Survival RPG Outward 2 has been delayed from a July 2026 release into next year. Developer Nine Dots Studio delivered the news on Steam today, with Nine Dots CEO and Outward 2 creative director Guillaume Boucher-Vidal saying "I apologize that we couldn’t give you the game you guys deserve on time."
There's no specific revised release date for Outward 2: at the moment, the release date on Steam simply says "2027."
That's disappointing for sure! I had a fine time in a build of Outward 2 not long ago and the RPG has been in open beta since June 7, so it looked to be on track for an early access release this summer. Alas.
"I know that this might seem sudden as not that long ago we released a trailer inviting people to explore Aurai during summer, but the truth is that if we just stick to the plan stubbornly, we’re delivering a product that might not satisfy your expectations," Boucher-Vidal said on Steam.
"The last thing we want to do is disappoint fans of Outward and there has been a lot of comments stating that they wish for the game to spend more time in development before the launch. The point of a beta is to listen to feedback, and so we will."
Boucher-Vidal's post did not say specifically what the feedback was from players that convinced the studio to delay.
"It’s hard to gauge what is the appropriate degree of stability expected for early access. The best we can do is take a hard, honest look at the game, and at our team, and ask: in a few weeks, will this be good enough to charge money for?" Boucher-Vidal said.
I definitely ran into some rough edges in my time in the beta, but nothing that seemed like it couldn't be addressed with patches—and besides, Outward 2 was going to be an early access game, so issues are expected. However, I only spent a couple of hours in the build, so players who dove in a bit more deeply may have seen other, more serious problems with the RPG.
"Dropping this news is especially painful knowing that some of our most dedicated players actually planned their summer break around the release date. It sucks for you and I personally apologize to everyone affected this way," Boucher-Vidal said.
"However, it would be even worse if you ended up playing something over your vacation that you were not even happy with."
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