The announcement of the postponements of Starfield and Redfall was a nasty surprise for many players and confirms a bitter truth: no release date is really certain, especially considering the world situation and the difficulties in making triple-A titles.
The concept was Jason Schreier, a Bloomberg journalist and known for his network of contacts in the gaming industry, who in response to a user explained that he cannot confirm with confidence whether God of War Ragnarok will be postponed or not, adding that the concept it actually applies to any upcoming game.
When asked “are you sure God of War: Ragnarok will be released in 2022?”, Schreier replied: “Absolutely not. Nobody should be sure about the release dates of the games up to a week before release.”
Subsequently, a user pointed out to the Bloomberg reported that about a month and a half ago he had declared that the next adventure of Kratos and Atreus would not be postponed to 2023. In response, Schreier pointed out that in reality, that statement was his opinion of him, of which he is still convinced, but that video game development is turbulent and therefore basically anything can happen.
“Someone asked me if I think God of War will be postponed to 2023. I said” no “. And I still think so. But it’s very different from me saying” the game will be released this year. “Game development is too turbulent to make such claims. ”
Someone asked if people thought God of War would be delayed to 2023. I said “Nope.” I still don’t think it will be. But that’s vastly different from me saying “The game is coming out this year.” Game development is too turbulent for me to make definitive statements like that
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) May 12, 2022
Schreier’s reasoning is flawless, unfortunately. All games are at risk of postponement, some more and some less, even those that have the ” release date written with ink, not with a pencil “, quoting the words of Todd Howard on Starfield.
Postponements in the gaming industry have always been a constant and have increased over the years in tandem with the ever-increasing difficulties for the development of triple-A projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In the last two years, however, the situation has worsened further due to Covid, which has put virtually any software house in difficulty.
Absolutely not. Nobody should be confident of any video game release dates until maybr a week before they ship
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) May 12, 2022
Also in 2022, we have seen important postponements including those of STALKER 2 (even before the war in Ukraine), Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, Forspoken and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, and as already discussed in a Let’s Talk probably many more will be announced in the course of the year.
Does this mean that God of War: Ragnarok will be postponed? Like Schreier, we believe it unlikely, especially considering that it was initially expected in 2021 and the promises of Sony and the development team, but at the same time, we don’t even put our hands on the fire.