Last week, Obsidian Entertainment, Virtuos Games, and Private Division announced that The Outer Worlds would be coming to the Nintendo Switch on March 6th. Unfortunately, the release has now been delayed due to the impact of the coronavirus on the Virtuos team. Private Division released this statement via Twitter:

We’re delaying @OuterWorlds on Nintendo Switch due to the coronavirus impacting the Virtuos team working on the port, to provide them enough time to finish development. We’ll now be releasing the physical version on cartridge. Once we have a new launch date, we’ll let you know!

— Private Division (@PrivateDivision) February 6, 2020

To clarify, the team at Virtuos is ok, but their office has remained closed during this time. We’re working with the team to determine an updated development timeline, and will share more regarding a new launch date shortly.

— Private Division (@PrivateDivision) February 6, 2020

Everyone on the team is healthy, and the company aims to keep it that way by closing their offices. Developers will announce a new release date when a timetable can be established. Virtuos Games has 3 development centers in China, located in Shanghai, Chengdu, and Xi’an. Death tolls continue to rise in China, with emergency evacuations still ongoing. Sending their employee’s home is probably the best move right now for Virtuos Games.

Players have a lot to look forward to as future DLC for The Outer Worlds is set to come out sometime this year. The Switch version of the game will also be available as a cartridge upon its release, which should help gamers save memory space on their device. This game is currently available to Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC players. Plenty of content on the RPG is available on YouTube, which allows Switch players to prepare for when the title launches. 

Check back here or follow Private Division on Twitter for updates on this situation.