Backer Build 5 and Release Date Update

Phoenix Point
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Hi, fans and backers,

As you know, our small team has – from day one – tried our best to exceed your expectations with Phoenix Point. Our number-one goal throughout development has been to make a game that we will enjoy and remember for a long time to come.

While the development team is working hard, and Phoenix Point is shaping up really well, we now know we’re going to need more time to get it to meet our very high standards. As you probably know, Snapshot has a commitment to keep crunch to a minimum – and that is a commitment we take very seriously. Therefore, because we know we have more work than we have time, we will be delaying the release of game from September 3, 2019 to December, 2019.

We know this is not our first delay, and we are very sorry to the fans who we know are highly anticipating getting their hands on Phoenix Point. No one is more disappointed than we are, but we collectively agree that we would rather miss a launch date than ship something that does not meet our exacting standards. We want the Phoenix Point you play to be one of your favorite games of all time, and that means we need a bit more time.

We know this is a significant delay. The good news is that Backer Build 5 will be releasing on our original launch date, September 3, 2019, meaning early access backers and pre-order customers will be able to play a much more robust version of Phoenix Point very soon.

Please play Backer Build 5 and give us your feedback. If you’re willing, please opt in to our in-game analytics to help us tune and balance the game. Above all, talk to us.

As always, feel free to communicate with the team via our official Twitter, our Discord server, or here in our forums. We want to know what you think.

Thank you for your patience and for helping us make Phoenix Point the best game it can be.

With our fondest regards,

The Phoenix Point Dev Team

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Hueh. Rather expected delay by those who follow you for some time, but 3 months in quite a lot… Well, OK then.

Good luck then with polishing the game. I hope that you will start to showcase all features you already have in there (without spoilers).

And give us that Backers Build so we will see what you have cooked out there and maybe give you some hints, to really make that game worth that waiting. :wink: Btw if you want us to help balance the game then it would include enemies like Juggernaut, Flyer (is that Swarmer?) or Behemoth (actually type of map, not an enemy, but you know)? Or will you keep some of them out of BB5?

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Right on! do your thing Snapshot!

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then, too, and introduce complexity for the true masochists,so it was sweaty, painful but interesting))

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Can you give backer build access to pre-orderers in the meantime?

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We know this is not our first delay, and we are very sorry to the fans who we know are highly anticipating getting their hands on Phoenix Point. No one is more disappointed than we are, but we collectively agree that we would rather miss a launch date than ship something that does not meet our exacting standards. We want the Phoenix Point you play to be one of your favorite games of all time, and that means we need a bit more time.

I’m going to speak honestly and from experience. While (yet another) delay might raise some eyebrows, you already delayed the game three times and another one was expected, and will be forgiven after release. On the other hand, anything but stellar release might tarnish your reputation permanently, and you would not get another chance at greatness, aka. becoming AAA studio. Delay as much as you need, but do not fudge the release.

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Thanks! Please keep crunch to a minimum. Nothing is more important than the workers spending years making this thing great

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No video game has ever been or will ever be released on time in the 528 year history of video games EXCEPT for Knights of the Old Republic 2 (a tragic mistake.)

The continued release of backer builds shows progress is being made, so I feel assured that the game will come when it is ready, and this isn’t a Duke Nukem.

Happy coding!

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Not completely surprised to be honest. While it doesn’t bother me personally, I can see this annoying the backers who refuse to use Epic and waiting for the steam/GoG release a year after initial release.

As far as I’m concerned, take all the time you need. If you release a game that doesn’t meet the high standards you’re after you’ll only end up being forever disappointed with yourselves for it. Good luck with the final hurdle (hurdles maybe?)!

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Thank you for keeping us informed and being honest.

While I understand you can’t win in this scenario…either your fans will complain about the delay, or they will complain the game was released too soon when they get a buggy mess (or ‘incomplete’ game) at release. I think the solution that shows the most integrity is the one you have chosen.

Far better to delay then release something that is not done, as true for game developers as it is for chefs, imo.

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Ok, but we’ve already paid to have it in September (and paid high if we consider exchange rates for people living in Latin America economies). So it would be fair to give us a good DLC for free in retribution as soon as it is launched in the future… Don’t you agree, people? :wink:

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I paid to have it in Q4 2018, with the ability to upgrade my pledge after the initial campaign, and I’m still waiting for those… What’s the problem with this particular delay compared to all the others…

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As judge judy would say, OUTRAGOUS

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Not surprised as well, i was actually worried that the release date is so close, i was thinking it was too close.
I’m really glad to hear that SnapShot is doing their best to keep “Crunch” to a minimum, i think there is nothing more important than the individuals that are working hard on this project starting from developers up to management.

Take your time, do your thing and kick ass.

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As someone who buys many games, quite often, I don’t see a launch date as anything worth remembering. It is rare for a game to stick to its release date. Delays and multiple delays are a common occurrence. It might be a bad practice for publishers and devs to reveal release date before it is 100% secure, but it is how it is. Maybe they should keep the date secret until month before release, like some indies, but marketing wisdom says otherwise. The drawback is, that if marketing pushes certain release date and misses the deadline, hyped customers are left somewhat, eh for the lack of the better term, blue balled. Got burned enough times, now I just simply, don’t get too excited before it’s time (still talking about game release dates BTW).

In addition, I don’t believe that we should be “gifted” an apology for delay, as from all the party involved we are the ones who gain from the delay. For the investors and developers a delay means an additional investment of the resources. For consumers it means a better product.

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This is likely something we would have done. Take XCOM for example - by the time people knew the game existed, it was practically complete and just months from launch - and that took over 5 years to develop.

As a crowdfunded project, we have to give a delivery date during the campaign. At such an early stage, it’s little more than a best guess - and so many things can happen between then and release that affects the release date. However, the closer we get to completion, the more accurate and certain we can be about the time required.

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I really thought something like that, it was so quiet again, no BB5 yet and so on. There was no reason for that other than another delay. But again 3 month? Yeah, that’s a lot! You said the game would be complete and just need to put together. That takes another 3 Month?

I can’t say I’m happy but, hey it’s ok. Let’s see what BB5 will bring to us and hope it will be REALLY the last delay.

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As we had to delay again, better to give ourselves 3 months and use the time for additional polish than saying a month and having to delay again. It is really important to us that the game we release is fantastic. As much as we hate having to delay, we really don’t want to put out a game that feels unfinished or doesn’t live up to expectation. At the same time, we don’t want to crunch our developers.

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It would be easier to understand if you know the state of the game, compared with BB4 you could need some more years. :wink:
I’m really happy there will be enough time between BB5 and release for community feedback.

BTW: Feel free to bring it in November if you feel it is finished :blush:

1 Like