The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has led to a huge number of delays as much of the entertainment industry, particularly in the United States, continues working from home. One big, recent video game delay was 343 Industries' Halo Infinite, meant to be a flagship title for the Xbox Series X in November. That announcement was parodied today when The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe announced its own delay to Q1 2021.
The Stanley Parable is a 2013 game that leaned heavily into metatextual narrative experiences with tons of alternate endings, existentialism, and jokes — famously including an achievement that took five years of not playing Stanley Parable to unlock. Ultra Deluxe was announced in 2018 as a console release for the game that includes new content, originally slated to release in 2019. It received its second delay today, with developer Crows Crows Crows pasting its name onto previous delay messages for Halo Infinite and Deathloop, as well as a fabricated delay for Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Adding onto the meta humor of this announcement, The Stanley Parable's website now has a release date marker crossed off twice to reflect its change from 2019 to 2020, and now 2021. Though fans will no doubt be disappointed about having to wait longer for this console release, at least the development team has infused the current cultural moment with their game's special brand of fourth wall-breaking humor.
Stanley Parable is just one game of its ilk that has been praised for a specific narrative style and excellent writing. Last year, Humble released a "Postmodern Bundle" that included Stanley Parable alongside Yume Nikki, Catherine, and more.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is in development for 2021.
Source: Stanley Parable