Video game release dates are more a suggestion than a promise these days, and understandably so. Making games is hard and audiences have never been busier and more fickle. Still, it’s disappointing when you find out that sci-fi shooter or fantasy adventure you’ve been waiting for won’t be out any time soon, and a lot of that disappointment is going around right now, as a bunch of this year’s notable releases have recently slipped to 2025.
The recent retreat into 2025 began with Avowed. Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming action-RPG was set to come out this fall but will now hit in February instead. Microsoft said the delay would give extra breathing room to its current slate of upcoming Game Pass exclusives and allow the studio more time to polish up the open world-ish game. The company keeps promising at least one big release a quarter, and the move might help it stick to that more closely.
Next up was Replaced, another Xbox console exclusive. The often-delayed 2.5D retro-futuristic platformer was pushed to next year to “ensure we meet the high standards we’ve set for ourselves,” the development team posted on Twitter. The game will still be playable at Gamescom later this month, but a new release window hasn’t been set yet.
Not to be left out, Terminator: Survivors snuck in its own delay in August as well. “Over the past few months, we’ve been really impressed by your enthusiasm and amazed by the response to our announcements, and we know how eagerly fans are awaiting Terminator: Survivors,” read a post on Twitter. “To realize our vision, and to make sure to deliver the game that fits your expectations, we need some additional time.” The open-world survival game was supposed to come out in Early Access in October. Now fans will have to wait until 2025 to get a taste of its re-imagining of Skynet’s robot takeover.
Meanwhile, a lot of other major 2024 blockbusters still don’t have specific release dates. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater are all still supposed to arrive this year. Hopefully none of them get sucked into a delay vortex either.
Update 8/15/2024 10:17 a.m. ET: Added Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.
