Video game delays have become commonplace during the pandemic — we tallied 60 delays in 2021 alone — as studios largely continue to work within the confines of remote or hybrid development. This dramatic shift in the way games are made may remain the norm throughout 2022, and as such, we're once again expecting to see a significant number of games delayed.
To keep track of these ever-shifting release dates and to keep you up on when to expect your most-anticipated games, we've created a running list of every such announcement: full games, notable DLC, and every piece of gaming hardware officially delayed this year.
Click through the gallery below or continue scrolling for the full list of every game delay announced in 2022 (so far).
STALKER 2 : Hearts of Chernobyl
- Delayed from April 28 to December 8, 2022
STALKER 2 was the first game officially delayed in 2022. "These additional seven months of development are needed to fulfill our vision and achieve the desired state of the game,” said developer GSC Game World. “STALKER 2 is the biggest project in the history of GSC, and it requires thorough testing and polishing. We are convinced that development should take as long as necessary, especially in the case of such a project."
While it was unfortunate news for the sequel, series fans are well practiced with patience; STALKER 2 comes more than a dozen years after the franchise’s last release, Call of Pripyat.
King Arthur: Knight's Tale
- Delayed from February 15 to March 29, 2022
The 1.0 release of King Arthur: Knight's Tale was delayed from February to March "in order to apply final touches and be able to provide a great launch experience," developer Neocore Games announced in January.
"As the pandemic situation is still very uncertain, we are putting health and security first," the post continues. "However, working from home does come with slight delays. We're confident that Knight's Tale will be ready by the end of March, and your journey in Avalon can finally begin."
Knight's Tale was released on Steam Early Access last January. PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions are also in development, though they will be released at a later date.
Ghostrunner: Project_Hel DLC
- Delayed from January 27 to March 3, 2022
Project_Hel, a major new DLC for Ghostrunner, was delayed from late January to early March. The extra development time will be used “to make even more worthwhile improvements while ensuring the health & safety of our team and global partners,” reads a statement from the game’s official Twitter account.
In Project_Hel you play as Hel, one of the original game’s bosses. The DLC includes six story missions, new enemies, bosses, and six new tracks from electronic musician Daniel Deluxe.
Dying Light 2 for Nintendo Switch
- Delayed from February 4, 2022, to an unannounced later date
Two weeks before its previously expected release date, the cloud version of Dying Light 2 for Nintendo Switch was delayed. Developer Techland says it should be out “within six months” of the original date, putting the Switch version's tentative release window between February and August.
The sequel will still hit PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC on February 4.
Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific and Vanguard Season 2
- Delayed from February 2 to February 14, 2022
The second seasons of Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific and Call of Duty: Vanguard were both delayed by two weeks. Activision said it would use the additional time to “deliver updates, including optimizations to gameplay, game balancing (including weapon and equipment balancing), to fix game stability and bugs, and to ensure an overall level of polish to improve the experience.”
Life Is Strange: Remastered Collection for Nintendo Switch
- Delayed from February 1, 2022, to “later this year”
The Nintendo Switch version of Life Is Strange: Remastered Collection — a bundle of Life Is Strange and the follow-up prequel Life Is Strange: Before the Storm — was delayed less than two weeks before its initial release date. The developer said it experienced a setback with the Switch version and plans to have it ready “later this year.”
The remastered games feature updated visuals, improved animations, and lighting upgrades. The collection is still expected to hit other platforms — PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia — on February 1.
Rumbleverse
- Delayed from February 15, 2022, to an unannounced later date
Iron Galaxy's free-to-play, pro-wrestling-inspired battle royale game, Rumbleverse, was delayed out of mid-February to an unannounced later date. "We’re excited about the game we’re making – and we’re glad you are, too – but there’s more we want to do to perfect the experience," wrote the developer on its blog. "More than a game, Rumbleverse will be a community that we want to support for a long time. We’re going to take the time to make sure we can get that right."
While you wait, you can read our Rumbleverse preview, in which we said the game "seems primed to be a legitimate new contender in the competitive battle royale genre."
Evil Dead: The Game
- Delayed from February to May 13, 2022
In late January, Saber Interactive and Boss Team Games delayed their official Evil Dead game from February to May 13, 2022. "This delay gives our team the time they need to get things just right, so your boomstick will be polished, fully loaded, and ready to blast Deadites on that Friday the 13th of May," they said. A new trailer for the multiplayer game will be released sometime in February.
This is the second delay for Evil Dead: The Game; it was previously pushed from 2021 to February 2022.
Battlefield 2042 Season One
- Delayed from Early 2022 to "early summer 2022"
Despite launching in November 2021, Season One of Battlefield 2042 has yet to begin. The wait for that new content was made even longer on February 1 when EA announced it was pushing the start of Season One to "early summer" 2022.
While Season One was never officially dated, EA's own wording makes it clear this was a delay: "We’ve had to make some big decisions to ensure that our next set of updates can be focused on delivering these improvements, with the most substantial one being to move the release date of our first Season to early Summer." The extra time will give developer DICE "the time to focus on improving the Battlefield 2042 experience while finalizing the development of our seasonal content to ensure that it all reaches our standard for quality."
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
- Delayed from 2022 to Spring 2023
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has been delayed from 2022 to Spring 2023. The news was first reported by Bloomberg in February, before Rocksteady confirmed the delay in March. "I know a delay is frustrating," said creative director Sefton Hill, "but that time is going into making the best game we can."
