These 8 games whose release is still awaited, after years of delay…

More than ever, developing a video game is a risky and long-term undertaking, which can involve large teams and an enormous budget. At least that’s the case for AAA, and while indie gems built by a small team, or even a single person, come along regularly, like Chained Echoes, they’re usually the product of years. of hard work. If we add to this the rapid evolution of technologies, the ever-increasing expectations of gamers, especially regarding graphics, the financial expectations of investors, and above all, the fact that the bigger a project, more opportunities something, somewhere. , is wrong, you end up with a bunch of games that gamers were drooling over when they were announced, and still haven’t released as of this writing.

Skull and bones

Let’s start with the star of the moment, Skull and Bones, developed by Ubisoft Singapore. It was announced during theE3 2017, after the success of Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, one of the most successful and appreciated license titles. The principle is to continue its naval battles, where one contains a pirate, and extend this facet of the gameplay to make a complete game. Unfortunately, the project encountered several obstacles in its direction, with several complete redirections of the project, complete with resets, and various scandals related to harassment within the studio. Considered primarily as a PvP game at one time, it’s been repurposed more into PvE now, though we’re far from sure what it actually wants to be now. One thing is certain, however, a decade after the release of Black Flag, the hype of the players has had time to fall, and it will be more difficult to convince them to give it a chance, especially after the spirits have been marked so much . with its contractions. The poor reputation of Ubisoft and the resounding failure that the release of Cyberpunk 2077 (another game that has been postponed many times) are also unlikely to plead in its favor. The release of Skull and Bones is scheduled for “beginning 2023-2024“, and a beta phase should come before. The latter will certainly help to decide whether to jump ship or not.

Beyond good and evil 2

This might start to look like a campaign against Ubisoft, but the second game on the list is also from that publisher. This long-awaited sequel to a cult 2003 game has reportedly been in the works since 2007, with nothing but cancellations and resets. Finally, it has been officially presented toE3 2017, with a very impressive trailer, featuring the slightly funky space universe of the license with pirates and monkeys. Unfortunately, development promises to be very complicated, again, and the game has not escaped the problems that have affected other Ubisoft studios. To continue a Release investigation, it was a “messy and painful project”, with “a creative director with toxic methods”. The said creative director is Michel Ancel (remember his name for later), and he left Ubisoft in 2020. Hopefully the game was able to get off to a good start since then.

Wild

WiLD, not to be confused with Zelda BOTW, is probably forgotten by most people, as its announcement dates back to Gamescom 2014, with a very interesting trailer that marked the minds of those who followed the conference at the time. In fact, the adventure-survival game in an open world proposes to include people of prehistoric times, with tribal, mystical and shamanic elements, in cooperation with animals. After the second trailer the following year, the game disappeared over the years, and some of our colleagues asked if it was still in development, which seems to be the case in 2020. in any case it is still not officially canceled, but it must be said that this rarely happens, especially for small studios. And this small independent studio that uses the giant Sony as a publisher (which also seems to have forgotten the game), is Wild Sheep Studio, with particularity founded by a certain Ubisoft’s Michel Ancel. It seems a bit like we can notice a trend in the projects that this brave gentleman is working on.

StarCitizen

We’re done with Ubisoft and its affiliates for now, we promise, they are small players after all. Today, let’s make way for the true champion of games that don’t want to come out, Star Citizen. This space simulation game promises to be the ultimate realization of the dreams of players who love this type of content, with a massive universe, huge ships, incredibly deep and detailed gameplay, whether pilot or walker. It must be said that the interior of the vessels and installations are modeled in detail. Launched in 2012 by Chris Roberts, the father of the Wing Commander space combat game series, the project grew over the years. Constantly revised upward, the complexity of the project continues to grow. The staff of the Cloud Imperium Games studio, which handles development, has grown from a small handful to over 700, and the funds raised from players have increased. exceeded the 550 million euro mark, they have not been as high as in 2022, when the release window has been pushed back continuously for years. It’s fun to see videos mentioning an upcoming release date, especially when you realize it’s from over four years ago.

