Why game delays to 2015 aren’t so bad

Don’t let game delays get you down: on PC, they’re no big deal

Evolve. Battlefield Hardline. The Witcher 3. Batman: Arkham Knight. The Division. All of these games have unexpectedly been delayed until 2015, and it doesn’t matter. Launch delays may well send some gamers into a storm of incandescent rage, but on PC there’s always something else to play. And if a developer has decided it needs more time to work on its game, is that really such a bad thing? DICE vice president Karl Magnus Troedsson says the reason for Hardline’s delay is to give the story more depth, add new features, and improve stability—something Battlefield 4’ s troubled launch could definitely have benefited from. “We are doing all of this for one reason,” says Troedsson. “Because we want Battlefield Hardline to be the best game it can be, and so that we can create the best environment for a smooth launch for our players.”

CD Projekt RED released an open letter to both players and shareholders explaining the reason for the delay to The Witcher 3. “A project this vast and complex would inevitably require special care in its final stages, manual fine-tuning of many details... We concluded that a few additional months will let us achieve the quality that will satisfy us, the quality gamers expect from us.”

It’s not as if there’s a shortage of brilliant games on PC. There are so many, in fact, that even we struggle to keep on top of them all, and that’s our job. This year sees the release of brilliant space sim Elite: Dangerous, World of Warcraft’s Warlords of Draenor expansion, mega-sequel Assassin’s Creed Unity, Obsidian’s promising Infinity Engine homage Pillars of Eternity, Far Cry 4, Alien: Isolation, The Sims 4... the list goes on. Some of these games might slip, but most will hit their targets later this year.