It’s not even Fall yet, and already a high-profile title has been bumped into next year. Sadly, Bethesda confirmed today that the anticipated Wolfenstein: The New Order will not be arriving until 2014. The game was originally planned for a Fall 2013 release.
The delay can simply be attributed to a desire for polish. Bethesda is one of the most quality-obsessed publishers in the industry, as their large-scale games can often attest. Perhaps this isn’t surprising then, as they claimed that Wolfenstein: The New Order is not currently up to the quality standard that they would like. This statement arrives from Bethesda’s VP of marketing and PR, Pete Hines.
“Working on next-gen and current-gen definitely has an impact. You’re developing for two different things.” says Hines. He goes on to say, “Driving sequences, story elements, stealth sections, each of these things has to be excellent. It’s not just like we’re making a shooter, where if the shooting is good, then all 16 hours of the game will be good because it’s all we’re doing.”
Bethesda recently became spotlighted in a controversy involving the stalled development of Prey 2, which has spent many years in limbo over quality concerns. Some rumours even claim that Bethesda has yanked Prey 2 from developer, Human Head and scrapped all existing code, handing development duties to Dishonored developer, Arkane Studios instead. This remains unconfirmed at present however. Still, given this aggressive commitment to triple-A quality, the delay of Wolfenstein: The New Order did seem inevitable, given that the game was only announced this year.
Wolfenstein: The New Order is being developed by fledgling studio, MachineGames, after they were acquired by Bethesda. It is the sequel to this generation’s previous series reboot, simply titled Wolfenstein, which was developed by Raven Software, id Software and Endrant Studios, and published by Activision for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2009. Inspired by the likes of BioShock and Metro 2033, Wolfenstein: The New Order will also be a single-player-only game, a rarity in most modern first-person shooters.
A new release window beyond 2014 is not currently planned. Regardless, Wolfenstein: The New Order is releasing for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. We at Eggplante will also be continuing to shoot you your Wolfenstein news, as we can pinpoint it!