Today Bandai Namco announced with a note on the official website of Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris that the game has been delayed.
The new release date for Japan is July 9, 2020. The delay has not been announced for the west yet, but we can expect it to come shortly and likely to stick to a similar data since the planned release in North America and Europe was May 22, one day after the Japanese launch.
Update: As expected, we just received word from Bandai Namco that the western release is delayed to July 10.
The announcement cites that the state of emergency declared due to the COVID-19 pandemic has caused development delays, so the decision to postpone the game’s release has been taken in order to prioritize the safety of everyone involved in development.
The message ends with an apology for any inconvenience caused and thanks for understanding.
If you want to learn more about Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris, you can enjoy more gameplay, the latest screenshots, another gallery, the recent reveal of the traditional fanservice scenes in bed, two gameplay trailers featuring Kirito and Asuna respectively, on top of a video showing the first meeting between Asuna and Alice, the first look at Tiese and Ronye, extensive gameplay from a few months ago, and the previous trailer and screenshots.
You can also enjoy the original announcement trailer, another promotional video, more gameplay from a few months ago, more screenshots, another trailer, and even more semi-recent gameplay.
Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris is coming for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.