Ashes Cricket 2013, the next-in-line to International Cricket 2010, was originally slated to release in line with the actual UK Ashes cricket series, which would have been a marketing gold mine. However, 505 Games has announced that the release of the title will now be delayed until November 2013, effectively abandoning the previous marketing strategy, and opting to wait until the second ashes series which will take place later this year.
When asked for comment Tim Woodley, 505 Games SVP of global brand and marketing had this to say: “Unforeseen issues which developer Trickstar faced in latter stages of development have meant that they have been unable to do the requisite amount of polishing and fine-tuning which any game needs. We owe it to ourselves, to our licensors, the ECB and Cricket Australia, but most of all to the dedicated cricket fans and gamers to put our best foot forward.
It is small compensation that we have the benefit of a second Ashes series in this unique cricketing year, which affords us further time to work on the game and get it right for the return leg. We are confident that the time between now and the second Ashes series will be enough to add the final polish we believe the game needs.”
Cricket fan or not, you have to respect a game team that — especially in these dire times for gaming — is willing to sacrifice an almost certainly more profitable released and marketing campaign for overall game quality.
