A rise in game delays

Started by Klippy August 9th, 2009 12:16 PM
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Klippy

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I was watching G4 the other day and they were talking about the apparently large number of upcoming titles being delayed by companies from Winter 2009 to Spring and Summer 2010. Great titles like Bioshock 2 and Heavy Rain are being delayed to either make room for the big holiday hits like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed 2 and Halo: ODST.

If you're curious what games have actually been delayed, 1UP.com has a nice article concerning it with the current games that have been delayed here. Some of the games still planning to arrive for the holiday season are Halo 3: ODST, Assassin’s Creed 2, Modern Warfare 2, Uncharted 2, Borderlands, New Super Mario Brothers Wii, Brutal Legends, The Saboteur, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Ratchet & Clank, and Left 4 Dead 2.

Now to ask some opinions. :D

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What do you think of the surprising amount of popular titles being delayed and why do you think there are so many delays?

Which games are you most disappointed to see on the delayed list?

Which games are you glad are still coming out?


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I'm personally not too disappointed in some of the titles being delayed. I don't think I could handle all the games coming out at once. XD; I personally know I'll be buying at least three of the games still coming out this season (Assassin's Creed 2, Modern Warfare 2, and Left 4 Dead 2). I'm also really interested in The Saboteur and Halo 3: ODST.

I think a main reason for the delays is a desire for the companies to all make their profits. If there are so many big titles out at once, it's going to be hard to compete with time-consuming games like Modern Warfare 2 or Left 4 Dead 2 due to their multiplayer and replay value.

I'm most disappointed to see Bioshock 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction being delayed, but I can wait as long as I have great titles to hold me over. Especially if I bought all the titles at once, I'd probably never have time to play some of them if I was too wrapped up in one game that kept me coming back. I'm also sad to see Heavy Rain on the list because it looks like such an amazing title.

.Wolfie-kun.

The Raggedy Doctor

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I suppose for those who don't have much money, it's a good thing I guess.

What do you think of the surprising amount of popular titles being delayed and why do you think there are so many delays?
I suppose it's to keep profit like you said, so to some it could be seen as a smart move. Though, I did giggle a little when Bioshock 2 was delayed as a lot of my friends love it and I thought the look on their faces was priceless XD;

Which games are you most disappointed to see on the delayed list?
To be honest, nothing at the moment. Maybe Bayonetta, but I didn't know enough about it to be excited in the first place.

Which games are you glad are still coming out?
As of right now, I'm glad that Halo 3 ODST, Modern Warfare 2, Tekken 6, KH 358/2 Days (Apparently this hasn't been delayed at all yet) and a few others are still due to come out on time. HOPEFULLY ;_;

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What do you think of the surprising amount of popular titles being delayed and why do you think there are so many delays?
Because of demand and supply, bugs and stuff I guess. idk, I do wonder WHY ff13 is taking so long.

Which games are you most disappointed to see on the delayed list?
FF13, Heavy Rain. Heavy Rain looks fantastic, and I guess FF13 is gonna be pretty sweet.

Which games are you glad are still coming out?
Modern
Warfare
2
.

:D
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What do you think of the surprising amount of popular titles being delayed and why do you think there are so many delays?
I'm not too fussed because the games listed aren't games that I'm likely to buy. They're probably delayed to create more time to advertise and thus generate more hype, but I also think with some companies, it's to tweak minor parts of the game.

Which games are you most disappointed to see on the delayed list?
None, because I'm not going to be buying any.

Which games are you glad are still coming out?
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.
Metroid Prime Trilogy.
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep.

If any one of those games were on the list (the first especially), then I'd probably be having a tantrum right now. XD
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What do you think of the surprising amount of popular titles being delayed and why do you think there are so many delays?
I'd assume they're just flattening out a few bugs here and there, so it's not so much of an sales date conflict issue. Also, as long as it's actually coming out, I'm fine with delays.

Which games are you most disappointed to see on the delayed list?
Dragon Age: Origins

Which games are you glad are still coming out?
All that aren't delayed and are on my pre-order list, like [email protected] Dearly Stars, Pokemon Soul Silver, Halo 3 ODST, Brutal Legend etc.

Gummy

by fire be P U R G E D

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[jq]What do you think of the surprising amount of popular titles being delayed and why do you think there are so many delays?[/jq]

We gamers ask for next gen of games to be more complex, have amazing graphics and bring introduce something we've never seen before. We honestly can't be surprised when the developers announce that there's a delay in the release. These days no delay surprise me, except when they're delayed for like, a year *cough*FFXIII*cough*

[jq]Which games are you most disappointed to see on the delayed list?[/jq]

FFXIII is the only thing I'm really disappointed in, but that's due to how long it's been delayed.

[jq]Which games are you glad are still coming out?[/jq]

Modern Warfare 2, as I can tell this is an automatic winner for Game of the Year. Halo will cower in fear. IN FEAR!!!


