The Biggest 2022 Games Delayed To 2023

Arc Raiders was set to be the debut title from Embark Studios, a team of ex-DICE talent led by former EA head Patrick Söderlund. The co-op shooter about fighting off robots from space made a splash during last year’s Game Awards. In a surprising twist, however, Embark announced months later it was delaying Arc Raiders to next year to focus on launching another shooter project first. This title, formerly known as Project Discovery and christened as The Finals during Gamescom, had quickly progressed through development, causing Embark to focus on releasing it first with Arc Raiders arriving sometime afterwards. 

Many assumed Ubisoft’s open-world Avatar game would launch around the December premiere of the theatrical sequel, The Way of Water, but we suppose it wouldn’t be an Avatar project if it didn’t suffer a setback. To ensure Frontiers of Pandora successfully kickstarts what Ubisoft hopes will become a larger gaming franchise for James Cameron’s sci-fi universe, the game will instead arrive sometime next year at the earliest – it could even wind up hitting in 2024. 

The folks at Team Reptile didn’t think releasing its stylish homage to Jet Set Radio in 2022 would allow them the time to give it the attention they feel it deserves. As such, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk will skate to release sometime next summer. It’s been too long since we’ve gotten a Jet Set Radio game, so we can’t wait to see how this turns out. 

Company of Heroes 3 was set to launch on November 17, but developer Relic Entertainment wasn’t satisfied with how its military RTS was shaping up. The team wants to spend extra time squashing bugs and making sure Company of Heroes 3 lives up to fan expectations, so the game will now release for PC on February 23 and come to consoles later in the year. 

This unexpected sequel to hidden gem Deliver Us The Moon looks bigger and better in every way. So much so that developer KeokeN Interactive wants to spend more time preparing Mars for players’ arrival. As such, Deliver Us Mars was pushed out of September and will lift off on February 2. 

First announced in 2021 with a Spring 2022 launch window, PGA Tour marks EA’s return to making golf games after a years-long hiatus. The publisher nabbed exclusive rights to the Masters Tournament and the game even includes the Ladies Professional Golf Association. Unfortunately, we don’t know much more about the game besides a few courses and events, and EA has only offered vague timeframes for launch. It recently pushed the game to Spring 2023, a year after its original projected arrival. 

Luminous Productions’ fish-out-of-water fantasy adventure faced its second delay, moving it from October 11 to January 24. Square Enix states the game is essentially complete and is in the final polishing phase and that the delay was a “strategic decision.” October has quickly become crowded with big releases, so perhaps Square wants to pluck Forspoken from the pack so it can garner more attention in the traditionally lighter month of January. Hopefully, the extra time does this promising action RPG justice. 

This dinosaur-themed coming-of-age tale was one of the first PlayStation 5 games to debut, but it’s been largely MIA since its 2020 reveal. It was supposed to drop this year, but working in the pandemic has forced the small developer KO-OP to give the game some extra TLC, including rewriting the story from scratch. Goodbye Volcano High is now slated to arrive sometime next summer. 

As the summer progressed and delays hit left and right, we had a sneaking suspicion Hogwarts Legacy would also slip out of 2022. After all, developer Avalanche had kept pretty quiet about the open-world wizarding game since its first gameplay showcase in March. It confirmed these fears by breaking its silence to finally announce a release date for Hogwarts Legacy: February 10. Unfortunately, Avalanche later changed gears to a more staggered release. Hogwarts Legacy will indeed hit that February date for current-gen and PC, but last-gen console players will have to wait until April 4. Switch fans have to hold out even longer, as the game doesn’t launch for that platform until July 25. 

Kerbal Space Program 2’s launch has been delayed several times since its reveal in 2019. Developer Star Theory isn’t shy about taking as much time as possible to make sure the space sim is as “breathtaking” as fans expect. Though it’s a bummer to have stay grounded for several months longer, who would want to deny those adorable Kerbals a smooth liftoff? Thankfully, fans don’t have to wait long to finally play Kerbal 2; it enters Early Access on February 24. 

In March, Nintendo made the heartbreaking announcement that Breath of the Wild’s sequel would arrive in Spring 2023, a timeframe that has since been narrowed down to May 12. While we didn’t get the Zelda vs Elden Ring Game of the Year throwdown some gamers salivated over this year, we’ve become increasingly conditioned to waiting around for this game. What’s nearly a year-long delay?

We’ve been excited about this bold tactical spin-off to Metal Slug since its E3 2021 announcement. The game largely vanished from the spotlight since then, however, reemerging when publisher Dotemu announced it was pushing the game to next year to polish up the experience. Hopefully, the extra time does Metal Slug Tactics good; it has a ton of potential.

Night School Studio had been suspiciously quiet about Oxenfree II: Lost Signals for a game slated to release this fall. Unfortunately, that’s because it’s pushing the eerie adventure game to work on polish as well as adding more localization features. 

