There are a ton of great games currently scheduled to release in 2022. From Sony’s Gran Turismo 7, God of War Ragnarök and Horizon Forbidden West, through to Saints Row, Starfield and Stranger of Paradise, this year is set to have something for everyone. Despite the best efforts of developers to get their games out by a set release date, sometimes things don’t work out that way. Sometimes things just need a little longer to polish the experience up to the standard fans expect. So, here, we’re taking a look at six games that will probably get delayed in 2022.
Gran Turismo 7
Games That Will Probably be Delayed in 2022
If there’s one thing that we’ve learned over the years when it comes to the development team at Polyphony Digital is that they’re perfectionists. From their insistence on ensuring every vehicle model is painstakingly identical to its real-life counterpart, to ensuring the track environments look just as polished, through to the unique handling of each car and the extensive menus you can dive into to customize every little facet of your experience. What the team can’t be accused of is letting standards slip.
It’s this that makes Gran Turismo 7 such a strong candidate for a delay in 2022, especially given it’s due to release in just over a month’s time (at the time of writing). With the Forza series having launched its own bid for the title of ‘King of Racers,’ the team at Polyphony Digital will want to put its best foot forward and challenge them for the throne.
Should Gran Turismo 7 get a delay, it’ll have to be in the coming weeks prior to when the game would go gold, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled and return here to congratulate me in the comments on being a clairvoyant when it inevitably happens.
Forspoken
Games That Will Probably be Delayed in 2022
Forspoken comes at a time where everything game publisher Square Enix has released outside of its Final Fantasy series has been a little underwhelming, outlier Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy excluded. Marvel’s Avengers was a bomb, as was Balan Wonderland and Left Alive.
As a result of this stuttering slew of releases, Forspoken has a lot riding on it. Can the publisher release a new, original title that goes down a treat with both players and critics alike. It certainly looks that way so far.
Its breathtaking visuals are only accentuated by its stunning environments. We’ve never seen grass look this good, nevermind the stunning panoramic landscapes as Frey navigates the magical world of Athia on her quest to return home to New York.
There’s a fluidity in traversal that’s incredibly satisfying and silky smooth, too. Of course, with expectations set high by fans and an iffy run of recent releases outside of the Final Fantasy series, we could see Forspoken getting pushed back into August or September just to give the development team a few months to make sure everything’s nicely polished up.
Starfield
Games That Will Probably be Delayed in 2022
Starfield’s a really interesting game to follow, purely because it’s the first brand-new IP from Bethesda Game Studios (BGS) in over 30 years. With this comes a lot of expectations for the Fallout and Elder Scrolls developer, whose lofty ambitions are taking its RPG pedigree to the moon… and space in general with Starfield.
We don’t know a whole lot else about the game, but we do know it’s set to be on the scale of — or larger than — Skyrim, at least in terms of lines of dialog.
If you’ve played a BGS game around release, you’ll know the titles often have some humorous bugs and glitches. These kinds of games are an absolute QA nightmare, given the freedom players have to do whatever they want, interact with whatever items, and complete things in more or less whatever order they see fit.
It’s the combination of all of these things that make Starfield a prime candidate for a delay in 2022. Currently slated, for Nov. 11, we could see the game getting pushed into the early months of 2023 in order to give the team a bit more time to properly polish up the experience and to deliver on fans’ expectations.
We’ve still not seen proper gameplay of Starfield, either, though there’s definitely still time, especially with ‘announcement’ or E3 season coming up in June.
Cyberpunk 2077 PS5/ Xbox Series X|S Versions
Games That Will Probably be Delayed in 2022
I’m gonna say it now — Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t a bad game. At its heart the RPG had a ton of intriguing mechanics and one of the most fascinating worlds to simply explore and exist in. What it did struggle with, however, was woeful performance on base Xbox One and PS4 consoles.
Performance so dismal, that it prompted the game to be removed from the PlayStation Store altogether and refunds of digital copies to be issued by Sony and Microsoft in an unprecedented move entirely. It became such a weight around the game’s neck that what was supposed to be one of 2020’s biggest games became one of the biggest video game disappointments in the past decade.
As such, you can imagine the development team at CD Projekt Red don’t want a repeat of that ever again. Even when it comes to something like the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the same game. Currently, CDPR has told investors it plans to release the PS5 and Series X|S versions of the game sometime in Q1 2022, but given Cyberpunk’s rocky road post-launch, we could see that getting pushed back, even by just a few months to iron out any bugs and ensure the experience meets fans’ expectations.
Hogwarts Legacy
Games That Will Probably be Delayed in 2022
Hogwarts Legacy promises to bring our wildest wizarding dreams to life, giving us the chance to enroll at the iconic school of witchcraft and wizardry, get to know the lecturers and fellow students, and of course, learn plenty of magic along the way. You’ll tame magical beasts, make decisions that’ll impact your character’s morality ‘rating’ and master wizarding combat in order to stop your foes in their tracks.
Unfortunately, the game’s had a bit of a rough time the past year or so, being pushed from its 2021 release window at the very start of last year. It’s also got caught up in the controversy surrounding Harry Potter’s creator, J.K. Rowling, for her comments on the transgender community, with some worried that the backlash may impact the game’s sales.
Then, at the beginning of this year, there have been rumors doing the rounds that Hogwarts Legacy is set for another delay. WB Games has reassured fans that the game will still release in 2022, but we’re not entirely convinced on that one.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
Games That Will Probably be Delayed in 2022
This last one pains me, if only because I’m so desperate to spend some quality time with my spirit animal/ cursed creature, Gollum. He just wants fish raw and wriggling, you can keep nasty chips, okay?!
Gollum, despite his prominence in the tale of the one ring to rule them all, has always been in the periphery and never the spotlight. Well, WB Games has opted to change that with Lord of the Rings: Gollum, following the corrupted Stoor Hobbit as he chases down the one ring and protects it from filthy orcs-es at all costs. He’ll also wrestle with his split personalities of Gollum and Smeagol, which is sure to offer up some lighthearted humor along the way.
Alas, we’ve not really seen a whole lot of the game in recent months in terms of gameplay, nor has the game received a set release date outside of the vague 2022 release window. Sure, this could come at E3 — and this guy certainly hopes it does — but given how quiet things have been, I’m not holding out too much hope.
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