Star Wars: Hunters has been a work in progress since its reveal back in 2021 during a Nintendo Direct. Announced as a competitive arena title, it was set to introduce a different take on the gameplay loop of the Star Wars games. The title was targeting a launch later this year, but developer Zynga has been announced that the release date has been pushed back to next year.

Star Wars: Hunters is an upcoming free-to-play competitive arena title set to launch for Android, iOS, and the Nintendo Switch. Across three different modes, up to eight players will battle for supremacy using a variety of different classes and abilities that Star Wars fans have come to know and love in a gameplay loop akin to titles like League of Legends or Paladins.

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The announcement of the delay comes directly from Zynga's official Twitter account. In the announcement, Zynga highlights the desire to create a "competitive battle arena game that will entertain for years to come." The delay also comes from the team's desire to "meet the high expectations" and to "ensure players have the best possible experience in the Arena."

The announcement also briefly touches on the state of the soft launch of Star Wars: Hunters. As the team works towards next year's release date, the soft launch version will continue to see content updates come to Star Wars: Hunters with a new update coming in the next few weeks. The soft launch version is only available on Android devices in India, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Delays have grown increasingly common in the industry, and this announcement was met with middling response. Leading up to the news, Zynga has been pretty quiet on social platforms with little information to share on the state of the title that was expected to launch later this year aside from character ability snippets. While some fans appreciated the update in communication, others were quick to point out that the game is available to play in select territories but will be receiving a delay for territories outside of the soft launch areas.

While the road to Star Wars: Hunters is a long one for fans of the series, it may be an even longer road for Zynga. Despite the team's commitment to high standards, titles such as Diablo Immortal have drained a lot of faith in the mobile gaming market. The team has plenty of work to do in order to change that narrative leading up to next year's worldwide launch.

Star Wars: Hunters releases in 2023 for Android, iOS, and Switch.

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