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[Three]

I would say to expect more delays in the short term due to Covid-19 delaying production, and further delays due to the ongoing supply chain shortage.

There were many aspects of game development that either could not be done, or required significant adaptation to work from home models. Anything that required people to be in close proximity for several hours, was more or less a no-go for most of 2020 and parts of 2021. Motion capture, voice acting and music production just weren't possible in work from home environments. We've already seen impacts of this in the film industry, and when shooting did resume there were heavy regulations put in place.

The main worry for software houses moving forward I think, will be supply chain shortages. Getting the hardware needed for studios to build titles will be an ongoing issue, as old hardware becomes obsolete / fails or as studios expand and require new hardware for employees. That's not forecast to ease until 2024, and even then I expect it to go on longer.

Disappointing to see games get delayed, but it is what it is.

I think the Covid excuse is poor and it's just fans trying to shift blame away from MS. Not because I'm a monster and think covid has had no impact on development but because we were in mid 2021 when they committed to a 2022 release date. Are the project managers at Bethesda/MS that damn incompetent that they didn't know how Covid-19 (November) had effected development in mid 2021? If your game had been delayed from a date you had commited to in 2020 then sure I can see that as a valid excuse. Not when you commit to a date in mid 2021 when the impact of covid was fully known and the pandemic actually slowly declining.

I think it's as you say. They don't want to release the next gen only games in 2022 due to the impact of the supply chain shortages. We actually had a supply thread in late 2021
"Xbox boss Phil Spencer says console supply issues will continue into 2022"
where somebody made that comment about "crossgen until 2023" which was right on the nail and I was sure some of these games would get delayed:

... 2022 is baron for next gen only games so "crossgen until 2023" is accurate. We have what Forespoken for PS5 and Redfall + Starfield for Series X. I'm sure some of those would be delayed too.

 

[kingfey]

....you are actively dismissing games that didnt get delayed...in the exact same time frame....

It all cant be because of Covid. Because....some studios seemed to handle the situation better than others....

All Covid has done is made management or other issues more apparent for some studios.

Some of the games you posted literally had a few months delay. Which was a thing long before Covid.

Games having issues day one was a thing long before Covid.

Covid is a valid reason, but it can also be used as an excuse for underlying issues at some studios.

.....especially since some studios seemed to handle Covid better than others....


Again my job as an example:

I stated working with them from a remote position in Nov 2020, no problems, or major problems.
We went back into the office first week of April 2022.

Had to go back to remote work for at least a week, because problems.

Still have issues working in the office to this day.

Covid is the reason? No....its not.


Ask yourself an honest question: would you have made this thread and another thread kinda related to this...if Redfall and Starfield didnt get delayed.....

Because the games you mentioned were all delayed before Redfall and Starfield....

Not every game has the same length development. Games that were worked on early, were the ones who got less delays.

Early 2021 saw less delays, compared to late 2021 and 2022.

Every delay so far has been attributed to covid and for employees health safety by the developers, and publishers.

If you want to keep ignoring these go for it.

Its pointless explaining that, to someone who doesn't care about.

You are the the type that loves publishers to crunch their employees.

 

[kingfey]

We are over 2 years into this now. No one on the planet was "prepared" for this. They should have been able to adapt by now, that is the point that everyone is making.

Then explain to me genius.

How do these publisher make up the lost time, that was lost to covid lockdown?

 

[yurinka]

We underestimated the impact of this covid 19 on gaming industry.
2 of the big 2022 titles were delayed, because of that.

At this point, any game that is slated for 2023 release would be delayed 100%. And any game which releases on that period, without delays would have day1 issues.

AAA games today take 4 to 6 years on average to be deveeloped. The big lockdowns happened in 2020, so it will affect games released from 2020 to 2024 or 2026, many a few released on 2027.

The thing is only a few to be released late 2022 and later had specific releases before the lockdowns. So for the ones that had their dates announced after the lockdowns, they already will have their covid delay applied. Example: Insomniac typically releases an average of at least a title per year. Very likely Spider-Man 2 was originally planned for 2022, but they announced it for 2023. That extra year pretty likely was due to covid, and if not pretty likely was because Sony already delayed their 3 biggest 2021 games to 2022 so maybe they considered their 2022 was too busy and prefered to push back Spider-Man 2.

I already convinced myself that Hogwarts Legacy and S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 are coming 2023.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 team is from Kyiv, Ukraine. They have a war in their country and their government mandated all young male adults to go to fight in the war. If don't go they are considered traitors. The war is going to be very long and things don't look good for their side.

So who knows when it's going to be released. If released.

