PlayStation exclusive Horizon Forbidden West's release has been delayed to the first quarter of 2022.News of the delay was confirmed by Bloomberg, who spoke to an individual familiar on the matter. The information confirms a previous rumor shared July 29 by streamer Jeff Grubb, who mentioned in his Giant Bomb show that he'd been made aware of the delay. Horizon Forbidden West was previously scheduled to be released during the 2021 holiday season, but will see a delay due to COVID-19 related production challenges. The challenges have caused the setback of multiple blockbuster games including another large PlayStation exclusive -- God of War: Ragnarok, the sequel to the 2018 title God of War.
The highly anticipated Horizon Forbidden West is an open-world action-adventure game, and a sequel to 2017 title Horizon Zero Dawn, which released to critical acclaim and sold more than 10 million copies since its release. The game surpassed No Man's Sky as the largest launch of a new intellectual property on PlayStation 4 and had the most successful launch of any kind on the console since Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. In 2020, it was ported to PC, one of the first PlayStation exclusives to make the move. The game's sequel was announced in June 2020 by Guerilla Games, the game's developer, during Sony's PlayStation 5 reveal event.
Sony showcased 14 minutes of gameplay footage from Horizon Forbidden West during a State of Play showcase in May, which demonstrated how the upcoming exclusive would play in addition to showing how it would take advantage of the new console. Guerilla also elaborated on some of the game's mechanics, including a completely new climbing system as well as an entirely redesigned skill tree. "Compared to the previous game, you are now completely free to climb anywhere," said game director Mathijs de Jonge in an interview with Game Informer.
In June, Sony and Guerilla Games expressed beliefs that Horizon Forbidden West would still release in 2021, despite the concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and fan speculations. "The development is on track," Jonge explained. "The thing is, these are just strange times that we're all in and we have never finalized and shipped a game under these kinds of circumstances. ... So we just need a little bit more time, and then we can come back with a final release date." The game's delay, while unforeseen, will grant Guerilla Games time to release a product that is properly completed, similar to Sony's intents with God of War: Ragnarok.
Developed by Guerrilla Games, Horizon Forbidden West will be available on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. The game is expected to release in the first quarter of 2022.
Source: Twitter