Publisher and developer Ubisoft officially announces that the forthcoming role-playing game South Park: The Fractured But Whole gets a delay until 2017.

Although South Park: The Fractured But Whole had an initial release date in December of this year, it seems as if the game's developers need more time to polish the title and ensure that it lives up to its full potential. According to a new blog post from Ubisoft, the forthcoming RPG is now slated for launch sometime within the first quarter of 2017.

Within the announcement, the team behind South Park: The Fractured But Whole did not provide an exact point in which fans should expect the title to drop. Bearing this in mind, a Q1 2017 release could range anywhere from January to March, as Ubisoft intends to provide the game with additional attention so as to make certain it contains high-quality gameplay and avoids pitfalls upon its launch.

Regarding South Park: The Fractured But Whole's delay into next year, Ubisoft was direct with its message. As a matter of fact, the studio's quote on the issue is rather terse, as its reasoning for the postponement reads, "The development team wants to make sure the game experience meets the high expectations of fans and the additional time will help them achieve this goal."

Of course, as many South Park fans are probably aware, the show on which The Fractured But Whole is inspired officially began its 20th Season last night with the newest episode "Member Berries," which could be another reason as to why the game is being delayed. For those familiar with Trey Parker and Matt Stone's creative process for the original series, they typically invest all of themselves into the project on an episode by episode basis. So, since the duo is also heavily involved in the forthcoming RPG's creation, the game may be taking a back seat to the development of the TV show for the time being.

Should that be the case, if the South Park creators' previous hints that the future of the series could be video games actually become a reality, then fans may not have to wait as long to get their fix for both the show and its gaming counterparts in the coming years. After all, Stone and Parker could go on to make their inimitable animated comedy available by way of playable episodic releases across the PC, as well as the current and subsequent iterations of PlayStation and Xbox.

In any event, South Park: The Fractured But Whole having its release date pushed back into 2017 will more than likely disappoint those who were eagerly anticipating playing the title at the end of this year. Be that as it may, fans can either sate their appetites for The Fractured But Whole with gameplay video, or exercise patience until Ubisoft reveals a more concrete time for the RPG's launch.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole is currently scheduled for come out in Q1 of 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: Ubisoft