With the coronavirus pandemic currently threatening people and businesses all over the world, the idea of video game delays seems relatively mundane. However, following news that the Last of Us 2 has been delayed indefinitely, gamers may want to prepare themselves for far more delays in the coming days.
Almost immediately following news of the Last of Us 2's delay, Kotaku's Jason Schreier retweeted one of his prior tweets warning gamers that delays related to COVID-19 were on the way, with the words "bookmark this tweet..." It's a somewhat ominous warning that more delays are on the way, and it now seems like that will likely be the case in the days to come.
If other delays are similar The Last of Us 2, which was pushed back due to logistics concerns, not troubled development, it could conceivably spell trouble for pretty much any game out there, and while that's not set in stone, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown a wrench in manufacturing throughout the world– which would include discs and game cases.
That kind of delay, should it continue to be an issue further into the year, would have the potential to affect any game. Even something like Cyberpunk 2077 could be delayed if discs and cases can't be manufactured quickly or reliably enough. CD Projekt RED has remained adamant that Cyberpunk 2077 is on track for September, but a manufacturing delay would likely fall outside of the developer's control.
One can hope that this won't be the case, but it entirely depends on how effectively the coronavirus is handled in the coming months. With major events like E3 being canceled or delayed, even as far out as August and beyond, there doesn't seem to be much confidence that this will be over soon.
That's a grim thought, and one that has implications far beyond video games, but again, it all depends. The future, now, is largely uncertain, and there are a lot of possibilities of what may or may not be delayed. It's likely safe to assume, as Schreier mentioned, that games through April will be able to hit their release dates, but beyond that, it seems far less likely now than it did just days ago that the year's most anticipated game releases will be on shelves when expected.