Waiting is one of the hardest things we have to do as audiences- waiting for that big, shiny, new game that we’ve been looking forward to for years, willing time to move faster in that period between official confirmation that a game is indeed in development and the time when it finally launches. Of course, it’s great when the turnaround between announcement and launch is quick, but oftentimes, that’s not the case. Even right now, there are a bunch of games out there that we know for a fact are being made, but probably aren’t going to release for at least a few more years. Here, we’re going to talk about a few such games.
GRAND THEFT AUTO 6
Nearly ten years on from GTA 5’s launch, Rockstar confirmed not too long ago that Grand Theft Auto 6 is in development. But if years and years of experience have taught us anything, it’s that Rockstar likes to take its time with things so it can deliver the best possible version of whatever game it’s got in the works. Grand Theft Auto 6 hasn’t been formally unveiled, details about its story or setting or even its name haven’t been shared, and with all of that in mind, it’s clear that it’s going to be quite a long wait before the game finally launches.
THE ELDER SCROLLS 6
To be fair, The Elder Scrolls 6 is much closer to launch now than it was when it was first officially announced back in 2018- but that’s not really saying much. Not too long ago, game director Todd Howard confirmed that it was still in pre-production, and that didn’t come as much of a surprise. Bethesda Game Studios has its hands full right now with Starfield, and only when the sci-fi RPG is out the gate will the developer move on to its next project. We wouldn’t be surprised if The Elder Scrolls 6 didn’t come out until 2025 or 2026.
NEXT MASS EFFECT
The Mass Effect situation is very, very similar to Bethesda and The Elder Scrolls 6. BioWare, too, is known to be working on two big projects simultaneously, and obviously, the studio won’t be ready to move on to Mass Effect in full force until the next Dragon Age is done and ready to go. Thankfully, the game is using Unreal Engine 5, unlike every other BioWare game over the last decade, which should hopefully mean that development will go smoother. Even so, we’re expecting the next Mass Effect to launch around 2025 or 2026 at best.
DIABLO 4
Blizzard Entertainment is one of those companies that has absolutely no issues with taking its sweet time with new games, much like the aforementioned Rockstar, which is just one of several reasons why we’re so sure that Diablo 4 won’t be out for some time. To its credit, the developer has been providing regular updates on the game and its development for some time now, but when Blizzard ended up delaying Diablo 4 last year in spite of the fact that it didn’t even have a release date at the time, it was made plainly obvious that development would go on for a long time. Add to that all of the behind-the-scenes turbulence that Blizzard is experiencing right now (which is putting it mildly), and it becomes even clearer that Diablo 4 is years away.
STAR WARS ECLIPSE
Well, this one was kind of an obvious pick. First announced at The Game Awards last December, Quantic Dream’s Star Wars game has been in the headlines since then on a number of occasions, and never for the right reasons. With the studio allegedly struggling with everything from technical behind-the-scenes issues (especially with its engine) as well as with recruitment for the game’s development, reports have alleged that Star Wars Eclipse might not launch until as far as 2027. Whether or not things get stretched that far remains to be seen, but either way, it’s clearly going to be a long wait.
UBISOFT MASSIVE’S STAR WARS GAME
There’s multiple Star Wars games in development across multiple studios in the industry right now, and a bunch of them are not exactly close to coming out anytime soon. Another game in that group is Ubisoft Massive’s open world Star Wars game. The studio is currently working on The Division 2 support and a new project in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, while nothing is known about the Star Wars game other than the fact that it’ll be open world and that it’s in development. The assumption that it’s still quite a ways off hardly seems unfair.
ASSASSIN’S CREED INFINITY
Ubisoft has kept up a steady cadence of new Assassin’s Creed content for a long, long time, but the wait to the series’ next big step forward is clearly going to be longer than usual. Assassin’s Creed Infinity was confirmed to be in development last year, but at the time, the project was said to be in pre-production. Translation? It’s at least three or four years away, if not more. With reports claiming that Ubisoft will look to fill up the gap with a smaller new instalment either this year or next year, it’s clear that Infinity is going to need more time in the oven.
