why are there so many delayed games in 2014?

it seems like every game i was excited for has been pushed back to 2015! With the announcement that batman: arkham knight will be a 2015 game i have only destiny and assassins creed to look forward to. I also believe far cry 4 will be delayed because why not? idk if this is because of the new generation and developers need more time with the hardware or if its a marketing plot but whatever it is i hate it

They all announced their games for the same day pretty much and put it late enough in the year that they could let it slip into next year and just say "hey guys don't worry, it''s only three months til 2015!". I think no developer really wants to go head to head with another game anymore. A few years ago before all the economies fell out of everything sure, but now you want to release your game in a safer spot so you increase the chance of people who might only be able to buy one new game a month or every couple of months picking up your game new.

Delays are a good thing. It means they are not pushing unfinished/buggy/broken crap out the door.

Because 2014 is a year ending in a number.

(i.e., big games get delayed every year. This is nothing new whatsoever.)

New consoles

2014 is delayed to 2015.

This happens every year. Shouldn't surprise anyone.

You have no idea how much I wish this were actually true.

I saw a whole load of people saying this/agreeing with this on IGN and it just baffles me, I don't think this has been a particularly big year for delays. Maybe I'm being an airhead but I can't even really think of much that's been delayed. Can someone please enlighten me in regards to "all these HUGE games getting delayed" as some people are putting it.

Well, not as broken/buggy.

Well, imagine if those buggy/broken games weren't delayed.

Here are the games I've seen that are being delayed:

Batman: Arkham Knight | Mad Max | The Division | The Order: 1886 | Halo 5 | The Witcher 3 | Dying Light | and the steam controller

Big open world games mostly, the technical powerhouses are the ones having some trouble it seems. Probably with managing all the high res art they need.

Honestly I think the only 2014 to 2015 delay that genuinely surprised was Dying Light, given how much of that game they had already shown. All of the rest I feel were kinda obvious anyway, especially games like The Order & The Division.

@cerberus3dog: The ridiculous thing is that of all those games listed, Arkham Knight is the only one to have an official release date and get delayed. None of those other titles even picked a month to release. Everyone just assumed.

Q1 is the new Q4.

Huge games people were hoping would come out this year include but are not limited to:

• halo 5
• dying light
• the witcher 3
• batman

But with destiny, shadow of mordor, dragon age inquisition, smash brothers and AC:unity I'm sure we'll be fine.

The delays hit me a lot harder this year than in years past. It's not so much that they're big delays, or that there are a lot of them, its that all the new games being announced are for next year too. I really don't have a lot to look forward to this year. Maybe I should just play some of those first person shooters I always ignore, I don't know.

Why? Because software is difficult to create let alone a highly specialized genre like "video games".

@pinner458: Halo 5, Batman AK, The Order, The Division, Dying Light, Mad Max, Quantum Break, ESO for consoles, and probably a few more!

Because the new console specs weren't finalized until way late and people need time to make their games actually work. The only times I've been disappointed by a release delay are pretty much all related to release timing and not because the game itself needs work. You can bet that many of these delayed releases would gladly ship in time for the late year holiday rush despite the competition, though luckily that period of time is not as key as it used to be.

I don't think they have been delayed in actuality though definitely by subtext or statement. I think they were always going to be 2015 games. They just can't come out and say "Hey these awesome $300-$400 purchases are only going to get real next-gen games that require this purchase about 2 years from now...when you could get them cheaper!" It's still a bit shady.

Last gen, the games that mattered only really started to come out in 2007. Gears did come out in late 2006. But then you had to wait to late 2007 to get Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, Bioshock, etc. Even then, (and as much as I love ME1) those first installations were often...rough.

I figure to wait to the "2008-2009" years of this gen before getting a next gen console, when your GTA4's, Arkham Asylums, and sequels to those "2007" year games come out. I'll also likely be able to get a cheaper system possibly with a redesign to boot.

Breaking: 2015 has been delayed to 2015.

Sweet, I've played nearly half of it and 2014 definitely needs some work

@huser: Funny enough that people had the same grudge against the Wii U when now there are finally enough good (albeit Nintendo first-party published) games to make me think about buying the console.

It was also a year into the launch of the 360 and the release of Gears of War (also bundled with Burnout: Revenge) that got me to be interested in the console in the slightest.

its because with new consoles the manufoactors wanted stuff to annouce even if they were pretty sure it wouldnt be ready anytime soon.

Why is everyone so shocked when this happens? The same thing happened last year.

It's a new console generation. Honestly, I would have been surprised if most of the games that were delayed were released this year.

Well, think about it this way, 2015 is gonna be the shit. At this rate, it'll join 2007 (or am I thinking of '08?) and 2011 as one of those years everyone looks back on and just goes "holy shit, that was an amazing year for vidjya garmez"

Because it seems like there is very little coming out this year now. Theres the annualized franchises like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed, but besides Destiny, Evolve, and Far Cry 4, what else is coming out? I know I'm exaggerating in saying there is only 5 games coming out this year, but it really feels like next to nothing is coming out.

games get delayed when they are far too unfinished to ship. they have to be just the right amount of unfinished/broken so that the consumer can be the QA guinea pigs and they can patch in missing content and fixes as the internet reports the bugs.

