Techland’s Dying Light 2 will miss its originally scheduled launch window of “Spring 2020,” the developer announced today via Twitter. The new release date is a long string of question marks, proceeding as far into the distance as can be seen, cresting over the horizon as a beautiful sunset paints the sky with dulcet hues of pink and orange. The face of a lover you’ve known only in dreams flashes before your eyes, and is gone just as quickly. “Nepenthe,” cries a passing crow. “Nepenthe!”
“We were initially aiming for a Spring 2020 release with Dying Light 2,” says Techland CEO Pawel Marchewka, “but unfortunately we need more development time to fulfill our vision. We will have more details to share in the coming months, and will get back to you as soon as we have more information. We apologize for this unwelcome news. Our priority is to deliver an experience that lives up to our own high standards and to the expectations of you, our fans. Please stay tuned, and thank you to our fans around the world for your continued support, patience, and understanding.”
Dying Light 2 is the latest high-profile game to get pushed farther into the new year, joining the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, that Avengers game, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition, The Last of Us Part 2, Watch Dogs Legion, Gods & Monsters, Rainbow Six Quarantine, and Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2.
While delays like this aren’t that unusual per se, it’s not often that this many games get pushed back within just a few months of each other. The looming presence of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 might have something to do with it, but in Dying Light 2‘s case, it’s pretty unlikely that the game will end up skipping the current console generation entirely. Pre-orders for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions have been live for a while now, and cancelling those editions of the game would require refunds to be issued, and ain’t nobody out there looking to refund a bunch of pre-orders.
It’s possible that Techland is aiming to make an enhanced version of Dying Light 2 for release on the upcoming console generation, in addition to the already announced versions, though it has not said this explicitly. Neither have any of the other developers responsible for the cadre of delayed games listed above, but such an outcome is not beyond the pale. Ubisoft, for instance, has an especially strong history of releasing games that bridge the gap between console iterations. CD Projekt Red has enough cash to push Cyberpunk 2077 as far into the future as it wants, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake is being developed by Square Enix, so it might be a dozen years or more before that thing actually comes out.
On the one hand, delays tend to be good for the final quality of a game, but on the other hand, they’re also bad for the working conditions of the people who make them. There’s no way to know how labor conditions at Techland will or won’t change from here on out, but here’s hoping that everyone still gets to sleep an okay amount. I’ve heard that sleep is good from many reputable doctors.
