Fall 2014 was originally packed full of games. Fortunately, or unfortunately, that’s becoming less of a problem at a disturbingly rapid rate, with two more delays being handed down.
Both, unsurprisingly, are from EA. First up is Battlefield: Hardline, the upcoming attempt to turn the military FPS into a cop show. That’s been pushed back to “early” 2015: We put that in quotes because a lot of games are winding up there so it may move. The good news, though, is that it’s being pushed back largely because DICE and Visceral wanted to incorporate player feedback and make the game better. True, the last time we heard that one, it was for Watch Dogs and we all know how that turned out. But hey, at least they’re making an effort, especially after the disaster that was Battlefield 4‘s launch.
The other game EA is delaying, Dragon Age: Inquisition, is thankfully still in 2014, albeit only barely: It arrives November 18th. Unlike the other EA game, there’s not really a justification for this beyond a vague “It’s to make the game better” excuse, which smells more of “Damn, there are still a ton of games in October, we’d better move so we don’t get swamped.”
October is still going to be nuts. The next Smash Bros., Alien: Isolation, The Evil Within, Evolve, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, the next Assassin’s Creed, Sunset Overdrive, Civilization: Beyond Earth Driveclub, WWE 15, NBA 2K15, and EA’s incredibly successful yearly entry, NBA Live Delay Simulator (come on, you know they’re not going to deliver) ALL hit during that month.
Which makes you wonder why, precisely, the next month or so is basically a desolate wasteland. But ours is not to understand the machinations of the gaming industry. We’re sure they have a very good reason.