Stray Gods has modified its launch date to keep away from Baldur’s Gate 3, which modified its launch date to keep away from Starfield

Bear in mind again in late 2020, when the looming behemoth of Cyberpunk 2077 precipitated a bunch of different game builders to vary their launch dates to keep away from being steamrollered? It is taking place once more, type of: Summerfall Studios, the developer of David Gaider’s upcoming musical RPG Stray Gods, introduced as we speak that it is delaying the game barely, from August 3 to August 10, so it does not get murdered by Baldur’s Gate 3.

“We would like everybody to have ample house to take a look at Stray Gods when it launches,” the studio mentioned. “Baldur’s Gate 3 is hotly anticipated (by us, too!) and we need to give our followers room to rejoice Stray Gods.

“We additionally need everybody to have the ability to play on their most well-liked machine at launch. This can be a big enterprise for any crew, not to mention an indie transport its first title. This further week permits us to have efficiency parity as shut as attainable, throughout each platform.”

It is a bit uncommon for a studio to straight-up acknowledge that it is purposefully avoiding a much bigger game, however not unprecedented. When Grinding Gear Video games paused the discharge of Path of Exile’s 3.13 endgame growth, it acknowledged explicitly that “we don’t need to put our gamers able of getting to decide on” between PoE and Cyberpunk 2077—implicitly acknowledging that, for most individuals, it actually would not be a lot of a alternative. Rockfish Video games made the identical admission when it pushed again Everspace 2.

What makes this case totally different (and notably humorous), although, is that Baldur’s Gate 3 modified its personal launch date on PC in June, with a purpose to keep away from the true elephant within the room: Starfield, Bethesda’s upcoming sci-fi RPG. Baldur’s Gate 3 had been slated to launch on August 31, one week forward of Starfield’s September 6 launch: In some circumstances that may be sufficient room for everybody to get alongside, however Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield are each huge RPGs and 7 days simply just isn’t sufficient room for each, particularly if affiliate editor Ted Litchfield is appropriate they usually can each ship amount and high quality.

Stray Gods will now release on August 10th. — (Picture credit score: Summerfall Studios)

And always remember, Starfield itself was imagined to be out final yr, on 11/12/22, however was delayed into the primary half of 2023, after which the second half of 2023. So actually, in the event you’re seeking to blame anybody for the Stray Gods delay, you possibly can level the finger at Todd Howard.

So Baldur’s Gate 3 strikes due to Starfield, and Stray Gods strikes due to Baldur’s Gate 3. Will Stray Gods muscle anybody out of its manner? It is definitely one thing totally different and I actually hope it is good, however with all due respect to Summerfall Studios, I’ll guess that it is not very possible. Nonetheless, it is excellent news for RPG followers: Extra time to play a game earlier than one other game comes banging on the door is all the time welcome.