Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Hit With Crushing Delay
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has been hit with a six-week delay, and will now be released on April 28.
Following the announcement of the game’s release date and its first gameplay video, Respawn Entertainment, Electronic Art’s first-party developer, just announced that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will arrive later than expected. The upcoming sequel to the legendary Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is now scheduled to launch on April 28, 2023—some six weeks after its original release date, March 17, 2023.
According to IGN, Respawn Entertainment’s director Stig Asmussen was the one to break the news regarding the delay of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, addressing the causes and offering the already well-rehearsed statement offered by the industry heavyweights: they need more time for final polishing. As per his statement, the team is now focusing on the final stages of development, which include fixing bugs to enhance the game’s stability and performance, polishing, and, most importantly, the gaming experience.
Asmussen also stated that the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a direct response derived from the gaming community’s feedback, thus justifying the delay by saying that Respawn needs more time to hit the quality bar and level of polish the fandom deserves. His statement ended with him extending his gratitude towards EA, Respawn, and players for granting the development team more time, thus allowing them to provide the gaming community with the best possible gaming experience associated with a Star Wars Jedi title.
The final polishing of its gaming titles has been a particular problem across Electronic Arts and its subsidiaries, with many games being criticized for poor release quality. 2021’s Battlefield 2042 was harshly criticized for massive game-breaking problems the game had at launch. Admittedly, EA and EA DICE worked around the clock to fix the numerous issues plaguing that particular game and address community feedback. Unfortunately, the first impression matters most, and Battlefield 2042, while completely playable, still suffers from perception problems.
So, EA and Respawn’s reason for delaying Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is actually a reasonable one. Of course, there’s more behind the delay than simple polishing. Shocking discoveries unearthed as the result of a sexual misconduct and gender discrimination investigation surrounding the controversial Activision Blizzard, and the subsequent workers’ revolts, have brought about a wind of change within the gaming industry. Gaming companies are now threading very carefully around ideas and terms such as overtime and crunch hours, and this is precisely what EA wants to avoid.
In fact, the company was previously targeted by both the public and its own employees over a rainbow-washing scandal—for those not in the know, EA’s employees have announced a walkout should the company rainbow-wash its logo without making any substantive statement in support of LGBTQ+ people being abused nationwide in the US and elsewhere. In response to the walkout announcement, EA decided no to rainbow-wash its logo and has since become known as the “best place to work” for LGBTQ+ equality.
Furthermore, the company added custom pronunciations to some of its games, including The Sims. It appears EA is now doing the right thing by listening to its customers and taking care of its employees (presumably), so we wholeheartedly greet the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor delay—no one should suffer the crunch!
