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Most Notable Delays of 2021 (So Far...)

We take a look at the biggest games that have seen the lengthiest delays already in 2021.

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We're only a couple of months through 2021 and yet we've already seen a bunch of videogame delays - in this global climate there's no surprise there, and we'd prefer that developers take their time to complete their games before sending them out into the world. But, with release dates shifting left, right, and centre we've compiled a list of the most notable delays, and by notable we mean the biggest games that saw the lengthiest delays. Without further ado, let's dive right in.

Riders Republic - February 25 to "later this year"

Update: Riders Republic will now launch on October 28, 2021.

The spiritual successor to 2016's extreme snow sports title Steep, Riders Republic is bringing back the gnarly adrenaline-fuelled gameplay and adding various types of bikes for you to test your mettle with. The game, developed by Ubisoft, was originally supposed to release on February 25, before being hit by a last minute delay that pushed it to "later this year." We still have no exact launch date to get excited about, although with there already being gameplay trailers out in the open, we hopefully shouldn't have to wait too long before we can look to explore the wild side of life in this one.

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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake - March 18 to "a later date"

When the remake of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was first announced back in September 2020, it was given a January 2021 release window that quickly became a March 18 release date, before being delayed once again to "a later date," as it is today. Being developed by Ubisoft, the delay is expected to give the team extra time to "deliver a remake that feels fresh while remaining faithful to the original," and considering the game didn't exactly look incredible, this does seem to be for the best. With a lot of fans excited for what this remake could be at release, all we can do is hope that Ubisoft uses the extra time to deliver a version of this game worthy of its namesake.

Humankind - April 22 to August 17

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It was getting pretty close to the release window for the Amplitude Studios strategy title Humankind when Sega hit us with the bad news of a delay until August 17. Sure, it's not all that long, but considering this game is described as the "magnum opus" of the developer, we were quite excited to see what it would be bringing to the genre. Either way, to make up for its absence, Sega is releasing Total War: Rome Remastered, so we'll at least get something strategy related around the same time.

Most Notable Delays of 2021 (So Far...)
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New World - Spring to August 31

Update: New World will now launch on September 28, 2021 following a fourth delay.

The best way to describe what we've seen and heard from Amazon Game Studios up to this point is 'troubling,' but it's MMORPG New World hopes to rectify that. The title originally had a Spring 2021 release window, which has since been knocked back to August 31, in order to give the game the "polishing and fine tuning" it deserves before launch. Considering Amazon Game Studios recently released its third-person shooter Crucible that has already announced its decision to close down its servers, moving its development team to New World, the MMO should be in the best possible position to be in its finest state when it releases late this Summer.

Deathloop - May 21 to September 14

It was only a few weeks after the Microsoft acquisition of ZeniMax when Arkane Lyon decided to hit us with the news of a Deathloop delay. The action title is now set to launch on September 14, which is four months after its original release date. The developer has stated that it will be using the extra time to "create a fun, stylish, and mind-bending player experience," so hopefully the game will be better than ever when the release date does roll around.

Back 4 Blood - June 18 to October 12

This one hurts, especially considering how promising the game looked when we sampled it during the latter part of 2020. First revealed in 2019, and later given a June 2021 release date, Back 4 Blood looked to be the Left 4 Dead spiritual successor of our dreams. Just as we were inching closer to its arrival, the devs announced that the game would be delayed by four months, as they wanted to make it "the best game it can possibly be at launch."

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Rocksmith+ - Summer 2021 to 2022

Despite launching a closed beta, giving interested fans a chance to get hands-on with the service, Ubisoft has determined that it needs more time with Rocksmith+, and has subsequently delayed the game from 2021 to an unspecified date in 2022. The delay is hoping to "deliver a smooth experience for all guitar and bass lovers", and we're also told that we can look forward to more information about the service "soon".

Battlefield 2042 - October 22 to November 19

Despite being around a month until launch, EA has decided to make a last-minute change to Battlefield 2042's launch plans, pushing the anticipated shooter out of October and back to November 19. The publisher gave the reason for the delay as looking to provide its developers with a little extra time to get the game ready for launch, as the strain of working from home and the growing concerns of the pandemic once again are taking effect. Either way, it's only a minor delay compared to some of the others we've seen over the year.

