The first game to bite the bullet and get away from the insane February 22, 2019 lineup has been decided. Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment America’s (SIEA) vice president of marketing Asad Qizilbash posted on the PlayStation Blog that Days Gone has been delayed to April 26, 2019. Qizilbash states that the company decided to move the game from the “crowded February timeframe.” This will also give Sony’s Bend Studio “the opportunity to further polish Days Gone” according to Qizilbash. This isn’t the first time Bend Studio’s PlayStation 4 exclusive has been delayed. Back in March, news came out that the game would be delayed from the initial 2018 release window. Then, during Sony’s Countdown to E3 the game finally received the February 22 release date.
However, during this year’s E3, multiple games would also be announced for release on this day. First, during EA’s conference, Bioware announced that their highly anticipated game Anthem would be slated for release on February 22. The following day, at Microsoft’s conference, 4A Games’ next entry in the Metro series, Metro: Exodus, would hit this day as well. Later that week, Microsoft’s much delayed Crackdown 3 would be delayed to this day. All of this makes February 22 one of the busiest release days in recent memory.
Now that Days Gone has been moved to April, it seems to be positioned in a better place to succeed. The decision to move the game to late April may have been influenced by the massive success God of War had in the same timeframe this year.
The open world action game, first revealed at E3 2016, set in the post apocalyptic Pacific Northwest, puts players in the shoes of biker Deacon St. John as he fights against other survivors and the zombie-like Freakers. Days Gone is the first game Bend Studio has developed since the PlayStation Vita exclusive Uncharted: Golden Abyss in 2012, and first major home console release since finishing the Syphon Filter series on PlayStation 2. Because of this, it comes as no surprise that the studio would want this game to succeed as much as possible.
You can check out the original release date trailer for Days Gone below: