Darwinia slips to January 2005

[Chris]

We've decided to delay the launch of Darwinia and we're now looking at a January 2005 release.

The reason for this is that our previous estimated release date of late October was looking increasingly unlikely, due to a number of slips in the project schedule. We were looking at a late November release date, which is bad news because of the Christmas rush.

We've been given very strong advice by the UK retailers not to enter the High Street in November or December, because it is unlikely our game would receive very much shelf space, and it wouldn't remain on the shelves for very long. There are just too many massive budget games coming out for Christmas, and we'd be completely lost in the rush. We were faced with being in the shops for just a couple of weeks, going up against games like Half Life 2, which is suicide for us. The high street is a much more favourable market for a company like Introversion once the insane Christmas rush is over.

This has several knock-on effects. Phase One of the beta test is now going to be delayed until August. The applications for Beta testers is still open, and will remain open throughout the testing phase. In addition, the demo and web release will also be delayed. Obviously we want everything to come out at once - we don't want magazine reviews in October, then a shop release in January. We want it all to happen at the same time.

Apologies to everyone over this - these things do happen. I've updated the roadmap but at the moment we're unsure what's happening, so our confidence in the estimates is low. More information soon.

[Cold Fusion]

Heh, wasn't to be unexpected, especially with IV.

Least you've got more time to iron out everything and make sure everything is in order.

[elDiablo]

To be fair, Chris is right, Christmas release would mean NO ONE bought Darwinia

Fair play to the guys, they know when to say "YEAH BABY!" and when to say "Woo, wait a minute..."


PS - I apologise for my comic now =/

[sweaty bob]

Well we will just have to wait. and lol about going up against hl2!

Go IV run back to your cave and keep coding!!

So Beta's will start next month.. not that long then.

[danielwellsfloyd]

Oh well, such is the way of prediction. But since all the good questions have been asked about Dawinia already, the boards are probably going to become even more spammy with stuff like:

Look at this pic I've uploaded: <broken link>. I can balance my computer that I'm gonna be in the beta test with on my head! Oops...

[sweaty bob]

Oh well, such is the way of prediction. But since all the good questions have been asked about Dawinia already, the boards are probably going to become even more spammy with stuff like:

Look at this pic I've uploaded: <broken link>. I can balance my computer that I'm gonna be in the beta test with on my head! Oops...

Yes SPA/\/\ Fro/\/\ YOU!

[FlamingDemon]

Sounds like its definatly for the best, and anything thats good for Introversion. Would do no one any good if Darwinia failed because of the Xmas rush, like games such as Prince of Persia had. After all if Darwinia fails what would that mean for chances of other games from Introversion.

[D Dude]

Yeah it is a good idea about not going up against HL2, not much else will sell when that comes out.

Obviously we want everything to come out at once

Thats a good plan, its much a little annoying to read a good review and then have to wait a few months to get the game.

Thanks for the update.

[Spook]

Let's just hope HL2 doesn't slip until next year again....

Andrew

[Andcarne]

Glad to see you guys are putting quality ahead of quick release dates. It's always a good thing when companies are willing to miss deadlines to make sure the product is better.

[NeoTheOne175]

To be fair, Chris is right, Christmas release would mean NO ONE bought Darwinia

Fair play to the guys, they know when to say "YEAH BABY!" and when to say "Woo, wait a minute..."


PS - I apologise for my comic now =/

LOL, yeah, we knew this was gonna happen, right elDiablo?

But on a serious note, I want to thank you, Chris, for providing the update and taking that little bit of extra time to ensure Darwinia will r0xx0r!

[Freejack]

Its OK, the early release was to good to be true IMHO.
The only thing I wish for is, it will be shipped before Duke Nukem 4Ever.

[Starfyre]

Wise choice, all things considered.

I'm not going to join in the HL2 hyping though. I mean, great graphics, wonderful phsyics, but all in all it's going to be like Doom: Run from the level start to level end and kill everything in between.
Just another FPS.

[Punisher Bass]

To be honest, I'm not that surprised. IV does have a history of delaying things. However this does give them more time to iron out the bugs.

[FinnG]

well, no matter

if those hackers hadnt stolen that HL2 source maybe we would already have HL2 and Darwinia Beta ?!?!!! Who knows?