The Settlers is a franchise of real-time strategy city-builders with a long and robust history. The original game in The Settlers franchise was released in 1993 and received six core sequels, as well as multiple remasters and a browser-based online game. The most recent title, to fans' dismay, arrived over 10 years ago. Attempted reboots of The Settlers have struggled, however, and the most recent iteration is no different. In a recent announcement, the current The Settlers project is confirmed to be indefinitely delayed.
The Settlers development team in Ubisoft's Germany division shared a statement on Twitter about its decision to delay the reboot. According to the team, The Settlers' release date is being postponed to a later date. An indefinite delay may seem particularly gloomy for the project, but the Ubisoft team makes clear it's necessary for the scope of work that remains to bring The Settlers reboot to completion.
As for why The Settlers is needing to postpone any release plans indefinitely, the development team cites a recent closed beta for the project. Feedback from the closed beta made clear that "quality wasn't yet in line with the team's vision." While Ubisoft doesn't cite any specific criticism as the cause for the delay, public impressions of The Settlers closed beta criticized significant portions of its gameplay. The heart of the criticism was that The Settlers had been too streamlined and simplified, making it so gameplay lacked depth.
The original release date for The Settlers was March 17, just a few weeks from now. That clearly will not be happening now. A new release date is not currently available as Ubisoft uses this additional time to both "improve the game" and "push quality as our main priority." There's no tentative schedule for when Ubisoft will share more information about The Settlers, but the team does say that it will provide an update when it's able to.
To say that fans of The Settlers franchise haven't been wary about the new game, even before the closed beta, would be incorrect. The new Settlers reboot was first announced in 2018 and even brought in Volker Wertich, one of the series' original creators. Wertich ultimately left the Ubisoft project, unhappy with its direction. Further, Ubisoft rebranded the Blue Byte development team name in 2020, a name that had represented The Settlers since 1993.
For The Settlers fans, waiting yet longer to see where the franchise will go next is a familiar feeling. It's not easy to see a once-beloved franchise disappear for a decade, only to reappear as something entirely different. The Settlers reboot may not be what fans have wanted, but with time it will hopefully still become something that lives up to the series' legacy.
The Settlers is currently in development for PC.