Guilty Gear has always been the darling of the hardcore fighting game community, and the last couple of years have seen its legacy as the fighter’s fighting game cemented in pure Vibranium thanks to its snazzy controls and undeniable style that formed a complete package of coolness. This year’s edition of the game? I’ve got some doubts as to whether or not it’ll stick the landing, but I’m always happy for a little of the ol’ heaven or hell gameplay that makes for some wicked fast combat with all visual cylinders blazing whenever you land a combo.
Said enthusiasm is going have to be a little bit more patient, because Guilty Gear Strive won’t be launching in 2020. I’ll give you guess as to why, but here’s a clue: It rhymes with “lowered nine beans”. Developer Arc System Works have confirmed the delay, with producer Takeshi Yamanaka taking to Twitter and the studio website to deliver the bad news:
Thank you for your interest in Guilty Gear -Strive-. This is Takeshi Yamanaka, producer of Guilty Gear -Strive-. We have previously announced the release of Guilty Gear -Strive- for late 2020, however we have decided to change the release schedule to early 2021.
While our company’s staff and our business partners are putting in a sincere effort in dealing with the changes due to the spread of COVID-19, every aspect of our development schedule has faced delays. In addition, we have decided to set up a schedule to further improve the quality of the game responding to everyone’s help and feedback from the recent closed beta test.
We apologize sincerely to everyone who has been anticipating the release with keen excitement. Ourselves, we are dedicated to bringing you a new Guilty Gear game that will satisfy all of our fans. Please be assured that we will make good use of that extra time to do this. Thank you for your understanding.
While it’s not unusual to see this happening (SHUT UP TOM JONES!), one has to wonder if recent criticism of Guilty Gear Strive is also playing a large part in this shifting of release dates. The Guilty Gear community has been especially vocal of the current state of Strive, criticising everything from a fugly user interface to technical aspects that makes the game more confusing to learn when compared to previous iterations such as the delightful Xrd Revelator incarnation.
Last Updated: May 15, 2020
