Gravity Rush 2 Delayed to January
By Dalton Cooper 25 September 2016
Game director Keiichiro Toyama announces on PlayStation Blog that Gravity Rush 2 has been delayed to 2017, but promises free DLC to make it up to fans.
Originally slated for release this December, it’s been announced that Gravity Rush 2 has been delayed to January 20th, 2017, apparently due to the game’s synchronous multiplayer functionality. As an apology to disappointed fans, some DLC planned for Gravity Rush 2 that was originally going to cost money will now be released as a free download.
Free DLC aside, the sequel to the award-winning Gravity Rush is a great deal more ambitious than the first game, and so another reason for the delay could be to allow for further polish. Another explanation is that the early December release window is unusually crowded this year, with Super Mario Maker for 3DS, Dead Rising 4, and The Last Guardian all slated to release within a week of each other. It’s possible that Gravity Rush 2 has been delayed in an effort to avoid such a crowded month, and therefore avoid having too much sales competition.
It’s also worth noting that, not only would Gravity Rush 2 be facing serious sales competition in December in general, but also many of the games releasing that month seem to be titles aimed at the game’s own demographic. The Last Guardian, for example, is another PS4 exclusive developed in Japan, with Sony’s Japan Studio having a hand in the development of both the games. By delaying Gravity Rush 2, the two new games from Japan Studio won’t be competing with each other for consumer dollars.
Most delays seem to come from a desire to polish a game a bit more before release, and even though Gravity Rush 2 is only being delayed by a month, that could still be true. Perhaps the developers wanted to delay it longer, but were unable to do so due to budget restraints or some other reason, such as the impending release of Persona 5, for example.
Like The Last Guardian, Persona 5 is a game aimed directly at the same audience that would buy Gravity Rush 2. It’s been in development for years, and is scheduled to release this coming February. Considering the success of Persona 4, Japan Studio may not want to compete with the followup, and so decided to launch Gravity Rush 2 ahead of Persona 5’s currently scheduled North American release date.
Whatever the reason for Gravity Rush 2‘s delay, at least fans won’t have to wait that much longer to get their hands on Kat’s new adventure. In the meantime, there are plenty of new games releasing this holiday season to help tide them over, including some other major PS4 exclusives. And if all else fails, fans can always play Gravity Rush Remastered to brush up on their gravity manipulation skills ahead of the sequel’s release.
Gravity Rush 2 will be available on January 20th, exclusively for PlayStation 4.
Source: PlayStation Blog