@andrewb: Exactly. It's been long years since the launch was worth it. The days of Super Mario World are long gone.

I have zero problem with any of these games I was sort of half-interested in getting for consoles I don't own get delayed to a time when I may actually own said consoles.

This has nothing to do with this year. Games have been getting delayed for years now. It's not more now than it was before, it just seems that way because there are still only a handful of announced games for the new platforms.

Publishers announce a release date far before they actually know when the game will be done. This is because they are under the impression that delaying a game is no big deal and no one cares. They have data to back it up though. Take Watch Dogs, it was delayed twice I believe, yet they reached their expected sales on launch day. To them, there is no draw back to announcing a release date, while it does increase hype and attention towards a game.

So, they announce a release date often now realistically knowing whether they can hit it or not. It's combination of when they would like the game to launch in their fiscal year, when the devs seem to think they can get it done, when the publisher wants it done and what other games are in the market. Often, they aren't actually able to hit it. Which is no problem because they'll just announce the delay which again causes attention to the game.

We all know delays suck. They do. But for the publisher there is no reason to think so.

It probably isn't *the* reason but if you were a publisher... given the choice, would you rather sell a game to a potential market of 5 million console owners or wait a year and sell a game to a potential market of 10 million console owners?

The reason is video game development is hard... and as someone pointed out, some of these companies have games coming out only on next gen consoles and would like the bigger install base before they release so they could have an extra few months to a year which they could have a better sales.

But I reckon it's a combination of more than just those two factors though.

You know how Mark Cerny talked so much about reducing Time to Triangle when talking up the PS4?

This is why. As tech and graphics progress the amount of work and money to takes to make a AAA increases exponentially due to the level of detail on the graphical assets, which has increased the risk and and time it takes make them accordingly. This is also why there are fewer and fewer AAA games released each year, why most are Sequels (lower risk due to established brands) and why the AA guys are more or less done. Since the big pubs have fewer bets, they can't afford to mess up a title if they have cost ovverruns, so they'd rather delay it than rush it out the door.

These delays are a symptom of the real problem, exploding budgets that are increasing faster than sales.

These delays unfortunately are a bad sign that problem seems to be continuing to grow unabated despite new hardware that supposedly was going t o help address that.

I'm hoping Dragon Age Inquisition keeps its release date. I'm a huge fan of role-playing games, and I love both Dragon Age Origins, and the sequel.

The Batman delay was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I'm officially bummed out. Hopefully destiny will be good and Far cry 4 won't get delayed too, cause that's about all I'm interested in right now.

Oh yeah, and pokemon.

This year = Hype! That's right around the corner!!!

Next year = Boo! That's forever away!!!

That and the promise of games right around the corner sells consoles and assures a healthy install base when the game actually does get released. Marketing bullshit. I doubt any of these "delayed" games were anywhere near on track to be released this year.

Delaying games from Fall to Spring, with Christmans inbetween, will have your game launch to a much larger potential consumerbase. And I'm sure, ambitious games like Arkham Knight need all the time they can get in order to make their shit running smoothly.

this year is the most dead year for games coming out ive seen in a very long time.every single game i wanted to play this year besides dark souls 2,destiny and watch dogs(which was already delayed how ironic)was delayed.all i have left to play this year that im really excited for is destiny and far cry 4,which like someone mentioned wont surprise me if its delayed.in fact i wouldnt be shocked if destiny was delayed too and we had no new freaking games to play this year.

This happens every year. I'm serious.

2012 lost Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite, and DmC. Still a great year for gaming. 2013 lost the Stick of Truth and Watch_Dogs. Still a pretty good year for gaming. 2014 lost The Witcher 3 and Arkham Knight... Do you see where I'm going?

That's also clearly not a complete list by any means, but you should catch my drift. Calm down, take a deep breath, and be happy that there's an extra $120 - $240 you can save this holiday.

Games get delayed all the time, people are just noticing it more because they're so hungry for good "next-gen" games.

It should, it's been "content complete" for a couple months now :D

Games get delayed all the time. But when you have a new console that you want new games for, it certainly becomes more frustrating.

I usually get my systems at least a few years after their release, when they already have an impressive library. By the time I get a PS4 or One, these games will already be out or cancelled. Until then I'll just enjoy what I have.

I can't be sour because of delays, because there's always a good reason to delay a game. It's not good enough yet or just broken. Let's not delay anymore games and have Battlefield 4 drama's all over the place.

And really: there are still alot of good games releasing this year! Fall is packed with enough games to last most of us through 2014, even when some more will be delayed (and they probably will, because you know, we can't buy everything at once). Having said that: I really expect Dragon Age and Alien to be shifted to December 2014.