The disaster that was the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 will have made all game developers nearing a release date stop and think "is our game going to be ready?" For developer Housemarque, the answer to that question was "no" for its forthcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive Returnal.
Sony broke news of the game's delay via the official PlayStation Twitter account yesterday. Returnal was originally scheduled to release on March 19, but as the tweet explains, "Returnal has a new release date of April 30, 2021. SIE and Housemarque have made the decision to move the release date in order to give the team extra time to continue to polish the game to the level of quality players expect from Housemarque."
Exclusives are important throughout the life of a games console as a way of attracting and retaining players, but it's even more important for new hardware as it's trying to build a large user base. Returnal is a very important game for Sony, which is why a six week delay for polish wouldn't have been met with much resistance.
Returnal is a third-person shooter with roguelike gameplay set in a futuristic science fiction world that tasks the player with surviving on a hostile planet. It's a game that takes full advantage of the PS5's Dual Sense controller as well as using the 3D spatial audio system to help with immersion. As video footage shows, the game looks gorgeous and is sure to help sell a lot of consoles assuming Housemarque uses those extra weeks for polish well and backs up those visuals with solid gameplay.