Crackdown 3 Delayed Until 2019

A title that seems to attract trouble, Crackdown 3, has once again been delayed. The Xbox exclusive will now release sometime in 2019, according to two sources contacted by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier.

First announced at Microsoft’s E3 2014 press conference, the title was slated for a 2016 release. That date fell through, and the new release date became November 7th, 2017; which, in turn, was further pushed back to an unspecified point in 2018. Now, with another delay on the horizon, Xbox fans don’t have very much to look forward to for the rest of the year and Microsoft’s remarkably weak exclusive lineup has been further damaged by this delay. Sea of Thieves, an Xbox exclusive, was meant to reassert the Xbox console as a major player in the world of exclusives, however it released to middling reviews and poor player feedback. Whilst State of Decay 2 had a decent, if understated, launch, the rest of the year is looking less-than-ideal for the Xbox console.

An ambitious game, Crackdown 3 is said to feature a vibrant open world and an extensive destruction system. Since the title’s announcement in 2014, fans have been looking for a proper successor to the original Crackdown game, which originally launched on the Xbox 360 in early 2007. 2010’s Crackdown 2 debuted to mixed reviews, with many critics bemoaning the narrative and the repetitive nature of the gameplay. Now, fans have put their hopes on this title; yet the cascading delays, coupled with rumored management troubles behind-the-scenes, has led to scepticism on the part of the community, which culminated in a poorly received, divisive campaign trailer at E3 2017.

Further trouble for Microsoft’s exclusives lineup is certainly unwelcome news. The company has already cancelled several highly anticipated Xbox-exclusive games (Phantom Dust, Scalebound) and they have not shown themselves to be capable of filling in these gaps. Crackdown 3’s delay is another bad omen for the company, one that allows their chief competitor, Sony, to strengthen its grip over the console market.