Ever since the pandemic and subsequent lockdown starting last year, all aspects of life have been affected. Many developers have had to have games delayed due to the challenges presented by Covid. This includes means working from home, and having far fewer developers in offices but at home. It led to quite a number of understandable game delays. And, unfortunately, it isn’t set to stop anytime soon. Today, a King of Fighters XV delay was announced by the game’s developer SNK.
In a short press release, the Osaka-based studio announced that the game would be delayed until the first quarter of 2022. For those who don’t speak business, the first quarter of the year runs from January 1 to March 30. The press release points to the still-rising number of Covid cases in Japan as the major cause.
The King of Fighters XV delay is not at all unexpected, however. The game was first announced via a logo reveal at EVO 2019, but we didn’t actually see it until earlier this year in January. It should also be noted that King of Fighters XV never had a concrete release date. But, due to the amount of character trailers being released, it was a safe assumption the game was planned for sometime this year, presumably the end of 2021.
Are you ok?
Despite games still being delayed last year, most major titles released last year were in the tail end of development in 2019. This meant games like Doom Eternal could still release at the very beginning of the pandemic. But games whose development really took off during 2020 were always going to start seeing major delays as 2021 moved further along. It is just a fact of the world that we currently live in.
We hope that everyone at SNK is safe and healthy, and that they take their time with the game. The game already looks far better visually than its predecessor, King of Fighters XIV. Plus the game’s producer, Yasuyuki Oda, has gone on record stating that the team is working on possibly implementing rollback netcode into the game. In a post-Guilty Gear Strive world, this feels like a necessity for a new, modern fighting game. We will keep you up to date on any more upcoming news regarding the game’s release.
