Ship Date Delay

TrentOster

Dear Friends of Baldur’s Gate,

When we first announced Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, you set fire to our servers and we were overwhelmed by the huge wave of support from the fans of the original game.

Once the fires had subsided, thousands of you posted suggestions and requests on our forums. Dozens of volunteers from all over the world helped us improve game play, squash bugs, and generally fine-tune the game. Even more came to help work on translations from English to more than 16 other languages.

Executing on our plan to make the best Baldur’s Gate possible and responding to that overwhelming feedback, we’ve added new characters, areas, and story, creating many new hours of game play. Yet the suggestions, fixes, and translations continue, and more volunteers keep joining.

After recently reviewing the game and then consulting with our partners, we've decided to ensure that Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is the best possible product on launch. Thus, we have pushed back the release date of the game. Our plan is to release in November, 2012.

To all who have pre-ordered, we ask for your patience as we move toward our final release date -- and we will be working on something a little extra for you. To all who have volunteered, we thank you for your dedication and support.

-Trent
Trent Oster
President, Overhaul Games

Brude

Ouch.

Tetraploid

Very sad not to be getting the game next week, but I understand wanting it to be a good as possible. Good luck doing so!

Jean_Luc

Hah, can't say I'm surprised. C'est la vie. Looking forward to the reiterated UI.

It's actually a good thing, I noticed you were struggling to get everything done yet I thought the Contract Lords would force you to meet the deadline anyway.

Kholdstare

I am now very sad.

Vonbek777

Wow, seriously you waited this long to announce something you had to be aware of before now. A little more communication would better build the bridges of trust with the community.

cloakanddagger

You're all boffleheaded

Bercon

Painful, but a good choice. You can't change the first impressions afterwards.

HeroicSpur

100% Agree, this is the right decision. It's far better to postpone release and make sure BG:EE lives up to its legacy than risk a repeat of some of the disasters we've seen recently (stronghold 3, sword of the stars 2 etc). We should applaud Trent and the rest of the Beamdog staff for having the courage to postpone release (and learn from the mistakes of others) in the interests of the game and us, rather than releasing a shoddy product which doesn't do justice to BG.

I'm sure there will be people who will be/are disappointed, but quality takes time.

Lock

Important thing is that it's great when it's released.

cloakanddagger

Our quest is vain!

bobsageek

Not a problem, ship when it's ready.

shadowstriker85

Would rather get the game when its ready than right away. Plus I'm getting it for Android, so I wasn't expecting it this month anyway.

Tanthalas

@Vonbek777

Its not something as simple as that.

I'm sure they honestly were trying their best to make the 18th September deadline. When it simply became obvious that they wouldn't make it they still needed to talk to all parties involved before they could publicly announce it.

Its bad that the game had to be delayed, but it was for the best.

sepotter

Ouch. Well, keep us updated.

Jaxsbudgie

roflcopters - expected as much - lmaonaise - more time to play Borderlands now - lolcanoe

Shin

When was this decision made, today?
Still, I agree it's better to delay than release something that isn't ready.

Brude

Vonbek777 said:

Wow, seriously you waited this long to announce something you had to be aware of before now. A little more communication would better build the bridges of trust with the community.

I agree that announcing this right before the original ship date is weak, but then again the delay isn't surprising. Simultaneously launching a game on three platforms was enormously ambitious for what is, presumably, a small studio.

All that said, having been a developer and experienced crunch times, I feel sorry for their devs. They must be damn near fried by now.

cloakanddagger

I have no patience for this, things stir to the south as we speak!

Bhryaen

Vonbek777 said:

Wow, seriously you waited this long to announce something you had to be aware of before now. A little more communication would better build the bridges of trust with the community.

Note that anything the devs do publicly involves a negotiation with the Oversight Committee (i.e., the several others in the contractual agreement). That is why there have been so many delays, even on such simple matters as this...

As General Dreedle would say in "Catch-22:" "All part of the contract!"

Tanthalas

@Shin

They had to talk about it with their other partners in the project, so I'm sure it was decided a while ago, not today.

Malban

Though I've been eagerly awaiting the release I fully support a delay to ensure the game ships as it should; I appreciate the dedication to quality. That said, could we get a little something (screens, manual, new NPC stats) to tide us over?

Dee

I agree as well. It's unfortunate that the announcement couldn't be made sooner, but it's also understandable considering that any change in the plans has to go through an approval process (including a change in the release date).

I'm glad that the team has decided to go this route; I would have been very unhappy if the release of such a great game were sullied by a poorly executed release version. We've been saying pretty much since the beginning that we're willing to wait as long as it takes to make sure the game is done right. It's nice to hear that the developers were listening.

sirthaddaeus

Sucks not getting it next week. Sucks it being pushed back that far. Sucks they waited to last minute to announce a push back especially of that length.

But I am patient and look forward to seeing you guys putting out the best product.

ramagons

oh well. better than shipping a product you aren't 100% confident with.

Cuv

I am behind them 100% on this!!!

Jaxsbudgie

Actually, think of all the games that could have benefited from this treatment. At least now we won't be able to complain that they should have spent more time on it

mch202

I know its the right decision and a tough call, A lot of players already said that they prefer to wait ever more for a more polished product.

Unfortunately, for me it means that I wont play Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition until next August :-p

I just wish that there will be more updates about BG:EE, all of this silence and lake of updates is killing me!

Knettgummi

Thank goodness! With that distraction out of the way, there might actually be hope for me turning in my master's thesis on time.

Edit: now I just need someone to sabotage those Torchlight 2-guys...

EnialusMeliamne

I'm good with this. Not only does it ensure a better finished product, itOffers more time for modders to make updated and compatible imports too, I'd imagine. I was pretty stoked for next week, BUT I'll use the time to finish my pally run through on BGII (heavily modded of course). Either way, I'm patient enough to wait without griping.

Vonbek777

Tanthalas said:

@Vonbek777

Its not something as simple as that.

I'm sure they honestly were trying their best to make the 18th September deadline. When it simply became obvious that they wouldn't make it they still needed to talk to all parties involved before they could publicly announce it.

Its bad that the game had to be delayed, but it was for the best.

I'm not questioning the work ethic, just the communication. I will gladly wait the extra months for a better game and distribution process, but communication, especially with the pre-order crowd is essential IMHO. This isn't a two week delay due to boxes not being ready...