to come.
This isn’t to say that all game releases are delayed, nor the fact that we still see some Triple A games release within a 6 month window of announcement (see: LBP3, Far Cry 4 last year). It’s more about the worrisome trend that delays are expected rather than out of the blue.
We’re at a point where only smaller developers hold these cards close to there chest as most non-triple a developers hold release dates til a few months before release.
In truth delays are disappointing but not a bad thing to see, it’s the realization that a game needs more time. Even though he’s been quoted a million times, Shigeru Miyamoto said it best “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.”. Sometimes this isn’t the case cough Duke Nukem Forever cough but in scenarios like “The Last of Us” which was delayed from May 7th to June 14th in 2013, or 2015 releases such as Bloodborne and Witcher 3, the extra time may be the difference between a buggy game at launch and a fantastic experience we’ll remember. I’m content to wait, but maybe if we stopped jumping the gun we could avoid this whole situation altogether.