 

[kingfey]

Every Game Delay Announced in 2022 - IGN

We continued to track the impact of pandemic-era game development by tallying every video game delay announced in 2022, including Dead Island 2 and the last-gen/Switch versions of Hogwarts Legacy.

www.ign.com

 

[CookieWithMatt]

I think the Covid excuse is poor and it's just fans trying to shift blame away from MS. Not because I'm a monster and think covid has had no impact on development but because we were in mid 2021 when they committed to a 2022 release date. Are the project managers at Bethesda/MS that damn incompetent that they didn't know how Covid-19 (November) had effected development in mid 2021? If your game had been delayed from a date you had commited to in 2020 then sure I can see that as a valid excuse. Not when you commit to a date in mid 2021 when the impact of covid was fully known and the pandemic actually slowly declining.

I wouldn't say Covid-19 is a poor excuse, on the contrary it's perfectly valid. I would expect games that were earlier in development either just prior to or during Covid-19 to be significantly impacted by delays, than games that were further along in development. Motion capture, audio design and to a lesser extent voice work just aren't possible in a remote environment. Some of those industries were out for 12 - 18 months, with the film industry still in recovery mode. For a period, Hollywood were shooting films my backyard (Australia) due to the 0-Covid policy we had, until that was blown to pieces in July 2021.

Might be the case as another user pointed out - Sony got dev kits out earlier and that may have helped games like Horizon make it out the door, whereas Microsoft were a little slow on getting those out the door and it's had a knock-on effect.

Whether Microsoft / Bethesda were incompetent and should have known better I don't know. Probably. Microsoft has shown plenty of times in other areas of their business that they can excel all too well at incompetency.

Also my point on the supply chain was more-so on the side of B2B, but you make a pretty good point too! Waiting for supply chain to free up on the consumer end could mean maximizing sales revenue, but I don't know. Need to have a think on that one. Interesting though.

 

[Three]

I wouldn't say Covid-19 is a poor excuse, on the contrary it's perfectly valid. I would expect games that were earlier in development either just prior to or during Covid-19 to be significantly impacted by delays, than games that were further along in development. Motion capture, audio design and to a lesser extent voice work just aren't possible in a remote environment. Some of those industries were out for 12 - 18 months, with the film industry still in recovery mode. For a period, Hollywood were shooting films my backyard (Australia) due to the 0-Covid policy we had, until that was blown to pieces in July 2021.

Might be the case as another user pointed out - Sony got dev kits out earlier and that may have helped games like Horizon make it out the door, whereas Microsoft were a little slow on getting those out the door and it's had a knock-on effect.

Whether Microsoft / Bethesda were incompetent and should have known better I don't know. Probably. Microsoft has shown plenty of times in other areas of their business that they can excel all too well at incompetency.

Also my point on the supply chain was more-so on the side of B2B, but you make a pretty good point too! Waiting for supply chain to free up on the consumer end could mean maximizing sales revenue, but I don't know. Need to have a think on that one. Interesting though.

In my opinion the main thing in predicting a delay is when they announced the release date and not how far along in development they were because it's what's unforeseen that's the issue.

For example if you announced a games date any time prior to mid 2020 you would have a hard time meeting that date regardless of what date you announced (2022,23,24. how far along you were would not matter) because you could not predict the impact to your project from covid, lockdowns or travel restrictions. If however you announced a very specific release date in June 2021. When you know the impact of Covid and as a project manager have had 1.5 years experience of Covid-19 it's a poor excuse, one that not even the company announcing the delay is using. some in this forum are just projecting the delay to other studios and using Covid as the reason.
2021 things actually got better. All of the restrictions (lockdown and travel) were dropped. You had positive unpredictability.

I fully expect delays due to Covid for games that were announced with broad dates in 2019 and 2020, not for any dates announced mid to late 2021.

It's worth mentioning Horizon actually had a delay too and that was far into development. They announced a "2021" date in June 2020. The worldwide impact of Covid was just beginning in early 2020 though.
Horizon announced a 18-2-2022 release date in mid 2021 (same time as starfields release date announcement) and met it.

 

[IndianaJack]

My point is some studios seemed to handle this wild situation better than others. Sony and Nintendo are good examples., that you said.

Somehow OP thinks all studios are being affected the same. The OP reads like someone trying to cope with something.

All one has to do is go back and look at whats actually been released, what been delayed and hasnt come out yet.... and whats been delayed and has came out.

So what you're saying is crunch is fully applied to Japanese studios, while Western studios don't do crunch. This forum celebrates crunch culture apparently, as long as you get your AAA-exclusive-GOTY on time.

 

[daffyduck]

They “underestimated”. Sounds like they’re using the Nintendo excuse.

 

[kingfey]

So what you're saying is crunch is fully applied to Japanese studios, while Western studios don't do crunch. This forum celebrates crunch culture apparently, as long as you get your AAA-exclusive-GOTY on time.

That is what I have been getting from these people.
Any extra time that is lost, is a crunch time for employees, unless they delay the game.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Im here to let you guys know botw 2 is launching next year no more delays.

Yeah, the difference with BOTW2 over next gen games is that they don’t have to wait to build an install base.

These delays are almost always a financial decision based on a lack of compatible hardware, Nintendo doesn’t have that problem.

BOTW2 is releasing as soon as it’s ready, Nintendo will be dying to get it out into the market.