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Most new IPs won't stand a chance during the holiday season as they will be dwarfed by juggernaut titles such as Call of Duty and Halo.
A perfect example of this is last year's holiday season. A few of EA's new IPs which were released at the end of 2008 didn't sell as good as they could've if they had been released in early 2009.

Then there's the oversaturation which is an instant guarantee that publishers will lose money if they push out too many games during one season.

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What do you think of the surprising amount of popular titles being delayed and why do you think there are so many delays?
Video Game companies probably just want people to wait until the next holiday season to buy their games, and/or they are in the process of making their game "better" by debugging it and changing it around.


Which games are you most disappointed to see on the delayed list?
I was somewhat looking forward to Heavy Rain because the previews and reviews made the game seem decent to play.

Which games are you glad are still coming out?
Lots such as Left 4 Dead 2, Halo 3: ODST, Assassins Creed 2, and Modern Warfare 2.

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Cherrim

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I'm probably the only person overjoyed at the announcement of some of these titles being delayed. XD;

What do you think of the surprising amount of popular titles being delayed and why do you think there are so many delays?
I will admit that I'm surprised at the sheer amount of delays this quarter. o_O; I'll admit that in years previous I never really paid attention to gaming in general--just the news from the studios I followed (which were basically Square-Enix, Nintendo, and NamcoBandai's Tales studio XD)--so I don't know how this stacks up to the past but there are a LOT of delays lately. That said, though, I can't say I mind too much.

A lot of games are being delayed for two reasons, right? The first is the need for more development time and I have no problem whatsoever with these kinds of delays, so long as they're reasonable. I don't want a game that was rushed through to meet the street date only to be patched later--I'd rather have the polished product from the get-go. The second reason is to spread out the releases of big titles. A developer doesn't want all their biggest hits to come out at the same time--it's a marketing hell and it's bad enough competing with the other big titles so it's important to space your stuff out.

Which games are you most disappointed to see on the delayed list?

I am both disappointed and really happy to see Bioshock 2 was delayed--same with the English release of Ace Attorney Investigations. Haha, I've been looking forward to both games but there's just so much on my list to play and I'm already gonna be dropping a lot of money on games this fall that I'm glad they're being pushed back a bit to give me some room to play and save up money again before I pick these up. XD;

Which games are you glad are still coming out?

Assassin's Creed 2. They can delay any other game except KH 358/2 Days in English to the end of the year but so long as they leave this one, I'll be perfectly content with the world. ♥


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The reason for delays is simple: Developers give themselves unreasonable deadlines, even with whatever demand there is for their supply, they should force everyone to wait for them, for the better of all.
A game you could make in a year ten years ago will take three years to do up with the sort of visual appeal (that goes for animations as well as textures, maps, sprites, particles, models etc) and relatively complex AI we have in games nowadays.

The Commandos series is an example of 'doing it right', each game is about three years apart in release date and apart from the UI arguably worsening each time they are remarkably solid and challenging games.


Tl;dr: Devs should give themselves more time even if they have to force everyone to wait.

Morkula

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What do you think of the surprising amount of popular titles being delayed and why do you think there are so many delays?
I think it's a good thing that companies are taking the time to perfect a game rather than rush it out to capitalize on the holiday season. I think a lot of it is for business reasons too though, because there were going to be so many great games coming out in the last few months of the year that a lot of them would be overlooked - so now by pushing them into Q1 2010 they can get a little more attention and therefore sell more copies. Plus Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 are pretty much guaranteed to be the big sellers of the holiday season, so pushing a game out on shelves against them is pretty suicidal.

Which games are you most disappointed to see on the delayed list?
I'm...honestly not too disappointed by any of the delays. Bioshock 2 looks good, but I never played the first and I don't think it's a game I could really get into. FFXIII is the game I'm looking forward to the most next year, but that wasn't scheduled for release in 2009 anyway.

Which games are you glad are still coming out?
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, maybe Assassin's Creed 2 (I haven't beaten the first yet), and Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. I'm assuming Spirit Tracks is still on target for an 09 release, but you never know about Nintendo. I'm sure they'll wait until the last minute to announce it, or just quietly push it into 2010. >>
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What do you think of the surprising amount of popular titles being delayed and why do you think there are so many delays?

I think it's pretty much down to them trying to avoid the competition that will be on the market later this year. A game such as Bioshock 2 is much more likely to sell better once the other popular FPS games (namely Halo: ODST and MW2) have been released for a while.


Which games are you most disappointed to see on the delayed list?


Hmm.. possibly Bioshock 2. Red Dead Redemption also looks like it could be pretty awesome.


Which games are you glad are still coming out?

Definately Halo: ODST. Though you wouldn't expect that to be delayed due to the huge popularity of Halo it would sell regardless of the other games available.
Looking forward to Assassin's Creed 2 aswell.