Why are PS3 games always late?

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By published

We do a few case studies to find out

Haze

Original release date: 30th November 2007, then pushed back to 14th December 2007

Current release date: Any time up to April 2008

Originally touted as an PlayStation 3 exclusive, but now rumoured to be coming in Xbox 360 and PC flavours further down the line as well (Ubisoft says no, Free Radical says yes), Haze has a lot of potential. Coming from Free Radical, whose staff have a brilliant FPS pedigree stretching all the way back to Goldeneye by way of Timesplitters, the game has a harder and edgier tone than we’re used to from the team and makes use of some interesting gameplay mechanics as the effects of habitual drug use take their toll on the player’s character.

Haze took an unfortunate but small hit from the delay stick earlier this month, being shunted to mid-December. As that date has drawn nearer though, we’ve become increasingly worried, namely because no-one in the games press has been given a review copy yet. Our suspicions were confirmed yesterday when Ubisoft pencilled the game into the Q4 2007 period. It sounds like another small delay, but we’re talking business years rather than calendar years, so Haze might not appear until next spring.

So far there’s little explanation as to why, although Free Radical co-founder and brandisher of magnificent beard David Doak has said that there haven’t been any major problems with developing the game for the PS3. Sigh of relief there then.

David Houghton
David Houghton
Former GamesRadar+ Features Writer

Former (and long-time) GamesRadar+ writer, Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.