 

[DenchDeckard]

My point is some studios seemed to handle this wild situation better than others. Sony and Nintendo are good examples., that you said.

Somehow OP thinks all studios are being affected the same. The OP reads like someone trying to cope with something.

All one has to do is go back and look at whats actually been released, what been delayed and hasnt come out yet.... and whats been delayed and has came out.

Wait a minute, are you saying Sony have handled Covid and delays better than others?

wasn’t gran turismo 7 delayed a year out of 2021 to 2022?

wasnt horizon delayed out of 2021 to 2022?, wasnt god of war delayed out of 2021 to 2022?

ratchet and clank was announced as launch window but came out in June, so that had to be delayed by a few months no way 8 months is launch window.

basically returnal launched on time?

 

[Bo_Hazem]

COVID-19 is a meme now. It's developed into a seasonal fever already, but incompetent folks will still grasp that straw to death.

 

[jroc74]

Wait a minute, are you saying Sony have handled Covid and delays better than others?

wasn’t gran turismo 7 delayed a year out of 2021 to 2022?

wasnt horizon delayed out of 2021 to 2022?, wasnt god of war delayed out of 2021 to 2022?

ratchet and clank was announced as launch window but came out in June, so that had to be delayed by a few months no way 8 months is launch window.

basically returnal launched on time?

If you are gonna list Forbidden West by the year and not count the months....I dont know what to say. End of 2021 to early 2022. Thats a few months at most.

I even addressed this earlier....

Rift Apart ...lets say the delay was 4 months, from Feb to June. Not sure where 8 months comes from, it was never supposed to launch in 2020. From day one it was 'launch window, first half of 2021' By that definition it wasnt delayed.

When has a game being delayed by 2-4 months ever been considered a sign of major issues...Or are we now gonna call Nov to Dec a launch window.

Now that Covid is a good excuse...guess we can use that.

Games have been delayed damn near entire years.....before Covid.

Some of yall keep picking games that did get delayed, and conveniently skip over those that didnt.

Insomniac worked on and released basically....3 games....while some of yall like to blame Covid.

So what you're saying is crunch is fully applied to Japanese studios, while Western studios don't do crunch. This forum celebrates crunch culture apparently, as long as you get your AAA-exclusive-GOTY on time.

Not every game has the same length development. Games that were worked on early, were the ones who got less delays.

Early 2021 saw less delays, compared to late 2021 and 2022.

Every delay so far has been attributed to covid and for employees health safety by the developers, and publishers.

If you want to keep ignoring these go for it.

Its pointless explaining that, to someone who doesn't care about.

You are the the type that loves publishers to crunch their employees.

Not sure how crunch is even in this discussion. Appreciate it if you dont try to put words in my mouth, thanks.

Or are you saying only games that get released on time is because of crunch?

kingfey

I get it, with you its gonna be a agree to disagree thing. Because we will never see eye to eye on this.

So yall have it.

 

[kingfey]

If you are gonna list Forbidden West by the year and not count the months....I dont know what to say. End of 2021 to early 2022. Thats a few months at most.

I even addressed this earlier....

Rift Apart ...lets say the delay was 4 months, from Feb to June. Not sure where 8 months comes from, it was never supposed to launch in 2020. From day one it was 'launch window, first half of 2021' By that definition it wasnt delayed.

When has a game being delayed by 2-4 months ever been considered a sign of major issues...Or are we now gonna call Nov to Dec a launch window.

Now that Covid is a good excuse...guess we can use that.

Games have been delayed damn near entire years.....before Covid.

Some of yall keep picking games that did get delayed, and conveniently skip over those that didnt.

Insomniac worked on and released basically....3 games....while some of yall like to blame Covid.




Not sure how crunch is even in this discussion. Appreciate it if you dont try to put words in my mouth, thanks.

Or are you saying only games that get released on time is because of crunch?

kingfey

I get it, with you its gonna be a agree to disagree thing. Because we will never see eye to eye on this.

So yall have it.

Due to covid lockdown, gaming companies missed out certain amounts of work time.
There is only 2 ways to get it. Crunch your employees to cover those lost time (overtime). Or delay the game, in order to make up the lost time.

Most companies didn't delay the game, because of financial or laziness.

Gorilla games specifically stated employees health reason due to covid lock, on why their games was delayed.

If those 3 major companies and other gaming other publishers/devs delaying their games, then the issue has to do with those covid lockdown.

Ratchet and returnal didn't suffer that much, because those 2 games were in the final stage.

The ones who suffered are those who were targeting late 2021 and beyond.

 

[daffyduck]

…Anything that required people to be in close proximity for several hours, was more or less a no-go for most of 2020 and parts of 2021. Motion capture, voice acting and music production just weren't possible in work from home environments. …

Motion Capture, yes.

The tech for the other two is affordable even for an amateur. It would be plausible that someone who does either of those things for a living has a decent setup at home, and can do much of that work there.