Opinions are divided on Star Citizen, some consider it just a victim of Chris Roberts’ grandiose visions, and when it comes out (even if it comes out eventually) it will be a real wonder- amazing game, and it will be worth the wait. But all was not so optimistic, Chris Roberts was also accused of abusing the funds raised for his personal comfort. He has no reason to release the game one day, when he can line his pockets selling dreams to sunk cost players, if only emotionally. This could be the biggest scam in video game history if it is. We do not claim to be able to predict the future, but when we are sells large vessels whose price reaches several thousand euros in a game meant to pit players against each other, it does us no good. It’s kind of ironic that a game aimed primarily at older, old-school PC gamers is still successful by advertising itself as P2W to the extreme, even before it’s release. One thing is certain, the day the curtain comes down on Star Citizen, one way or another, the popcorn will be out.

Starfield

They say misery loves company, and if Skull and Bones is having a hard time getting out, he probably enjoys Starfield too. Developed by Bethesda and announced by Todd Howard during theE3 2018, its concept is reminiscent of Star Citizen in many respects, though its ambitions seem more measured. It also looks to draw more inspiration from No Man’s Sky and Mass Effect Andromeda, with a heavy emphasis on planetary exploration and first-person shootout. If these two names scare you, we mean it. The weather is definitely not good for space games, and it’s almost reassuring to know that the studio has pushed the release from November 2022 to early 2023, because the gameplay excerpts shown in the trailers are really convincing. We are now waiting for a new release date, and we can possibly expect it to follow the example of the Ubisoft game mentioned above, by postponing its release again.

The Elder Scrolls 6

Along with GTA 5, Skyrim is probably one of the highest grossing boxed games in history. Bethesda never gets tired of releasing remasters, anniversary editions and full-price ports on the Switch. But its release began in 2011, and it was time for a sequel. The announcement of TES6 was made at the same time as Starfield, at E3 2018. However, it was said that the game will not be released before Starfieldbecause most of the teams managing the project are in this other game. As you understand, the problem does not really lie in the development of Elder Scrolls 6, and we do not expect its release before 2026 at the earliest. In the end, there’s no denying that the game was announced too early, and that’s the real problem. It’s a lesson more studios should learn: officially announcing a game years before the release date doesn’t do any good. It only serves to pressure the developers and frustrate the players. A good example in this area is Cyberpunk 2077, so it’s no surprise that Rockstar still hasn’t made GTA 6 official.

Metroid Prime 4

Now let’s go to Nintendo, which has a lot of historical licenses lying dormant in its closets. But at least when the publisher makes an announcement, the games come out, at least in general. The notable exception is Metroid Prime 4, originally developed by Bandai Namco, which was also announced at E3 2017, which was supposed to be some kind of cursed year. Two years later, Nintendo announced that the project started from scratch, along with Retro Studios, to whom we owe the original Prime episodes, and we don’t have to wait long for it. At least fans were in for a big surprise, with the 2D Metroid Dread series ending in 2021.

SQ: Etrian Odyssey on Switch

Finally, here’s a title that won’t speak to many people, as it’s one of Atlus’ minor licenses (Persona, Shin Megami Tensei). This is Etrian Odyssey, a series of dungeon crawler RPGs on Nintendo DS and 3DS, where you create your entire team of adventurers. The particularity of these games is that they take advantage of the second touch screen, to ask the player to draw his own map with the stylus, to find himself in the immense labyrinth that they have to go through. The concept has always been very appealing to us, even if these games have not yet reached the general public.

Like many other sections of Atlus, which still seem stuck in the 2000s, the Etrian Odyssey team seems to have been hit hard by the move to 3D. Losing the touchscreen also means completely rethinking the concept of the game, which is certainly not easy. This new title was announced in July 2018, and since then it has been radio silence. But this is not particularly rare coming from Atlus, we will continue to believe it, eventually it will be released, preferably, before the release of the next Nintendo console.