Fans of cinematic puzzle platformers like Limbo should keep an eye on Planet of Lana. The upcoming game, revealed at E3 2021, stars a young girl and her cat-like companion who explore a vibrant planet filled with giant robots and corrupted creatures. We’d hoped to get our hands on it this year, but developer Wishfully Studios pushed the game to next Spring to ensure quality without overworking the staff. 

Pragmata’s delay has likely been met with the most indifference because we hardly know anything about its strange premise of an astronaut partnering up with a powerful young girl. It also never came close to approaching its original launch window. Capcom revealed the sci-fi title in 2020 and slapped it with a 2022 release. Two years is plenty of time to forget about Pragmata for a while, but in 2021 Capcom pushed the game to 2023 before we even got married to the idea of it arriving this year. Capcom has been tightlipped on Pragmata so it’s hard to know why it tacked on an extra year of development, but we’re itching to see more of this fascinating title in the near future.

Arkane Studios’ bloodsucking open-world co-op title needs to slumber a bit longer. On its face, Redfall may look like nothing more than “Left 4 Dead but with vampires” – it pits you and up to three other friends against hordes of deadly night creatures. However, it’s still designed to be enjoyed as the story-driven single-player Arkane experience that fans love. That said, we’re itching to see if and how the studio applies the immersive sim elements from Dishonored or Deathloop to a multiplayer format. We just have to wait until the first half of 2023 now.

Replaced turned heads during the E3 2021 Xbox Showcase thanks to its stunning pixel art and dystopian ’80s aesthetic. Unfortunately, world events have presented a roadblock. Developer Sad Cat is based in Belarus near Ukraine and some of its designers have been caught in the crossfire of Russia’s invasion. Several team members had to relocate for their safety, adversely affecting the game’s development and forcing a delay. Of course, the well-being of the employees is infinitely more important and we hope Sad Cat is able to bounce back sooner rather than later. 

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developer GSC Game World is based in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, which has been heavily bombed in the ongoing Russian invasion of the country. Several of its developers had to flee the city, and some have even taken arms to help defend it. Needless to say, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 wasn’t going to hit its December launch date and will arrive sometime next year, thanks in part to GSC resuming most of the development at a new studio in Prague, Czech Republic. 

Sea of Stars comes from Sabotage, the team behind The Messenger, and serves as an RPG prequel to the 2018 action game. Players control two characters who wield the power of the sun and moon to battle an evil alchemist, and the game’s influences include Illusion of Gaia and Chrono Trigger (even sharing the same composer). Though Sea of Stars never had a firm 2022 release date, Sabotage confirmed the game will slip into 2023 in order to avoid crunching the staff while polishing up the experience. 

Ubisoft’s open-world pirate game has been lost at the sea for years and has been hit with yet another delay just when it seemed like the publisher had righted the ship. Skull and Bones will now set sail on March 9 instead of its November 8 launch. Polish and balancing has been cited as the primary reasons for the delay, though reports have also suggested that Ubisoft wants to ensure the experience, namely progression, doesn’t feel shallow. 

The sequel to survival horror romp The Forest has quietly gestated in development for a couple of years, and we expected to get our hands on it during the Halloween season after its May launch was delayed. But developer Endnight Games explained to fans that achieving Sons of the Forest’s large scope necessitates a few more months of work, so it pushed the game once more to next year. On the bright side, Sons of the Forest finally has a concrete release date: February 23. 

In June 2021, Bethesda confidently announced Starfield would land on November 11, 2022; the eleventh anniversary of Skyrim’s launch. Unfortunately, the publisher’s new space-faring IP needs more time on the assembly line and was delayed in the same breath as Redfall. Despite the setback, we were largely impressed with Starfield’s first gameplay demonstration at the Xbox/Bethesda Showcase in June, and we only hope the extra time in the oven results in an experience that matches its overwhelming potential. 

The former Telltale Games designers at Dramatic Labs are letting Trekkies steer their own narrative ships in this original choice-driven adventure. Unfortunately, they’ll have to wait until April to go where no one has gone before, and hopefully, the delay will be worth it. 

Rumors had swirled about Suicide Squad’s delay before developer Rocksteady confirmed the worst, so at least the blow was softened a bit. While we won’t get to (hopefully) take down Superman and the League this calendar year, we trust that Rocksteady will take whatever time it needs to do the Suicide Squad justice. It also helps that the late great Kevin Conroy has been confirmed to reprise his role as Batman. 

Tchia has been one of the most promising-looking indie titles since its reveal in 2020. The game stars a young girl who has the power to transfer her spirit into the bodies of animals and objects, controlling them from within. The game also takes cues from games like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker with its focus on sailing between multiple islands, and you can also explore underwater and soar through the skies on a glider. Developer Awaceb wants to ensure Tchia lives up to its potential and needs the rest of 2022 to pull it off. 

Test Drive Unlimited’s big comeback landed a September 2022 launch date a year in advance, demonstrating KT Racing’s apparent confidence it could cross the finish line in time. Alas, it was not to be. In order to ensure Solar Crown reaches the sky-high bar of quality the team is aiming for, the game was not only delayed, but its PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were canceled. According to the studio, abandoning the last generation will allow Solar Crown to take full advantage of current hardware.