Update #72 - Release window and Vita announcement

Yet releasing the game earlier would most likely piss off many more than can be counted and that could damage anything to do with the game going forward. More often than not, the same ones yammering for earlier release due to impatience (many, not all in that group) are typically the same ones that'll go onto every medium they can to trash the title 'for not waiting and releasing the game too quick'.

Can't satisfy anyone at this rate and now I can really see, firsthand, why many devs feel so pressured on things and make many mistakes. Most of us that are ok with the delay have been gaming for many many years and know that this type of thing does tend to happen and sometimes it pays off, other times not so much.

Yes, our hard earned money has gone into this project and yes that means we have some type of say/pull, but trust the devs. At least they aren't saying screw it all and going pachinko or wanting to put the real ending behind a paywall/locking content that's already in the game or outright running with the money like other major and indie devs have.

Things take time and they don't have the largest team in the world, on top of the fact that there may be many on the team that aren't familiar with this whole ordeal like multi-platform. Let them learn and work and we will see what happens or rush rush rush and then complain when things aren't finished.

im hoping anyone affected byt the vita thing can find a different way to play it by the time it comes out cause i think its worth not missing out on, but mine will just go to a different system
as for the delay, cool, that means more time to polish and make things exceptional, have at it

I did not quite understand, but what prevents to sell on PS Vita only a digital copy of the game?

I am not surprised.. since I had backened an Vita copy extra myself.. but just a half year ago, I thought that I won't use the Vita anymore, so I have already [switched].

I even made my Switch Copy as my main physical and my PS4 copy the digital.

I do wonder if this delay is to add polish to the game? (not that it doesn't need it) or they planned originally set the release towards the end of fall/ beginning of winter 2018 and they don't want the game to compete with something like smash brother ultimate.Another possible Iga must really want this game to be released on a March 20 since he missed it in 2018 he wants it to be released in 2019. Regardless a more detailed update on where the game is would be nice.

Um...late? He's not dead.

OK, so, I see a lot comments saying that the delay is worrisome/not a good sign, and such.

Well, the question is "not a good sign" in what sense?

If you mean that the game could end up being released very late into 2019, I'll concede that's a possibility, albeit unlikely.

But we all know a game is late only until it's late, and a bad game is bad until the end of time.

If you mean the game could end up being vaporware... I think it's clear it isn't at this point.

So, is it worrying in terms of the quality of the game?

Considering that the game system seems to be fully implemented and was well-received all around, I think we can scratch that off the list of potential worries, more so if the delay is tied to implementing some of the different suggestions made by users.

What's left is the quality of the graphics, the number of bugs, and the quality on each platform.

These are both issues that can be fixed, given enough development time; so I'm not worried about this at all. The PC version might be buggier than the others, possibly, but also easier to patch.

So, when you start to look at what could potentially go wrong, the worst that could happen, in my view, is a release in the second half of 2019... it might be frustrating for many backers, which is understandable, but it's also not the end of the world.

Now, about the devs not knowing how to manage their project, specifically because of the delays the game has suffered, but also because no release window was given beyond 2019... well, here's my two cents.

This actually happens a lot in game development. Games being delayed two or even three years is nothing new. "Yeah, I know," you might say. But the delays you know about are not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the delays you don't hear about, which are the majority, believe it or not. Games are often delayed a couple of years from when they were scheduled to be released, and to rave reviews, at that (I have first hand experience with this). What happens is that devs don't normally show them until they're at a point like what we saw in the beta demo.

Imagine that the game had been revealed in the spring, and then shown publicly for the first time at E3. The release windows would have been "late 2018" and then "2019." Would anybody be worried about the game at that point? No, people are only worried because they've been following the game since the crowdfunding campaign. They know the game switched developers causing a year-long delay, and now they know about this delay. That's the only reason why people are worried.

Now as to something being wrong with the dev team's management skills because they said "2019" - a twelve month window - guys, this doesn't mean they don't have a narrower window they're working with - or possibly two different windows, depending on how something they're working on right now goes.

The reason why there would be uncertainty is the size of the game in relation to the size of the dev team. If you're a big publisher you can give yourself the luxury of publicly putting out a release window because you can put more people on the project if the need arises. A small dev team means they can't get to doing X if they don't finish Y first, etc. It's a lot more complicated than it might seem.

I'm sure the team is working to have a firm release window, and then a release date, as one of their priorities.

So, having experienced the game development project first-hand several times, seeing the project's progress and the team's approach, am I worried? No. Much less with the Vita version out of the picture.

Take it for what it's worth.

This, this sooooooo much. Another good post that's way better articulated than I've been capable of, recently.

Nezuto
Thanks, that's kind of you =)

Elfina Ashfield
Yes, i do think that. Take the time that it needs to be done, but communicate with us more properly.