Glass Bottom Games has confirmed that Skatebird, the unique and cute bird-themed skateboarding game, has been hit by a last-minute delay. It was originally supposed to release on August 12 of this year. Thankfully, fans will not have to wait long as it has only been pushed back by a month.
Skatebird, as the name suggests, is a skateboarding game starring various birds. It allows everyone to experience the thrill of the skateboarding genre from an entirely different perspective. This unique choice also impacts the level design, as all of the stages are designed around the fact that instead of a professional skateboarder, players will be in control of birds. There are plenty of collectables, such as skateboards with special powers, cosmetic items, and mixed tapes scattered across all of its levels. While it categorizes itself as a relaxing sandbox, it features many skill-based challenges, and even allows players to completely change the speed of the gameplay via a slider.
Glass Bottom Games has announced a new release date of September 16 via an apology video on YouTube. It is also scheduled to release on Xbox Game Pass on the same day. In a post on Steam, the developer stated that it had come across some bugs related to the SDK. It also wanted to take this opportunity to polish other aspects of the game. A funny apology video is one of the more refreshing ways of announcing a delay, but this is not the first time Skatebird has been hit by one. It was originally supposed to come out last year, but some development related decisions, such as adding a proper story mode, resulted in a delay to 2021. Glass Bottom Games had confirmed that the delay to 2021 was not related to COVID-19.
Skatebird launched its Kickstarter page in 2019, where it achieved a total funding of $67,220 from 2526 backers. Anyone who pledged over $15 would receive a copy of the game on Steam, and their name would be featured in the credits.
Delays are extremely common in the video game industry. Given that Skatebird was supposed to release in just under two weeks, it does give the impression that the game was complete and the development team had just encountered some small bugs. With the successful release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, and the announcement of the highly-requested Skate 4, fans of this genre should not have any worries regarding the future of skateboarding games.
Skatebird will now release on September 16 for PC, Switch, and Xbox One.
Source: Steam