Release date delays are nothing new for the gaming industry these days, but for Forspoken, in particular. Insiders have already stated the possibility a while ago that a second delay could be in the works. It was revealed By Square Enix earlier today that this is indeed the case. Unlike the usual claims about polishing and adding final touches, the developers claim the delay is actually a “strategic decision”.
The second delay was confirmed today through a post on the official Twitter account of Forspoken. The developers have reassured fans that all game components are already complete, and that the development is in its final phases. It makes sense now to theorize that this decision was implemented in order to prevent conflicts with other Square Enix releases, and the rest of the industry giants such as God of War: Ragnarok, The Last of Us: Part 1 Remake, Gotham Knights, Hogwarts Legacy, and many more.
Square Enix’s release schedule is already quite packed this year, with multiple high-quality announced titles coming one after another such as Valkyrie Elysium, The DioField Chronicle, Star Ocean The Divine Force, and other smaller titles like FF VII Ever Crisis and Echoes of Mana. It’s logical to think they don’t want a new IP to conflict with these significant titles already carried by their respective franchise history. Not to mention they already did this once before and delayed Nier: Automata so as not to fight for the crown with Final Fantasy 15, which was newly released back then.
There are also a lot of hopes in store for Forspoken, which explains why Square Enix would want it to be nothing but a success. It’s the debut title for the new Luminous Productions studio, assembled from FFXV veterans. Forspoken is also being developed to take advantage of the full power and technology offered by the PS5. They also have some amazing writers on board such as: Gary Whitta (After Earth, Rogue One, The Walking Dead and Halo 5), Amy Hennig (Jak and Daxter, Uncharted), and Todd Stashwick (Veteran writer of many movies and TV episodes).
The voice actors are also hand-picked, and the game simply looks stunning. It might not exactly go into obscurity if released at the same previous intended date, but marketing can push a game quite far. Since Square Enix emphasized the “Strategic” part in the announcement, it also seems they want to avoid any sort of misunderstanding or miscommunication about their internal development progress. These are all clues that give weight to the theory that Forspoken is going to deliver, and that Square Enix is doing everything to make sure this happens.
