Ni No Kuni 2 delayed until January 2018
A wizard is never late.
Ni No Kuni 2 has been delayed to 19th January 2018, developer Level-5 has announced.
The Japanese role-playing game had been set to launch in November.
In a video message to fans, Level-5 boss Akihiro Hino explained the delay as the result of a need to improve the game before release.
The move will also shuffle Ni No Kuni 2 away from the busy end of year release season, and into a quieter launch period where it is less likely to get overlooked.
"We have decided that more development time is required in order to deliver the full Ni no Kuni 2 experience to our fans," Hino said. "I deeply apologise to those who have been looking forward to the game's release.
"Please rest assured, however, that we will continue to strive to provide a deep and satisfying single player experience that our fans can look forward to enjoying."
At E3 last month, Hino had appeared to hint at a multiplayer element to the game. This was a mistake on his part, Hino explained - he had thought the question related to extra content bought online.
Like its predecessor, Ni No Kuni 2 will be a single-player game, Hino concluded.
The original Ni No Kuni was one of the finest JRPGs of the last console generation. Released for PlayStation 3, it mixed animation from Studio Ghibli with Pokémon-style battling from the brains at Level-5 behind Professor Layton.
Ni No Kuni 2 is being made in a world where Studio Ghibli has now seemingly been put on hiatus. The game's art style has been changed, and its battle system completely reworked.