2K Games has announced that BioShock Infinite will miss the all-important Christmas holiday season and be delayed until February 2013.
Quote:
BioShock Infinite Now Planned for February 2013
2K Games announced today that BioShock Infinite from Irrational Games is now planned to launch worldwide on February 26, 2013.
Ken Levine, Creative Director of Irrational Games, stated, “When we announced the release date of BioShock Infinite in March, we felt pretty good about the timing. Since then, we’ve uncovered opportunities to make Infinite into something even more extraordinary. Therefore, to give our talented team the time they need to deliver the best Infinite possible, we’ve decided to move the game’s release to February.”
Sounds more like a loss of several hundred thousand sales than a delay.
It is exceedingly rare for a publisher to allow a delay to ADD features to a game, especially I would say for one targetting an XMas release. Adding features is great fodder for DLC.
Typically, delays are announced after much of what can be CUT is cut and the game is broken without the rest.
Sounds more like a loss of several hundred thousand sales than a delay.
I'm sure they'll miss out on some sales, but I doubt they're worrying about it too much. If BSI turns out to be at least as successful as the first BioShock, then it's still going to sell like gangbusters. Plus, factor in that this is a highly anticipated to a hugely popular and successful title, and I'll be surprised if it doesn't sell through at least 50% more units than BioShock 1 (assuming it gets excellent reviews and positive word of mouth).
Kinda relieved it was delayed past this holiday season. If anything, it may sell better after the holidays once CoD and its ilk aim for the inevitable Oct/Nov/Dec release cycle. By Feb/March people will be looking for something new to play.
Slightly off topic, but last month I watched Bladerunner, the director's cut on DVD. It was the first time I had watched it in probably 15 years. In one of the opening establashing scenes of future LA, I got a very strong Bioshock vibe. The scenes as you first enter the (Spoiler alert) underwater city in bioshock at the beginning are very reminiscent of the scene that sets the stage in LA in Bladerunner.
It may be that a billion people already noticed this similarity 6 years ago, but hey, I'm fashionably slow.
I doubt sales will be hurt that much, its one of the biggest well known releases coming out. I really don't buy into the theory that parents browse store shelves and randomly buy games for their kids at christmas. even parents with no idea about video games generally get a list of wants from their kids.
