Oblivion devs comment on delay

By Tom Bramwell Published 7 November, 2005

Rigorous testing going on.

Members of the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion development team have issued a statement on their company forums explaining why the game will now be released in early 2006 on PC and Xbox 360 and not during the Christmas period as previously stated.

Last week the game's publisher Take-Two said the game was aimed at Q2 of the company's financial year, and should be out in Europe in February. Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines said that's simply "because it isn't done yet".

The team is currently playtesting, optimising, and balancing the game - to a degree, Hines says, that exceeds efforts on all their previous games. "We will not put out a more specific date until we are certain we will be ready then," he added.

The developer will be updating the game's official website, however, and hopefully every week. "We'll be updating the Codex in stages, adding new concept art, screens, etc. in the coming weeks and months. We're open to doing another fan interview in the coming weeks as well to let you ask what it is you think we aren't telling you."

"We appreciate your patience and continued support and ensure you that your dedication will be rewarded with what we think is the best RPG you've ever played."

Xbox 360 fans are thought to be particularly miffed about the delay - some of whom had pre-ordered the console at the suggestion that Oblivion would be done and dusted in time for the November 22nd US or December 2nd European launch.

We'll let you know if there's any further change.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 6 years ago

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  • groovychainsaw #1 6 years ago

    /is miffed
    /appreciates that microsoft dont want a game with many bugs in it to be a launch title
    /is still miffed

  • Thamuhacha #2 6 years ago

    /is also miffed
    /remembers that there won't be any Xbox360s available until Feb anyway

  • Blerk #3 6 years ago

    Holding back a game because it's "not finished"? Maybe there is hope for the world yet.

  • tengu #4 6 years ago

    Left it a bit late delaying this one though, there's still advertising for it all over.

  • Cosmopolitan #5 6 years ago

    The actual reason for announcing Oblivion would be a launch title was to make more people pre-order the XB360. Deal with it.
    Edited by 1 at 07/11/05 @ 10:58

  • Ceatlan #6 6 years ago

    Given their past record for releasing PC versions of games that were barely playable until several patches had been released, and patches that broke save games, I think this is very good news. Its probably in recognition of the fact that now they are developing for consoles, they have to take quality control more seriously as patching is a much more tricky thing to do.

    (They were fortunate with the XBox version of Morrowind as it was released well after the PC version, and hence already had the worst bugs fixed. Although I think the GOTY edition included further bug fixes and improvements.)

  • karstux #7 6 years ago

    I'm not miffed. Been waiting for that game for so long, another couple of months won't matter to me. And I'd rather not have my game experience ruined by nasty bugs...

    It's a good thing Bethesda is their own publisher.

  • tengu #8 6 years ago

    "The actual reason for announcing Oblivion would be a lunch title was to make more people pre-order the XB360. Deal with it. "

    lol, yeah, now it's a dinner title :)

  • Blerk #9 6 years ago

    Nice to see you can spin the 'oh fuck, there aren't actually any games I want for this new console' as a series of plus points, Dil! ;-)

  • space_ace #10 6 years ago

    ironically, there will be oblivion for xbox 360 at launch ;)

  • onyxbox #11 6 years ago

    I cancelled my 360 pre-order when I heard about the delay. It was the final staw.... so yes I was miffed too.

  • kangarootoo #12 6 years ago

    This is good news to me. They wouldn't delay unless they had a good reason. The overall title quality will improve as a result, and that is what everyone really wants, even if it doesn't feel that way at first.

    As for cancelling pe-orders. What will you do whan Oblivion IS launched if you have no XB360 because they have all sold?

  • ave #13 6 years ago

    From what I've heard it's more like Microsoft told them the game wasnt in good enough shape to release at Christmas, the fact it took them over a week to come up with the answer "It's been delayed because we need to test it more." is just stranger.

  • Xerx3s #14 6 years ago

    That god it wasnt a launch title for a sony platform.... ^_^

  • dllord #15 6 years ago

    It probably had a shite frame rate! so it got delayed!

  • Scimarad #16 6 years ago

    Bethesda? Playtesting???

    /faints

  • Stoned_Immaculate #17 6 years ago

    I believe the delay is probably due to the RAI, if Bethesda are telling the truth, they're trying pretty unique stuff with AI on a game this scale. The delay doesnt bother me though, i have no money yet....

  • heavensblade #18 6 years ago

    if it prevents the kind of bugs and technical problems that Morrowind had then i am all for it.