With news recently breaking that Cyberpunk 2077 is getting delayed until December 10, many fans are getting anxious over the game's several delays. But gamers needn't forget that many games have suffered from multiple delays in the past and were, in fact, all the better for it.
Just because a title has been delayed doesn't necessarily say anything about the project's quality, but simply that the title, a game like Halo Infinite for example, needs additional development time before its final release. Here are just a few games that benefited from delays, and ultimately became better games because of the additional time.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the third entry into the long-running Super Smash Bros. franchise, underwent an extremely long development cycle unlike previous entries in the mascot fighter. Brawl featured loads of additional characters, stages, modes, and even online match-making, which was a series first. The game was clearly the most ambitious entry into the franchise yet, and because of it, Nintendo experienced some issues with releasing it on schedule.
It was originally announced by Satoru Iwata as a Nintendo Wii launch title in a pre-E3 conference in 2005. Despite this announcement, the game was absent from E3 2005, with its first trailer shown off the following year at E3 2006. In E3 of 2007, the game was eventually given a launch date of December 3, 2007 in the Americas. However, later that year Nintendo announced that the title would be delayed. During a Nintendo conference, the company announced that the title would be delayed in until February 10, 2008. It was delayed yet again until March 9th of that year.
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4, widely considered one of the greatest and most influential horror games of all time, was famously delayed several times over. After the release of Resident Evil 3 in 1999, development for its sequel began immediately that same year where four different versions of the game were developed, and all of them kept getting discarded. One of the versions featured much more action-focused gameplay, but series producer Shinji Mikami ultimately felt that it strayed too far from the series' survival horror roots. This version was reworked into its own video game series, Devil May Cry, and was released in 2001.
In late 2001, Resident Evil 4's development restarted and underwent several different versions with one version of the game, known as the "Hook Man" version, shown at E3 2003. After further development and other changes, the game's final version was released exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube in January of 2005. Overall, development for the game lasted roughly six years. What fans got was a completely different game than the rest of the series, but an instant classic that went on to redefine the survival horror genre and continues to influence horror games even today.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Eternal Darkness is somewhat of a hidden gem on the Nintendo GameCube. It sold quite poorly upon release and was overlooked by many horror fans and GameCube owners alike. This fact is made all the more sad when taking a closer look at the development of the title, which originally started on the Nintendo 64. The game was intended to be a later release for the 64-bit console, with a demo shown off at E3 1999, but the title was later delayed and eventually released in 2002 for the GameCube with upgraded visuals, controls, and more changes. The game under-performed sales-wise, but became critically acclaimed upon its release.
The Last of Us 2
The most recently released game on this list, The Last of Us Part 2 also experienced a somewhat lengthy development cycle with delays. The game was first announced at the PlayStation Experience event that took place on December 3, 2016. Naughty Dog stated that it would not announce a release date for the title until it was very close to release. Finally, during Sony's State of Play presentation on September 24, 2019, the game was given a firm release date of February 21, 2020. One month later on October 25, project director Neil Druckmann announced that the game would be delayed until May 29, 2020. On April 2, The Last of Us: Part 2 was delayed indefinitely due to logistical problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Later that month, the game was finally given the new release date of June 19, 2020.
Despite the game's development issues, The Last of Us Part 2 is widely regarded as an excellent title. The game sits at a very strong 93 on Metacritic, though has an incredibly low user score of 5.7. Even though many gamers feel split when it comes to the story of the title, it's clear that The Last of Us: Part 2 benefited from its multiple delays in the end.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Now known as one of the best entries in the Zelda franchise and arguably still the best game on the Nintendo Switch, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild suffered from a particularly lengthy development cycle and multiple delays. Originally teased for the Wii U in January 2013 as part of the company's Nintendo Direct presentation, the game was said to be far different than other Zelda title. Nintendo finally unveiled in-game footage of the title during E3 2014, and it was planned for a 2015 launch. It was delayed early in the year, however, and was absent from Nintendo's 2015 E3 event. The game got delayed yet again in April 2016, due to problems with the game's physics engine. The game was playable at E3 2016 and formally received its subtitle, Breath of the Wild.
Finally, during a Nintendo Direct in January 2017, Nintendo announced that Breath of the Wild would release for both the Wii U and Nintendo Switch, as a launch title on March 3, 2017. The game garnered critical acclaim upon release, and rightfully so. Many fans of the game value its great sense of freedom and focus on exploration, unlike any other 3D Zelda game that came before it.
Kingdom Hearts 3
It's unclear exactly when Kingdom Hearts 3 first began its development cycle. After the release of Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix, Disney expressed interest in a sequel to series direct Tetsuya Nomura, who stated that the development team was first focused on Final Fantasy 15, which was also experiencing an extremely long development cycle. It was later stated that Kingdom Hearts 3 would not be released until after 2012, due to continued work on the current Final Fantasy. The title got its first teaser trailer at E3 2013, though quickly after its reveal Nomura stated that the game was unveiled too early. A short teaser for the game was shown after the Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix trailer at E3 2014.
In July 2017, the game was finally given a release window of 2018. The next year, the game was given the new release date of January 29, 2019. Overall, while only technically delayed once, footage for Kingdom Heats 3 was shown as far back as six years before its eventual release, with an incredibly lengthy development cycle and plenty of set-backs along the way. Despite all that, Kingdom Hearts 3 received very positive reviews from critics and is regarded as a worthy entry into the franchise.
Plenty of games get delayed every year, but not all are as fortunate as these ones. Often times, the delaying of a video game is for the better, with Mario and Zelda's creator Shigeru Miyamoto famously stating, "A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever.” It seems that Cyberpunk 2077's developers CD Projekt Red has the game's best interests at heart and will likely aim to deliver an experience like no other.
Cyberpunk 2077 launches December 10 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in development.