Take-Two Interactive announced Tuesday that Turtle Rock Studios Evolve has been delayed from an October release to early 2015. While this is disappointing news to PS4, Xbox One, and PC gamers hoping to jump into the four hunters versus one monster action, it’s actually the best news possible for the game.
According to the report for Take-Two’s fiscal first quarter for 2015, Evolve “is now planned to launch globally on February 10, 2015.”
The first-person shooter’s original release was October 21, 2014 and that was not a good slot to be in for a brand new intellectual property that was not generating huge amounts of buzz despite being beloved by critics who played it during E3 and a recent play test (such as the JackFrags video below).
The AAA holiday release schedule continues to be pushed back further and further. This year, the shooter with all the buzz in the world, Destiny , launches on September 9th. It’s joined in the month by Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor , FIFA 15 , Disney Infinity: Marvel Heroes as the potential big sellers for the month.
Things get worse in October, Evolve’s original release month, with Assassin’s Creed Unity , Sunset Overdrive , Alien: Isolation , and The Evil Within . It would also have been bad timing from Take-Two’s perspective as the game would have gone against other games from publisher including Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel , NBA 2K15 , WWE 2K15 , and even Sid Meier’s Beyond Earth for the PC. There’s big potential for four releases in the same month from the same publisher to tragically leach sales off each other.
Then November drops with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare , Halo: Master Chief Edition , Far Cry 4 and Dragon Age: Inquisition among the heavy hitters. And out of all of this, Take-Two has still not announced a release date for Grand Theft Auto V .
The hunt may be delayed, but the wait for #4v1 will be worth it. #EvolveGame releases February 10, 2015. pic.twitter.com/TYyzbwxlSQ
— Evolve (@EvolveGame) August 5, 2014
In reality, Evolve coming in as a brand new and unique shooter would get lost in this sea of established and / or highly-anticipated franchises for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Turtle Rock Studios has the making of a sleeper hit on their hands, but not if it gets drowned out.
It also must be mentioned that this gives Turtle Rock time to add plenty of content and polish to the game with the extra months. The game currently only offers eight hunters (two for each of the four classes) plus two playable monsters and two maps. While fun to play, this isn’t much content for a multiplayer only game. Just go ask Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts about how well Titanfall performed after not launching with enough content to keep players coming back.
With this extra time, Turtle Rock should have the time to add at least two more sets of hunters, playable monsters, and hopefully many more maps and modes.
Do you agree with the decision to delay Evolve or were you hoping to get your hands on the game this fall? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via Evolve Game ]
