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Microsoft has announced that its open world action game Crackdown 3 will be delayed from November 7 until spring 2018. The game’s being delayed to give the development teams more time to polish the overall experience.
Microsoft Studios publishing general manager, Shannon Loftis, confirmed the delay in an email conversation with Polygon. Loftis said that, ‘we want to make sure to deliver the right game, with the right quality, and at the right time. Crackdown 3 is a hugely ambitious game and we want to ensure we deliver the right experiences all the way through every part of the game.’ Loftis also followed this up with a tweet indicating when we should see Crackdown 3.
To clarify: the entire game is moving to Spring 2018. It’s super ambitious, and we want to make sure the game delivers. https://t.co/cGdHTnuI2b
— Shannon Loftis (@shannonloftis) August 16, 2017
Loftis expanded on the reason for the delay, stating that the visuals will be getting a bit of a spit shine, saying that, ‘Among other items, we are taking the extra time to focus on the visual polish so gamers can feel completely immersed in a living world. We want them to really feel the larger-than life enemies as they’re exploring the expansive open world’.
This news follows on from some of the criticism that (quite rightly) followed the game’s E3 2017 showing. Whatever your thoughts it’s clear that Microsoft also believes that Crackdown 3, as it is currently, just isn’t ready for public consumption.
Crackdown was originally announced back in 2014, before being pushed to a late 2016 release. This latest delay moves the game into early 2018 from its planned launch alongside the Xbox One X on November 7.
The big question is, what impact will this delay have for the launch of the upcoming Xbox One X console? Sure the likes of Forza Motorsport 7, Cuphead and Super Lucky’s Tale are coming out on the same day, but the absence of Crackdown 3 will be felt by those who are on the fence about upgrading to the 4K-capable console. But at least Forza Motorsport 7 isn’t delayed, eh?
