One of the most anticipated PlayStation exclusives Horizon Forbidden West has been pushed back to 2022, according to reports Friday.
This news would come as a huge disappointment to many of the 10 million Sony PS5 owners, as well as many millions of PS4 owners hoping to play the first-party action RPG before the end of the year.
Following comments from Jeff Grub yesterday on the Giant Bomb Show, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier also reports that Sony has decided to delay the game until the first three months of next year.
According to a person familiar with the matter, Sony’s decision was made some time ago but has not been officially confirmed by the company at the time of writing.
The reported delay is just the latest in a series of titles due for release in 2021 that have now been postponed. Other PS5 titles like Returnal and Deathloop also experienced delays this year. Sony’s God of War has also been pushed back to 2022. On the Xbox side, Halo: Infinite is slated for release later this year, a full year after it was originally planned.
Sony has pushed back the PlayStation-exclusive Horizon Forbidden West to the first quarter of 2022, a source told Bloomberg, confirming a rumor shared by @JeffGrubb yesterday. The latest in the video game industry cascade of 2021 delayed https://t.co/8atrR25oxd
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) July 30, 2021
The warning signs were clear back in June, when PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst refused to fully commit to the 2021 release window for Horizon Forbidden West.
In a post on PlayStation Blog, he said: “We believe we’re on track to release Horizon this holiday season. But that’s not entirely certain yet and we’re working as hard as we can to confirm that to you as soon as possible.”
With the myriad of game delays being caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and remote working away from studios, it’s little surprise that one of the most exciting next-gen titles won’t be available for another six months or so. However, we are confident that the wait will be worth it.