A lot of high-profile video game delays into 2022 have happened already, with more likely to follow over the coming months. Video game delays are nothing new, but 2020 and 2021 were special cases, as the pandemic hit the industry hard, with video game production forced to drastically change overnight, as teams of developers couldn't meet in person, and remote work had to become the new norm.
The 2020 crop of video games was mostly unaffected, at least for the first half of the year, as those games were so close to completion that the pandemic didn't slow them down. A few games like Final Fantasy VII Remake had their shipping disrupted, but the game itself was still released to the general public. The games due to be released during the latter half of 2020 and throughout 2021 are the ones that have felt the brunt of delays caused by the lockdowns.
The 2021 video game release schedule has slowly been chipped away by delays, with developers pushing games back to 2022. The most recent high-profile delay was Evil Dead: The Game, but there have been many games that have faced similar schedule slips.
Every Major Game Pushed Back To 2022
These are the biggest games to be pushed back to 2022.
- Diablo Immortal
- Digimon Survive
- Evil Dead
- Ghostwire: Tokyo
- God of War: Ragnarok
- Gotham Knights
- Gran Turismo 7
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Lord of the Rings: Gollum
- Rainbow Six Extraction
- Resident Evil Re:Verse
- Warhammer 40K: Darktide
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong
One game that was pushed out of 2021 was Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, no release date now being forthcoming, following numerous behind-the-scenes shake-ups. The remake of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was also pushed out of 2021 and lacks a release date. It's possible that these games could launch next year, but it's not set in stone.
The video game delays aren't likely to end soon, and the fact that it's August as of the time of writing means that any title with a "2021" release date is likely to be pushed back. Publishers need time to promote games and to ensure that they're ready to be shipped to stores, so the longer a game goes without a release date, the more likely it is that they'll be pushed back. There is already a lot of talk about Horizon Forbidden West being delayed, as it too lacks a solid release date. The pandemic has made these game delays into 2022 understandable, and the Cyberpunk 2077 launch situation is still fresh enough in fans' minds that most would agree that developers should take all the time they need to ensure that a game is as good as it can be before it reaches the hands of consumers.