UbiSoft Settles in
Settlers IV to be released on March 30th, console versions to come
The latest installment in the popular Settlers strategy game series was apparently nearing release when UbiSoft took over German developer / publisher Blue Byte last month, but since then things have been eerily quiet as UbiSoft absorbed the company and its games into their own line-up. Now we have word that Settlers IV will finally be released on Friday 30th March. According to UbiSoft, "the reasons behind the unfortunate delay of the product were essentially quality assurance issues", with the company wanting "to guarantee that the game's distribution went as smoothly as possible".
In fact, the game has already been released in German, but now UbiSoft are set to release it in the UK, France, Scandinavia, Portugal, Australia and several other countries at the end of this month, with announcements on release dates for the rest of the world expected soon. The press release revealing the new release date also includes a morsel about the future of the series, confirming that there will indeed be more sequels, and that UbiSoft "aims to make The Settlers a global leader as well as developing it on a variety of other platforms, including PlayStation 2 and Game Cube". No doubt more details of future console versions of the series will be available before long...