Outriders release date delayed to February but it will have a free PS4 to PS5 upgrade

The Outriders release date is official, and it's now set to land at the far end of the PS5 and Xbox Series X launch window.

The third-person shooter from People Can Fly, the developers of Bulletstorm,will arrive on February 2, 2021 (a date which was previously leaked in an update to the game's Steam page). Outriders was initially set for a holiday 2020 release date, so this is roughly a two-to-three month delay. According to an official post from Square Enix, game testing was "among the most affected" development operations by the COVID-19 pandemic, so more time is needed to make sure the game is smooth and stable at launch.

It's not all bad news. The post also confirms that Outriders will launch with full cross-play support, meaning players on every supported platform will be able to participate in multiplayer together. Once Outriders arrives in February, Square Enix will also offer a free game upgrade from PS4 to PS5 (and it will support Smart Delivery as standard across Xbox platforms), so there's no harm in picking up a copy early if you still haven't bought in to the next generation at that point.

A new Outriders trailer accompanied the release date news, teasing the fractured world you'll fight to protect and some of the cool new Altered powers you'll use in the process. GR's Austin Wood went hands-on with Outriders back in August, and he was impressed by the variety of super-powered skills he could employ even in the pre-release version. It will be exciting to see what players do with the full selection of powers in February.

Keep track of what's coming next with our big list of video game release dates.