When you’re the sequel to one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, you get to forego some of the more traditional methods of marketing for your game. You know, things like having an actual release date. Hades II’s Early Access launch, which semi-surprisingly landed on May 6, has thrown a wrench in at least one game’s release date: The Rogue Prince of Persia. Its developers, Evil Empire, have announced that the game will be postponed due to the release of Hades II.
Throughout gaming history, there have been well-documented cases where one game’s release overshadows another. With the meteoric rise of content creators and influencers, the brief period during which your game is the talk of the town is directly related to its success. One example of this is the running joke for the release dates of PlayStation’s Horizon franchise. The original, Horizon Zero Dawn, had to compete with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Its sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, launched alongside a small game you might have heard of: Elden Ring. Another example is the success of Palworld earlier this year, which dominated the headlines of every website and YouTube channel for a few days.
Evil Empire doesn’t want to be caught in Hades II’s Early Access launch shadow, so it has smartly delayed the release of The Rogue Prince of Persia. The game will still be released sometime in May, and a more precise date will be announced on Monday, May 13. While The Rogue Prince of Persia plays differently from Hades II, especially as a 2D platformer, it largely shares the same genre due to its roguelite elements.
THE ROGUE PRINCE OF PERSIA RELEASE POSTPONED
So it’s been a bit of a crazy week for us! It all started when a little game called Hades 2 released – you might have heard of it?
Seeing as everyone and their mum is playing that game (including our entire team… and their mums), we have decided to let people have their fun with it before we release The Rogue Prince of Persia.
We will still be releasing in May and will be back with a precise date on Monday.
While we have every confidence in The Rogue Prince of Persia, it’s not every day that a game in the same genre as you, which is one of the most anticipated upcoming games of 2024, will release into Early Access a week before you plan to do the same. We are not prideful enough to ignore the implications of that, and we truly believe that this short delay is the best decision for us and our Early Access journey.
This also lets us keep polishing up the game, add even more cool things and kick some stubborn bugs out before release. The Day 1 patch was getting pretty hefty, so gaining more time to test it and add more stuff before launch day has considerably lowered the stress levels of our producer and game director already!
We completely understand that this is annoying news to hear for everyone who was eager to play the game, especially so close to the anticipated release. We can only hold our hands up, apologize and hope that you understand. It will be worth the wait!
Thank you for your patience.
