Path of Exile Expansion Delayed to Avoid Clash With Cyberpunk 2077
Last week, CD Projekt Red made the surprise announcement that Cyberpunk 2077 was being delayed yet again; this time from November to the 10th of December. The news came as a shock to fans, but it appears to have had a knock-on effect for other studios too. Grinding Gear Games, for example, have announced a delay to their own upcoming Path of Exile expansion.
Cyberpunk 2077 Delay Affecting Other Titles
An upcoming end-game expansion for Path of Exile was, until now, on track to launch on the 11th of December. Indeed, developer Grinding Gear Games stated earlier this month that the expansion was; “in a very stable and polished state”. However, since then, CD Projekt Red has announced their third Cyberpunk 2077 delay, pushing the game’s release date back to December 10th; the day before the Path of Exile expansion would have launched. As a result, Grinding Gear Games has announced that the expansion will now be delayed too, releasing sometime in January instead.
“We do not want to put our players in a position of having to choose between these two games,” writes Grinding Gear Games CEO Chris Wilson; “so we have decided to step out of the way and delay the release of Path of Exile 3.13 until January. […] We still expect to finish 3.13 by early/mid December. The scope of this expansion will remain unchanged. During the month of delay before release, we will start work on the 3.14 expansion.”
It’s undeniably a sensible move, if a frustrating one for Path of Exile players. Cyberpunk 2077 is easily set to be the biggest launch of 2020, after all. In the wake of its launch, other news, announcements, and releases are likely to be drowned out somewhat. Releasing an expansion the day after such an event would be a very risky decision, from a marketing perspective. Delaying it to January makes it more likely that it will get the attention which its developers are hoping for.