Rainbow Six: Extraction - September 16 to January 2022

Ubisoft has made a good effort of avoiding September this year, as it has now pushed its shooter Rainbow Six: Extraction out of the month, all the way back to January 2022. The developer/publisher mentioned that it will be using the time to "ensure" it delivers "a truly unique Rainbow Six game", which does at the very least give us something else to look forward to early next year.

Dying Light 2 - December 7 to February 4, 2022

The initial plan to drop Dying Light 2 at the end of this year has been washed away, as the Polish developer Techland has revealed that the awaited sequel will now be coming on February 4, 2022. The developer did mention that the game was "nearing the finish line" but added that it needs "more time to polish and optimize it", so hopefully when launch does come, we'll be in store for quite a refined experience.

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Total War: Warhammer III - Fall 2021 to 2022

Set to round out the Total War: Warhammer series, the third instalment has been pushed from 2021 to early 2022. Developer Creative Assembly has mentioned that the new date will make for a "stronger release" and that the game itself, while being the last iteration in the series, will be "the start of years of content and support".

Gotham Knights - 2021 to 2022

With the Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League game set for 2022, we assumed that Gotham Knights was anchored for a 2021 release window, but that's not the case unfortunately. The Warner Bros. Games Montreal title will no longer be launching in 2022, which begs the question about the future of the Suicide Squad game as well. Will Warner release two DC games in one year, or are we due for another delay announcement soon? All signs seem to be pointing to the latter.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 - 2021 to 2022

Hardsuit Labs had been working on this cult-classic sequel for a while now, but it hasn't been without turmoil. The game was originally announced back in 2019 with a Q1 2020 release date, which was pushed back, and now pushed back again, all the way out of 2021. The anticipated title has even lost Hardsuit as a developer, as publisher Paradox has "started a collaboration with a new studio partner to finish work on the game," although we still have no idea as to who this is. As it stands today, the game doesn't have a defined release window, it sits idly in the limbo as an indefinite release, but hopefully Paradox and whoever is on the cards to take over as the leading developer can bring this title back to life because we've been itching for a chance to head out into the dark streets of Seattle for some time now.

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Hogwarts Legacy - 2021 to 2022

Hogwarts Legacy first started making the rounds when a bunch of leaks about the game popped up in 2018, but no official announcement was detailed until late 2020 during Sony's PlayStation 5 showcase, when it was slated to release in 2021. It would've been quite a feat for a AAA game to announce and release within that time frame, which is why it's not exactly surprising that the game has been delayed until 2022 at the earliest. Portkey Games "are giving the game the time it needs," which hopefully means it will be better than ever at launch, and considering we haven't had a licensed Harry Potter game of this calibre in quite some time now, we don't mind waiting a little longer.

Gran Turismo 7 - 2021 to 2022

Update: Gran Turismo 7 will now launch on March 4, 2022.

Following its original announcement back at the PlayStation showcase in June 2020 where it was originally revealed that Gran Turismo 7 would be a 2021 title, the racing game has now been pushed to 2022 at the earliest, for "Covid-related production challenges," as was revealed in an interview by GQ with PlayStation boss Jim Ryan. The game that is slated to be bringing campaigns back to the iconic franchise is still in production at Polyphony Digital, and while the above-mentioned titles have seen other reasons aside from delays to be popping into the headlines, Gran Turismo 7 is remaining under the radar the best it can. Hopefully, this means we'll get to see the game as soon as possible come 2022.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum - 2021 to 2022

This is another classic tale of a delay that everyone kind of expected. Lord of the Rings: Gollum was originally announced back in 2019, and was followed up on with a short trailer detailing a little bit of gameplay in mid-2020. But after getting through the majority of January 2021 with very little other news since the aforementioned trailer, Daedalic Entertainment has announced that the title will actually be coming in 2022. The good news about this delay however, is that Daedalic has signed a co-publishing deal with Nacon, which hopefully means the studio has some extra resources to make this game better than ever.

Most Notable Delays of 2021 (So Far...)Most Notable Delays of 2021 (So Far...)
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Destiny 2: The Witch Queen - Late 2021 to Early 2022

Update: Destiny 2: The Witch Queen will now launch on February 22, 2022.

The next expansion in the Destiny 2 saga, The Witch Queen has recently seen a delay from its late 2021 window to early 2022, as Bungie has stated they are giving themselves "enough time to build out this journey in the right way." This upcoming adventure builds on the events of Beyond Light and the respective seasons that followed within its era of Destiny 2, and seems to suggest the Guardians will finally be facing off with the Witch Queen, Savathûn. Set to mark the second chapter of the Darkness Trilogy for Destiny 2, the delay of this expansion should hopefully deliver the best possible version of the chapter, but the question remains, what will we see filling the void its delay has left?

