Patience is a virtue. And it’s a personality trait that gamers have been forced to tap into the most for their much-preferred pastime. Once a major title is shown off to the world, chances are pretty high that it’s going to take another two or three years before anyone even gets the opportunity to experience the finished product.
The first few weeks of January 2020 were a huge blow to gamers due to the announcements of delays for several highly anticipated titles. If you’ve lost count of how many big-name projects have seen a delay, we don’t blame you. Here’s a sobering reminder of which games have been announced to be coming out much later than expected:
Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection – Jan. 21 to Feb. 25
Moons of Madness – Jan. 21 to March 24
Final Fantasy VII Remake – March 3 to April 10
Marvel’s Iron Man VR – Feb. 28 to May 15
The Last of Us: Part II - Feb. 21 to May 29
Marvel’s Avengers – May 15 to Sept. 4
Cyberpunk 2077 – April 16 to Sept. 17
Watch Dogs: Legion – March 6 to TBA
Gods & Monsters – Feb. to TBA
Rainbow Six: Quarantine – TBA
Dying Light 2 – Spring to TBA
Such a daunting list of game delays feels like a gut punch to bored gamers everywhere. Before the news of these delays floated across Twitter timelines, March was practically stacked with a lineup of outstanding games to look forward to. But with so many early 2020 game releases now spread out across the year, March’s video game offerings seem a bit more manageable and far less overwhelming. And that’s just one instance of the silver lining gamers need to take into account when the topic of 2020 game delays comes to mind.
While at first it may seem like all these new dates for games we’ve been waiting so long for sucks, these delays should actually be looked at in more of a positive light. For far too long, big-name publishers have chosen to rush out incomplete products just to meet a quarterly sales goal and obtain huge profits. This current generation has been filled to the brim with incomplete releases tagged with $60 price tags and a series of updates that eventually bring them to a state of completion that should have been present at launch.
With the most recent failures of AAA games such as Fallout 76, Anthem, WWE 2K20 and Ghost Recon Breakpoint, it finally seems like big-name game publishers are taking a step back and realizing that rushing out their biggest games is eroding their goodwill with longtime fans. Ubisoft, in particular, has taken note of this growing sentiment among its fan base, which has caused them to push back the release dates for several upcoming titles and give its development teams all the time they need to deliver a quality product. Watch Dogs: Legion’s concept of exploring an open-world sandbox full of hundreds of playable NPC’s is something that needs plenty of development time in order to realize its grand vision.
