Horizon Forbidden West reportedly delayed to Q1 2022

Update: Horizon Forbidden West has been delayed to the first quarter of 2022, reports Bloomberg's Jason Schreier.

As you'll read in our reporting below, GamesBeat's Jeff Grubb mentioned earlier today during his weekly GrubbSnax show that PlayStation could delay Horizon Forbidden West to 2022 in a September PlayStation Direct. Now, Schreier is saying the delay is official, according to "a person familiar with the matter."

Schreier has also clarified that while the original rumor suggests PlayStation was undecided about delaying Horizon Forbidden West at the time, his sources say the decision was made "a little while ago."

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That's according to an update from reporter Jeff Grubb, who shared the potential development in the latest episode of his weekly GrubbSnax news program on Giant Bomb. According to Grubb, the news will likely be delivered in a currently unannounced PlayStation Direct presentation set to air in September. You'll need a Giant Bomb premium membership to access the archived version of the episode, but I've transcribed the relevant part below.

"I've heard, not certain, but I've heard that I think something [a PlayStation Direct presentation] is coming in September, and… I'm trying to debate if I want to be the one to say this. I think that game's gonna get delayed to 2022, yeah," Grubb said. "I don't know for sure. I think it's still undecided, but I think it's leaning toward Horizon Forbidden West in 2022. And I think they'll have a September State of Play to sort of say, 'here's the other things we're gonna have in the fall, here's a bunch of exciting stuff, don't worry.' But then I think Horizon Forbidden West is going to be 2022."

Grubb later stood behind the comments in a Reddit thread, though he also pointed out that he "tried to clarify that this is what I'm hearing and not that it's a sure thing." In other words, you should not abandon all hope of exploring post-post-apocalyptic San Francisco on the back of a new robot friend this year, but you also should not bet the post-post-apocalyptic farm on it.

To be fair to both Grubb and Sony, even PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst has been open about the fact that a delay is possible: he said back in June that the holiday release window "isn't quite certain yet." If another Horizon presentation is coming in September, hopefully it's as informative as the last - we learned a ton of new details about the game across about 15 minutes of uninterrupted play, and another look at the Forbidden West would help take the edge off any delay news.