In a week (month? year?) when lots of people are feeling pretty sour over the way some game companies choose to explain their decisions to their audience, here’s a rarity — a game delay statement that shows such humility, honesty, and passion for the medium that it’s gone over extremely well.
The statement comes from Evil Empire, the Dead Cells developer now making a roguelike Prince of Persia game for Ubisoft — and the reason for the delay, as Evil Empire humbly admits, is this week’s surprise early access release of Hades 2, the hotly anticipated sequel to a roguelike classic.
Rogue Prince of Persia had been set for release next week, on May 14 (also in early access, on PC). Evil Empire says the game will still be released in May, and it will announce a new release date on Monday, May 13.
It’s a smart decision, but what’s really striking is the generosity and candor with which Evil Empire has framed its decision — as well as its cheeky use of the yellow-box format (much-memed during Cyberpunk 2077’s tortuous journey to release, and beyond).
“Seeing as everyone and their mum is playing [Hades 2] (including our entire team… and their mums), we have decided to let people have their fun with it before we release The Rogue Prince of Persia,” Evil Empire posted.
“While we have every confidence in The Rogue Prince of Persia, it’s not every day that a game in the same genre as you, which is one of the most anticipated upcoming games of 2024, will release into Early Access a week before you plan to do the same. We are not prideful enough to ignore the implications of that, and we truly believe that this short delay is the best decision for us and our Early Access journey.
“This also lets us keep polishing up the game, add even more cool things and kick some stubborn bugs out before release. The Day 1 patch was getting pretty hefty, so gaining more time to test it and add more stuff before launch day has considerably lowered the stress levels of our producer and game director already!
“We completely understand that this is annoying news to hear for everyone who was eager to play the game, especially so close to the anticipated release. We can only hold our hands up, apologise and hope that you understand. It will be worth the wait! Thank you for your patience.”
Isn’t that nice? Evil Empire gave a fellow developer their props, showed enthusiasm for a rival game, modestly understood their role in the pecking order, apologized — and most importantly, were completely open with fans about the reasons for it. Credit’s due to publisher Ubisoft, too, which presumably greenlit the decision and this way of communicating it.
Rare is the delay announcement that earns goodwill rather than erodes it, but this is a fantastic example of one.