Need for Speed - 2021 to 2022

Ever since Codemasters formally became part of the Electronic Arts family, the question of which racing game series we'd see later this year became apparent. We'd already heard rumblings that Criterion was working on the next Need For Speed, but would that mean Codemasters is taking a break from its annual game schedule to remove the likelihood of a double EA racing game release this Fall? It turns out the answer is no, as Need For Speed has now been pushed to FY23 [fiscal year 2023], as the Criterion team has been temporarily integrated into DICE to help finish Battlefield 6. The game is still slated to be arriving sometime next year/early 2023, but we're still waiting for some form of an actual announcement to see what the next Need For Speed will be about.

WWE 2K22 - 2021 to March 2022

Despite being known to release new games in the series in the fall and winter, 2K has made the decision to push the release date of the next WWE 2K title until March 2022. WWE 2K22 is set to feature new controls, a redesigned game engine, and even updated visuals to suit the modern era of hardware, which probably explains the launch delay. We're promised more information on the title this coming January, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.

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Horizon Forbidden West - 2021 to February 18, 2022

As the year continued to develop, it started to seem less and less likely that Guerrilla would be dropping Horizon Forbidden West in 2021, which is why the announcement in August that the game would be coming on the 18 February, 2022 wasn't all that surprising. Aloy's journey to the West coast of America will officially be hitting both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles early next year, and pre-orders are even open right now.

Sifu - 2021 to February 22, 2022

The team behind Absolver, Sloclap also had to make the tough decision to push when fans will be able to get hands-on with its action title Sifu. Fortunately, the delay won't be all that long, as we can look forward to getting into the nitty-gritty of the martial arts fighter when it now drops on February 22, 2022. The reason behind the delay was simply to get the game ready without compromising quality or requiring the team to crunch for months, which all in all seem like pretty respectable reasons.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide - 2021 to Spring 2022

Total War: Warhammer 3 wasn't the only Warhammer game to get pushed out of 2021, as Fatshark announced that Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is also getting knocked back to the Spring of 2022. The developer gave the reason for the delay as simply needing more time to deliver the best possible game, as "building a game in a pandemic is a challenge". But we were also promised by Fatshark that it will be using the extra time to "focus on the level of the quality at release" on top of investing in more systems to help support the game in the future.

Most Notable Delays of 2021 (So Far...)Most Notable Delays of 2021 (So Far...)

God of War: Ragnarok - 2021 to 2022

Despite Santa Monica Studio being particularly elusive when talking about when God of War: Ragnarok was set to arrive, the game did for a long time have a 2021 release date attached. However, that has since been changed as was mentioned by Herman Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios, who revealed that the anticipated sequel will be coming in 2022, to help ease the load on the developer as it works to finish the Norse chapter of Kratos' journey.

The Outlast Trials - 2021 to 2022

The Outlast series has grown to become a rather formidable force in the horror genre, and it doesn't intend to ease up on that presence anytime soon, as the next instalment in the franchise is on its way. Known as The Outlast Trials, this game will feature multiplayer and will play "like a TV Series", providing new challenges as you fight for survival. But, unfortunately, we're going to have to wait a little longer to get our hands-on this one, as developer Red Barrels has announced that the game will now be arriving in 2022, using the extra time to "refine the game".

Pragmata - 2022 to 2023

Usually delays are approached quite openly, but that wasn't the case with this one. Pragmata is a mind-bending new-gen title developed by Capcom for PS5, Xbox Series, and PC, which was originally announced back in mid-2020 for a 2022 release date at the big PS5 showcase event. However since then, Sony has shown-off the game again, in a small trailer as part of its CES21 line-up that in very, very small print at the end reads, "Pragmata: Coming 2023." There has been no further mention of the delay since, but considering we haven't really seen any of the game yet, it does seem to hold some credit.

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Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - Spring 2021 to "indefinitely"

Update: Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will now launch in Spring 2022.

The Force has been quiet with this one ever since it was first delayed until Spring 2021, so it wasn't all that surprising when TT Games revealed that Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was going to be delayed again. The main concern with this time around is that no release window or date has been provided by the developer, meaning until further notice, this anticipated title is hit with the 'indefinite delay' tag.



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