Here’s a yellow box game delay explanation that everyone seems to like
In a week (month? year?) when many people are feeling pretty sour about the way some game companies choose to explain their decisions to their audiences, here’s a rarity: a game delay statement that shows so much humility, honesty, and passion for the medium where it went over extremely well.
The statement comes from Evil Empire, the Dead cells developer is now making a roguelike Prince of Persia game for Ubisoft – and the reason for the delay, as Evil Empire humbly admits, is this week’s surprise early access release of Hades 2the long-awaited sequel to a roguelike classic.
Villain Prince of Persia should be released next week, on May 14 (also in early access, on PC). Evil Empire says the game will still be released in May, and a new release date will be announced on Monday, May 13.
It’s a smart decision, but what really stands out is the generosity and candor with which Evil Empire has formulated its decision – as well as the brazen use of the yellow box format (much memed during Cyberpunk 2077‘s winding journey to liberation, and beyond).
“Since everyone and their mother are playing (Hades 2) (including our entire team… and their moms), we decided to let people have fun with it before we release it The rogue prince of Persia,” Evil Empire posted.
“While we have every confidence in it The rogue prince of PersiaIt’s not every day that a game in the same genre as you, one of the most anticipated upcoming games of 2024, is released into Early Access a week before you plan to do the same. We’re not proud enough to ignore the implications of that, and we truly believe this short delay is the best decision for us and our Early Access journey.
“This will allow us to continue improving the game, adding even more cool stuff and ironing out some persistent bugs before release. The Day 1 patch became quite heavy, so gaining more time to test it and adding more things before launch day has already significantly reduced our producer and game director’s stress levels!
“We fully understand that this is sad news for anyone who has been eager to play the game, especially so close to its expected release. We can only hold our hands up, apologize and hope you understand. It will be worth the wait! Thank you for your patience.”
Isn’t that nice? Evil Empire gave a fellow developer their props, showed enthusiasm for a rival game, modestly understood their role in the pecking order, apologized – and most importantly, was completely open with fans about the reasons why. The credit also goes to publisher Ubisoft, who probably made the decision and this way of communicating green.
Rare is the delay announcement that builds rather than erodes goodwill, but this is a fantastic example of it.