BioShock Infinite was one of those games that I was really looking forward to this year. All the trailers and previews leading up to its original October release had myself, and many other games, super excited. Too bad that the game has been delayed.
Take-Two Interactive announced today that BioShock Infinite has been delayed until February 2013. That’s a pretty big delay, so the first assumption is that something went wrong. It’s hard not to be pessimistic with delays, but a lengthy delay kicks gamers’ collective paranoia into overdrive.
Ken Levine, mastermind and Creative Director over at Irrational Games hopes to put our fears to rest. The delay is not the result of something going wrong, but the result of making the game even more awesome.
“When we announced the release date of BioShock Infinite in March, we felt pretty good about the timing. Since then, we’ve uncovered opportunities to make Infinite into something even more extraordinary. Therefore, to give our talented team the time they need to deliver the best Infinite possible, we’ve decided to move the game’s release to February.”
Of course, the question now is: What are these “uncovered opportunities?” The game is obviously still going to remain a single player affair, but are they adding in some kind of online component? What kind of online component would work in a game like BioShock Infinite without going multiplayer?
Personally, I think the delay may have been all about the timing. The holiday season which begins in October is getting more and more crowded for games. Granted, BioShock is a huge title that could sell well on name recognition alone, but there are other big name titles hitting in October like Resident Evil 6 that could eat into its potential sales.
Delaying it to February is probably the best move for BioShock Infinite to get the sales it deserves. The only problem now is having to wait eight months until the game comes out. It’s going to be a long wait, but at least we have plenty of quality games to keep us occupied until February.
BioShock Infinite will still be available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC when it launches in February 2013.