The one-to-four-player action game set in an open-world Metropolis and features four playable characters: Harley Quinn, King Shark, Deadshot, and Captain Boomerang.
Martha Is Dead (PS5, PS4 Physical Versions)
- Delayed from February 24, 2022, to an unannounced later date
The physical release of Martha Is Dead for PS5 and PS4 was delayed indefinitely, developer LKA announced in mid-February. While a new date wasn't given, LKA hopes it will be out in "a small number of weeks."
The delay is due to a seemingly last-minute decision by Sony to not allow certain elements of the game to appear on PlayStation platforms. As such, LKA "requires extra time to make these unplanned changes."
LKA did not reveal which specific elements from the game it was being forced to remove, though the delay announcement was prefaced with a message about Martha Is Dead's "potentially discomforting scenes and themes."
The Xbox and PC versions, as well as the digital PlayStation versions, will be released as scheduled on February 24.
Little Orpheus (Console, PC Ports)
- Delayed from March 1, 2022, to an unannounced later date
The console and PC versions of Little Orpheus have been delayed indefinitely following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, publisher Secret Mode announced on March 1 (the day the game was previously scheduled to be released).
"While Little Orpheus was originally released on Apple Arcade in June 2020 and does not directly reference recent world events, we recognize some of the game's themes and content may be upsetting to players at this time," said the publisher. Set in 1962, Little Orpheus follows a Soviet cosmonaut who explores the center of the earth. It features narration by a stereotypical Russian general while poking fun at the propagandist language of the Cold War era.
The Settlers
- Delayed from March 17, 2022, to an unannounced later date
Ubisoft's reboot of real-time strategy series The Settlers was delayed indefinitely following its recent closed beta. Developer Ubisoft Düsseldorf said feedback from the beta made it clear "the quality wasn’t yet in line with the team’s vision."
A new release window was not announced, though the developer said the extra time "will be used to further improve the game and push quality as our main priority for all our players."
Halo Infinite Co-op Campaign
- Delayed from May 3, 2022, to an unannounced later date
Halo Infinite's campaign co-op mode is no longer shipping with the start of the game's second season on May 3, developer 343 announced in early March. It will instead be released "later in Season 2."
"The reality is that it’s going to take more time to land a high-quality, full-featured 4-player network co-op experience in the massive, wide-open world of Halo Infinite," said 343 Head of Creative Joseph Staten. "We’re also committed to a great 2-player split-screen co-op experience on all Xbox consoles, from the original Xbox One through Xbox Series X—and the non-linear, wide-open sections of the Campaign present some big challenges for split-screen that have taken us more time to solve."
Campaign co-op, as well as Forge, notably didn’t ship with Halo Infinite in December.
Forspoken
- Delayed from May 25 to October 11, 2022
Open world action-RPG Forspoken was delayed from May 25 to October 11, developer Luminous Productions announced in March. The additional development time will allow the team to "focus all of [its] efforts on polishing the game" in order to "deliver a game world and hero that gamers across the globe will want to experience for years to come."
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
- Delayed from April 8, 2022, to an unannounced later date
On March 9, Nintendo delayed Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp indefinitely, citing "recent world events," presumably referring to the ongoing war in Ukraine. While Nintendo didn't elaborate further, it's understandable (and wise) that the company is avoiding the promotion and subsequent release of a war-based game in a time of conflict.
Exomecha
- Delayed from Q1 2022 to an unannounced later date
Explosive free-to-play FPS Exomecha has been delayed out of its early 2022 release window. Developer TwistedRed made the announcement on Twitter, saying it needs more time to polish the shooter and "prepare some post launch content." A new release window was not announced.
This is Exomecha's second delay; it was originally scheduled for August 2021.
Roller Champions
Delayed from Early 2022 to "Late Spring" 2022
Ubisoft's free-to-play, roller derby-inspired Roller Champions has been pushed from its early 2022 release window to "late spring," the company announced on Discord (via Tom Henderson). "After evaluating every possible scenario, the team has concluded that they will need a bit more time to deliver the successful game you deserve," said Ubisoft.
First announced in 2019, Roller Champions' release window has been a moving target, shifting from early 2020 to early 2021 to early 2022 and now "late spring" 2022.
EA Sports PGA Tour
- Delayed from Spring 2022 to Spring 2023
The return of EA Sports PGA Tour has been delayed by a year. The next-gen golf game, originally scheduled for Spring 2022, is now due out in Spring 2023. EA didn't provide a reason for the delay.
The delay was first mentioned back in November, though it wasn't until March that EA made the official announcement and revealed PGA Tour's new release window.
Sons of the Forest
- Delayed from May to October 2022
In late March developer Endnight Games announced it was delaying Sons of the Forest by five months, from May to October 2022. The developer said the initial May release window for its The Forest sequel was "overly ambitious," adding it needs the additional five months "to deliver our vision of the next step in survival games."
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
- Delayed from 2022 to spring 2023
In late March, Nintendo confirmed the sequel to its 2017 hit Breath of the Wild will not be released in 2022 as originally planned. Instead, the team is aiming for a spring 2023 release, as, according to series producer Eiji Aonuma, "in order to make this game's experience something special, the entire development team is continuing to work diligently on this game, so please wait a while longer."
from IGN Video Games https://ift.tt/GdpRNg9
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