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Kena: Bridge of Spirits delayed to March 2021

ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,366
Honestly, I sympathise hugely with any devs that have to make the difficult decision to delay. It's inevitable that it's gonna happen in this hell year.

I've had to make difficult delays for global releases (records not games) in my industry directly because of COVID and it fucking sucks. One record we've had to put back by almost a year - to the tail end of 2021 - because of the knock-on effect of just not being able to get people in a room together for entire first half of 2020 - the absolutely critically last leg of production for this particularly project. Missing a few months meant a domino effect that basically took out all of 2020 and most of 2021 in terms of deadlines.

This one hits hard though because launch games get a lot of eyes. That being said, I'm sure everyone will be happy to wait and let the devs take as much time as they need to make the game they want to make. I'll be here ready to pick it up once it comes back around.
 
Lucreto

Lucreto

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,643
Disappointing but if it makes for a better game I am all for it.

What Kena loses it is immortals fenyx rising gain.
 
SlickVic

SlickVic

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,962
USA
Definitely the game that interested me the most from that PS5 event.
Never really expected it in 2020 though, and wasn't aware that was mentioned before.

Looking forward to hearing more about it when it's ready.
 
TheBiInBilingual

TheBiInBilingual

THE STORE ENSURED ME THERE WOULDN'T BE FILM
Member
Feb 22, 2018
2,797
Sucks to hear but I wish them all the time they need.

Has The Pathless received a release window yet?
 
Papercuts

Papercuts

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,031
Snakeeee said:
It wasn't CGI, and the game has already being rated. So yah, it is coming this holiday.
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Tales of Arise was rated in january, delayed in june and has never been mentioned since.

It'd be cool to see Demon's Souls hit that soon but I wouldn't really expect it just from that. Especially with covid this year.
 
FFNB

FFNB

Associate Game Designer
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
6,125
Los Angeles, CA
I can't remember if this game even had a launch date, but I know I'm looking forward to it whenever it releases.

And this is another reason why I can understand the hesitation to reveal launch dates and prices for the next gen consoles until things become a lot more solid and guaranteed on the production end. Game development is always in flux, and in a year where the world is adjusting to a global pandemic affecting all aspects of our lives, it's hard to nail these things down with the certainty we'd have been able to pre-Covid 19. I'd much rather have the delays than developers pushing themselves too far mentally, physically, and emotionally to meet launch dates. It's disappointing when delays happen, but the alternative is teams literally working themselves to an unhealthy state just so we get our vidya games sooner, rather than later.

As gamers, we often want our cake and be able to eat it too. We harp on crunch time and how unhealthy that is, but then we harp on delays that, in best case scenarios, will mitigate crunch time, and result in happier, more productive development teams. I know I'm probably biased in this situation, because I have an actual leg in the race of better working conditions for gaming industry employees, but as much as the gamer side of me wants to have games like this available at launch, the developer side of me wants these teams to be able to take all the time they need to get the game ready without breaking their spirits to do it.
 
Secretofmateria

Secretofmateria

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,424
Figboy said:
I can't remember if this game even had a launch date, but I know I'm looking forward to it whenever it releases.

And this is another reason why I can understand the hesitation to reveal launch dates and prices for the next gen consoles until things become a lot more solid and guaranteed on the production end. Game development is always in flux, and in a year where the world is adjusting to a global pandemic affecting all aspects of our lives, it's hard to nail these things down with the certainty we'd have been able to pre-Covid 19. I'd much rather have the delays than developers pushing themselves too far mentally, physically, and emotionally to meet launch dates. It's disappointing when delays happen, but the alternative is teams literally working themselves to an unhealthy state just so we get our vidya games sooner, rather than later.

As gamers, we often want our cake and be able to eat it too. We harp on crunch time and how unhealthy that is, but then we harp on delays that, in best case scenarios, will mitigate crunch time, and result in happier, more productive development teams. I know I'm probably biased in this situation, because I have an actual leg in the race of better working conditions for gaming industry employees, but as much as the gamer side of me wants to have games like this available at launch, the developer side of me wants these teams to be able to take all the time they need to get the game ready without breaking their spirits to do it.
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do you think that more companies should take the nintendo and bethesda route? Basically not announcing something until its less than 6 months way? That might put less pressure on the dev team and also lead to unrealistic release dates.
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,366
Radec said:
I didn't notice this was a launch game. Did they mentioned that before?
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They haven't actually confirmed any launch games (other than Asto'a Playroom pack-in) because they haven't announced a launch date.

Best we have is 'Holiday 2020' games. Kena was one of those, alongside Miles Morales. The Holiday 2020 games are assumed to be launch titles because, well, there's not much 2020 left after the estimated date for the PS5.
 
IMCaprica

IMCaprica

Member
Aug 1, 2019
9,434
Bummer they won't get the next-gen hype bump BUT they'll likely launch with a better game at a time that hopefully isn't as packed.
 
FFNB

FFNB

Associate Game Designer
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
6,125
Los Angeles, CA
Secretofmateria said:
do you think that more companies should take the nintendo and bethesda route? Basically not announcing something until its less than 6 months way? That might put less pressure on the dev team and also lead to unrealistic release dates.
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The thing is that game development is always in flux. Even a title 6 months from release can hit some unforeseen circumstances that can cause a delay. Besides, an announcement isn't the same as a release date. You can announce your project however far in advance you want to announce it, and that comes with its own set of concerns (ie, announce too early, and if the concept proves too grand or ambitious to realistically deliver on that scope, you run the risk of disappointing gamers who were excited by your project because of the features/concepts shown at reveal compared to the end product; see: No Man's Sky announcement to launch), but nailing down release dates is generally reserved for when the game is, not necessarily finished, but on schedule to hit whatever release estimate and milestones the production team has planned.

I don't recall if Kena had a release date mentioned, other than it was targeting 2020? The game was announced, what, 3 months ago? Back then, perhaps they thought they'd still hit that 2020 release, and then, as work from home continued, and had an impact on development, they made the hard choice to delay the title.

I also don't think announcements are solely in the hands of the developer, but the publisher, and their marketing department. In the case of Kena, I believe Ember Labs is the publisher as well as the developer, so I'm pretty sure they were confident in being able to deliver the game this year at the time they announced it in June. They're also a small, 14 person studio, tasked with delivering a high quality "launch" title on multiple platforms. That's a tall ask for large companies, let alone a team as small as theirs.

Basically, each game, developer, and publisher are different, and how they handle things will be different. There's always going to be pressure on a dev to deliver a quality product. It comes with the territory of making video games. Each studio has their own obstacles to overcome on a game by game basis. Some games may have a smooth as silk production, while some games from that same studio could have a nightmare production. I personally don't think there's a right or correct time to announce a new game, only that it's a delicate balance to navigate.
 
Nilou

Nilou

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,715
Kena is my most anticipated game and this news was really sad to see, having said that I completely understand the reasons for the delay. I can imagine how hard it must have been for Emberlabs to come to the decision to delay the game. They are a great dev team and one of the most active/friendly devs on twitter as well. I want them to take all the time they feel they need to complete the game in a way they are satisfied and I'm no less excited for the game.
 

Deleted member 50232

User requested account closure
Banned
Dec 3, 2018
2,509
Good, take your time and don't rush it. Much better for the folks developing it as well.

Genuinely wouldn't be surprised now if Spider-Man is next. We have seen so little from that game that is supposedly launching in just 2 months.
 
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