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Video games getting delayed by developers isn’t a new thing in the gaming community. Lack of innovation and poor development can cause major harm to the popularity of the games. Hence, it is absolutely crucial for developers to make games the way they were meant to be.
While some video games have been delayed for good reasons, other titles have not benefited much from their delayed launch. When video games get pushed beyond their original release date, it's typically for the best and comes with great expectations from the gaming community.
5 games that were amazing even after their delayed launch
1) L.A. Noire
Rockstar Games released L.A. Noire back in 2011 as a detective action-adventure game, which offered a unique mystery-solving gameplay that required observation skills as well as gunfights.
Players have to interrogate witnesses and suspects, search for clues in the crime scene and follow up leads, which makes the gameplay extremely engaging and demands a lot of attention from the players.
The game was first announced by Rockstar in 2005 and was speculated to only be released for PlayStation 3. In October 2006, developers also released an early cinematic trailer that promised the game would be released in 2008.
After several delays from Rockstar, L.A. Noire was finally released to the public in 2011. It is still considered one of the best detective titles out there.
2) Alan Wake
Remedy and Microsoft released Alan Wake in 2010 as an action adventure game with a horror vibe. Players go through an excellent narrative that features unprecedented plot twists. They take on the role of Alan Wake, who tries to solve the mystery behind his lost wife, who disappeared during a vacation at Bright Falls.
The game is broken into six episodes that hold a fast-paced storyline that demands a lot of attention from the players. Remedy first announced the game in 2005 as an Xbox 360 exclusive, which looked highly promising. However, the developers kept missing deadlines and the game finally hit the stores five years later.
3) Mafia 2
2K Czech released Mafia 2 as the second installment of their popular Mafia series. Based in the fictional city of New York, players take on the role of Vito Scaletta, who got entangled with the city’s Mafia families in order to keep up with his father’s debts.
Mafia 2 created a huge buzz among the gaming community when it was first announced at the Leipzig Games Convention in 2007. However, it took the developers almost three years to finally come up with the game in 2010. A Director’s Cut was also released in 2011 as a downloadable content.
4) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Konami's Metal Gear Solid series has always been a fan-favorite for stealth lovers. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was released in 2015 as a stand-alone title following the events of Ground Zeroes. Based in 1984, players take on the role of Punished 'Venom' Snake and venture into the Angolan border region to take revenge for the events in Ground Zeroes.
Though the game was first announced in 2013, the high-profile clash between creator Hideo Kojima and Konami led to numerous delays from the original launch date. But none of those controversies hindered the game’s success and the title was much appreciated by critics and players.
5) Persona 5
Many Consider Persona 5 to be the best in Altus’ popular Persona series due to its strong sense of style and excellent storyline. Players take on the role of a group of high school students and are put through a wide range of experiences, from attending classes to battling psychological demons and more.
Persona 5 was first revealed in 2013 when developers showcased a teaser trailer of the game alongside Persona Q and Persona 4. Though SEGA released the gameplay trailer in 2015, they announced that the game would be delayed. The title finally emerged in late 2016 and even with the delayed release, it was well appreciated by the gaming community.
5 games that were not up to the mark after being delayed
1) The Last Guardian
Japan Studios released The Last Guardian as an action-adventure series in 2016. Players take on the role of a boy and portray his journey through the game with his half-mammal and half-bird friend, Trico. The game was first brought to light in 2007 when a full-advertisement of the game was released by Famitsu Magazine.
The hype eventually disappeared when Team Ico didn’t show much progress into the title. After a long wait, the game finally arrived in 2016 and was quickly abandoned due to its poor gameplay and sub-par graphical representation.
2) Wheelman
After Vin Diesel’s strong video game debut with The Chronicles of Riddick, the gaming community was hyped when Tigon Studios first announced their action-adventure open-world title, the Wheelman, featuring Vin Diesel in 2006.
Based in the city of Barcelona, the game featured a total of 31 story missions and 105 side missions to keep players engaged. After multiple delays, the game finally launched in 2009 and received a plethora of negative reviews from the gaming community, making it one of the worst competitors of GTA.
3) Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most anticipated titles in CD Project Red and created a huge hype among the gaming community, particularly after the involvement of popular actor Keanu Reeves.
After the game was first announced in 2012, development went through several delays, increasing the expectations of the gaming community.
Finally hitting the stores in 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 came as a huge disappointment. Many technical issues persisted even on powerful platforms, making the game almost unplayable at times. Cyberpunk 2077 offered a largely broken experience when it ran on low-end PCs, Xbox One, and PS4 consoles.
4) No Man’s Sky
Hello Games grabbed interest from Sony Interactive and first revealed No Man’s Sky in 2013. The game is primarily based on survival, combat, exploration and trading, where players can freely move in an open-world universe.Even though the developers aimed quite high with the game, they didn’t get the feedback they expected.
The major contributing factor to the game’s failure were the developers who exaggerated the features of the game, raising the overall expectations of the gaming community.
After No Man’s Sky released back in 2016, it disappointed everyone as developers failed to showcase the numerous features that were initially promised.
5) Duke Nukem Forever
Duke Nukem Forever is one of the most delayed games of all time. After it was announced in 1997, the game went through several delays during development, which eventually created a rush among developers to release the game by any means.
The game was finally released after a 14-year-long protracted development, and became a huge flop due to its exceptionally bad gameplay, which was especially filled with outdated humor and oversized weapons.
