Elden Ring has been delayed into February
Elden Ring has been delayed by a month, developer From Software announced on Twitter this afternoon.
Initially set to arrive next January 21st, the studio today revealed that it needs an extra month to work on the game, claiming that the "depth & strategic freedom of the game exceeded initial expectations". Or, in layman's terms, it likely means the game's world and systems need a bit more time to polish up before they're ready for launch.
Important message:ELDEN RING will release on Feb 25, 2022, as the depth & strategic freedom of the game exceeded initial expectations. Thank you for your trust & patience. We look forward to seeing you experience the game in the Closed Network Test in Nov.The #ELDENRING TeamOctober 18, 2021
Of course, this delay also comes after an entire 27 seconds of Elden Ring footage leaked over the weekend, and while the leaker caveated that it was from an older, last-gen build of the game, some commenters have already complained about the game's visuals.
Elden Ring is supposedly in its final stages of development according to producer Yasuhiro Kitao. He also confirmed that, while an open world game, we shouldn't expect Elden Ring to be crammed full of "errand quests" or dull checklists.
With Elden Ring now joining Sifu, Saints Row, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Life is Strange: Remastered and Blood Bowl 3, February is now looking to be a fairly crammed month. We'll see if any developers end up shifting their dates to avoid FromSoft's juggernaut, as Factorio did with Cyberpunk 2077.