Sad Big Daddy face, BioShock Infinite delayed until February of next year

by: John - posted: 5/9/2012 7:30:00 AM

Let's just get straight to it. You won't be able to play BioShock Infinite this year. Ken Levine just sent out an email saying the game's being delayed until February 26th of 2013. Yes, that's another 9 months away.

It's no exaggeration that what I saw at last year's E3 was one of the best presentations with Infinite. The game looked incredibly fluid and action packed with the rails dynamic of riding around the skies on a arm hook. 

This news will surely disappoint a lot of folks, but Ken wants to make sure you have the best experience as possible, so while this delay is pretty sad, there's a great chance it'll benefit us all in the long run with a very solid game in the end. 

In order to focus on development of the game the folks at Irrational Games are going to be skipping all of the major game conventions (including E3 next month).  

So would you kindly be a little more patient as we wait for BioShock Infinite next year?

A MESSAGE FROM KEN LEVINE

When we announced the release date of BioShock Infinite in March, we felt pretty good about the timing.

Since then, we’ve come to realize that some specific tweaks and improvements will make Infinite into something even more extraordinary. Therefore, to give our talented team the time they need, we’ve decided to move the game’s release to February 26, 2013. We wanted to let our loyal (and very patient!) fans know this as soon as possible.

I won’t kid you: BioShock Infinite is a very big game, and we’re doing things that no one has ever done in a first-person shooter. We had a similar experience with the original BioShock, which was delayed several months as our original ship date drew near. Why? Because the Big Daddies weren’t the Big Daddies you’ve since come to know and love. Because Andrew Ryan’s golf club didn’t have exactly the right swing. Because Rapture needed one more coat of grimy Art Deco.

The same principle now applies to BioShock Infinite.

What does this mean for you? It means a bit more waiting, but more importantly, it means an even better BioShock Infinite. The great can be made greater, and we owe it to both ourselves and to you, our fans, to take this opportunity. Irrational Games is one of those rare developers lucky enough to ask the people who sign the checks: “Hey, can we have a few more of those checks?”

We are also going to hold off on showing BioShock Infinite at the big events of the summer, like E3 and Gamescom. That way, the next time you see our game, it will be essentially the product we intend to put in the box. Preparing for these events takes time away from development, time we’re going to use instead to get the best version of Infinite into your hands in February.