SPLINTER CELL REMAKE
We’re seeing announcements like these with greater frequency these days, where publishers simply let everyone know that they’re in the early stages of development and are looking to staff up. These are more recruitment calls than they are announcement, and that’s exactly what the Splinter Cell remake announcement was. It wouldn’t surprise us to learn that the game had only just been greenlit when Ubisoft first spoke about it earlier in the year- in fact, that’s probably exactly what happened. Either way, it’s going to be a while before we step into Sam Fisher’s boots again.
WONDER WOMAN
It’s a little surprising that Monolith Productions’ next game is going to take as long to come out as it clearly is, seeing as it’s been five years since the studio’s last project, Shadow of War, came out. Either way, seeing as Wonder Woman was announced last year with what was effectively a CG trailer, with almost no details on the game being revealed to follow-up on that announcement, it’s been made abundantly clear that the game is in the early stages of production. We’ll be waiting a while for this one as well.
MAX PAYNE 1 AND 2 REMAKES
This one couldn’t be more obvious. In the recent announcement that Remedy and Rockstar are coming together for the development of full-fledged remakes of Max Payne 1 and 2, Remedy explicitly said that the two companies had only just signed into that agreement. That means development has probably only recently kicked off. The project is in the very early stages of pre-production, and that, combined with the fact that Remedy also has plenty else on its plate, is enough to let us know that we’re a long, long way away from launch.
CONTROL SEQUEL
Speaking of Remedy and its project, this is another one that has been officially confirmed to be in development but hasn’t yet been formally unveiled. Remedy confirmed last year that a full-fledged Control sequel was one of several games in the works at the studio, and that it was in the early stages of development. That doesn’t come as a surprise, obviously, what with the first game itself having launched not too long ago. Of course, we don’t expect the wait for the Control sequel to be as long as something like the aforementioned Max Payne remakes, but it’ll still probably be a couple of years, if not more, until it launches.
MARVEL’S WOLVERINE
2021’s PlayStation Showcase event was Insomniac’s time to shine. The studio officially announced not one, but two major upcoming games- which is exactly why we’re so sure that Marvel’s Wolverine is not very close to release. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is what Insomniac is going to be focused on first and foremost until it launches, and there’s no guarantees that it doesn’t get pushed out of 2023. Even ignoring all of that though, the plain and simple fact that Insomniac flat-out said that upon Wolverine’s announcement that it was in early development at the time should tell you all you need to know about how far away it is.
EVERWILD
Unlike a number of other games in this feature, Everwild is here not because it hasn’t been in development for too long, but because things have gone terribly wrong behind the scenes. Rare has been working on this game for years, and even since officially announcing it what feels like forever ago, the developer has reportedly been unable to make a ton of progress with it. Apparently, it’s been rebooted, and we all know what that means. In all likelihood, Everwild is a 2024 or 2025 game- if things go to plan from here on out, that is.
KINGDOM HEARTS 4
There was never any doubt in anyone’s mind that a new mainline Kingdom Hearts game would eventually come out, and recently, Square Enix made that official with the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 4. The game is apparently in early development right now, which, of course, means that there’s a lot of work still to be done, to say the very least. Expecting it to launch even a couple of years from this point seems a bit too optimistic.
THE WITCHER 4
We almost don’t want this game to launch anytime soon. After the disaster that was Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt RED desperately needs a win, and The Witcher, above all else, needs to maintain its incredible reputation. CDPR has only just started working on it, and we sincerely hope the developer takes all the time it needs to make it the best game it can be. In all likelihood, that will indeed be the case (or so we hope, at least), which means that The Witcher 4 (or whatever it ends up being called) is not going to be out for several more years.
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