While the autumn period continues to get busier and busier with major game launches, July is actually becoming lighter. We say this as developer Nine Dots has decided to delay the survival game Outward 2, pushing the project from July 7 and instead aiming for an Early Access debut sometime in 2027.
You might be thinking this is a rather significant delay for a game that was so close to arrival, but the reason seems to be that Nine Dots doesn't want to deliver "a product that might not satisfy your expectations."
This has been confirmed in a delay post where the studio explains that recent feedback has led to the change as "the last thing we want to do is disappoint fans of Outward and there has been a lot of comments stating that they wish for the game to spend more time in development before the launch. The point of a Beta is to listen to feedback, and so we will."
Nine Dots' CEO and creative director Guillaume Boucher-Vidal has personally apologised for the launch date change, and has stated that "the best we can do is take a hard, honest look at the game, and at our team, and ask: in a few weeks, will this be good enough to charge money for? Our aim is to have such a stark jump between this Beta and the Early Access launch that we earn the trust of our players. You were there for the first Outward and that's why we were successful. We want you to be happy to be there again for Outward 2."
As for the exact new launch timing, this will be shared at a later date, but the developer did sign off with: "I apologize that we couldn't give you the game you guys deserve on time. I guess that's the game development's equivalent of a defeat scenario: a setback and we come back better prepared."
Were you looking forward to Outward 2?