It's less than a month into 2020, and this year has already proven itself to be the year of video game delays, with delays to many of the Cyberpunk's initial April release month with anticipated titles.
Even in a year when Square Enix is releasing a remake of one of the most beloved Final Fantasy games ever, Cyberpunk 2077 has perhaps garnered more hype than any other title. It's developer CD Projekt Red's follow-up to the beloved The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, after all, and that game is now potentially more popular than ever, experiencing a huge increase in players after Netflix's The Witcher series debuted. It's been a long wait for fans of The Witcher 3, though, as the first Cyberpunk 2077 teaser trailer was released all the way back in 2013, two years before The Witcher 3 even released. And thanks to the recent delay, that wait just got longer.
But there are plenty of major 2020 releases that haven't been delayed, however. After years of teases, Sony finally announced at the end of 2019 that Sucker Punch'sResident Evil 3 Remake is coming in April - at least, it would have been a surprise, if several leaks didn't already confirm its existence.
Still, more big 2020 games have been delayed than not. Cyberpunk may have been the most notable of these, but many other triple-A titles have been pushed back, including several in the last few weeks. This list covers all the major game releases delayed until later in 2020, in order of their delays.
Skull & Bones
Ubisoft announced in May 2019 that its long-awaited pirate game, Skull & Bones, was delayed until sometime after March 2020. The game's developers shared an update video announcing the delay on Twitter, saying they would be back "as soon as we can" with further updates, but the has not tweeted again since May. Fans are unlikely to hear anything about Skull & Bones again until E3 2020, and even then, a complete cancellation would be less surprising than a sudden, full reveal.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Originally planned to launch sometime in 2019, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was delayed in June 2019 until March 20, 2020. Nintendo reportedly made the decision in order to limit developer crunch, the practice of forcing game devs to work harmful amounts of overtime hours ahead of a game's release.
DOOM Eternal
The sequel to id Software's 2016 DOOM reboot was supposed to release in late 2019, but Bethesda announced in October 2019 that Dark Souls-like Invasion Mode won't be available until it's added in a free update after launch.
The Last of Us Part 2
Shortly after the DOOM Eternal delay, The Last of Us Part 2 developer Naughty Dog confirmed that the highly anticipated PlayStation exclusive wouldn't be released until May 29, 2020. As the sequel to one of the PS3 generation's best games, fans were likely disappointed to hear the Last of Us 2 delay pushed the game back three more months. The announcement was also particularly surprising because, oddly, it came just one month after the game's previous February 2020 release date was announced.
Watch Dogs: Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine, and Gods & Monsters
October 2019 was a regular January 2020, as the month wasn't done with game delays after DOOM Eternal and The Last of Us. On the same day as Naughty Dog's delay, Ubisoft announced three more, delaying Watch Dogs: Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine, and Gods & Monsters. These ed Ubisoft's other delayed title, Skull & Bones, in its vague post-April release window, leaving the company with little else planned for 2020 other than Roller Champions and the Tom Clancy's Elite Squad mobile game.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Marvel's Avengers
Square Enix began 2020 with bad news for fans anticipating two of its biggest projects. The company announced both a Marvel's Avengers delay in mid-January. Final Fantasy 7 was pushed from March 3, 2020, to April 10, 2020, putting Square Enix's cyberpunk JRPG into direct competition with CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk RPG for April's biggest game. Marvel's Avengers, meanwhile, saw its May 15, 2020, release date pushed to September 4, a month few games had been announced for at the time.
Cyberpunk 2077
Just two days after Square Enix made April into the craziest month of the year for video games, CD Projekt Red announced it would delay Cyberpunk 2077 from April 16, 2020, to September 17. This simultaneously gave April games a lot more breathing room and squashed the relative freedom Marvel's Avengers had in September (though September is usually a popular month for video game releases, anyway). CD Projekt Red also announced that Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer mode wouldn't come until sometime after the game launched, but the news about just how far away it really is likely disappointed some of CD Projekt Red's fans.
Iron Man VR
A sort of follow-up to the 2018, PlayStation-exclusive Marvel's Spider-Man game, Sony announced Marvel's Iron Man VR in March 2019. Putting players in Iron Man's suit with the aid of PlayStation VR and PlayStation Move, the game was previously planned to be released sometime before the end of 2019. 2020 had different plans in mind, as Camoflaj announced in January that Marvel's Iron Man VR was delayed until May 15, 2020.
Dying Light 2
Developer Techland announced in late January 2020 that Dying Light 2 was delayed from its original spring 2020 release window. The publisher did not say when the game will now launch, only stating that it would share more details in the coming months. According to Techland, Dying Light 2 - the sequel to the 2015 parkour-filled zombie game - is the company's biggest project yet, and the developer needs more time to fulfill its vision.