As it would happen, my first post back from a long vacation to recharge my batteries would be bad news for fans of the Xbox One X and Crackdown 3. Crackdown 3, Microsoft’s launch title for the Xbox One X, isn’t coming this year after all.
Xbox revealed the Crackdown 3 delay this evening in an interview with Polygon. Speaking with the outlet, Microsoft Studios Publishing general manager Shannon Loftis confirmed that Crackdown 3 won’t launch on November 7th. In fact, it won’t launch in 2017 at all.
“Crackdown 3 is hugely ambitious game and we want to ensure we deliver the right experiences all the way through every part of the game, whether that’s campaign, co-op multiplayer or our competitive multiplayer mode, Wrecking Zone,” she says in the statement. Crackdown 3 won’t launch until 2018 now.
Ordinarily, a game delay is cause for celebration on some level. Games are usually delayed because they need more development time. If they get that time, they are less likely to launch as a bug infested waste of your cash. At least it’s a delay and not an outright cancellation, like with Scalebound.
Problem is, Microsoft first announced Crackdown 3 at the first E3 trade show it attended after the Xbox One’s launch. That was 2014. What Microsoft is effectively saying is that a game they announced almost four years ago isn’t read. Worse, Crackdown 3 is one of a small number of exclusive Xbox One X enhanced games. Now, Microsoft has to hope that the 4K visuals in Forza Motorsport 7 and the free updates for existing titles will be enough to convince people to invest $499 on an Xbox One X. Third-party developers have Xbox One X enhanced games coming, but you can also pick them up on Sony’s PS4 Pro, which also has enhanced graphics.
I wasn’t planning to get an Xbox One X this holiday, but I had considered purchasing Crackdown 3. I suppose that’s more money I can put towards my accessory slush fund now.
