Confirmed: Mighty No. 9 Delayed to 2016

It’s not been a very good week for Comcept: first, the Red Ash Kickstarter bombed, and now the other shoe has dropped, bringing resolution to a rumor which has been going on for the last several days.

Via their official forums, Comcept has announced that Mighty No. 9 has indeed been delayed from its original September 15th, 2015 launch to sometime in the first quarter of 2016. Those who have been following the game might recall that the original release date was scheduled for Spring of 2015 before being quietly delayed in the wake of a retail publishing deal struck with Deep Silver.

The reason for the delay? “Bugs and issues” related to the game’s online features.

Comcept has stated that they will be making the official announcement at Gamescom 2015 in Cologne, Germany, but chose to relay it exclusively to backers (not that such a thing would remain exclusive) via their forum, where they posted the following message:

We have an important announcement to share with our backers.

Although we understand that everyone was looking forward to playing Mighty No. 9 as soon as possible, a release delay is going to be announced for the game at Gamescom 2015, which is currently being held in Cologne, Germany.

This is a project that would not have existed without the support of our backers, so we at least wanted to deliver this news to our backers before it is officially announced.

We are unable to confirm a final release date at this time, however we will be aiming for a release in Q1 2016. Once a solid release date is set, we will announce it immediately to our backers and fans.

Of course, it is important to explain why exactly the game is being delayed. As we have communicated in the updates to our backers, all of the core content for the game is developed and in a complete state. However, there are still bugs and issues pertaining to the online features that are included in the game. These bugs and issues have a direct affect on enjoyment of the game, so a decision was made to work these issues out before release.

Currently, comcept and their partners are working at full capacity to resolve these issues
and fix any remaining bugs.

In addition, we have received quite a few requests for additional information regarding the various platforms that are part of the platform survey we have sent out.

We have also only managed to receive around half of the total responses needed for the survey.

Considering the fact that the game’s release has been delayed, we are planning to open another platform survey once a final release date has been settled upon.

We will continue to deliver the most up-to-date info to our backers and fans through our forum updates, so please keep an eye out!

We appreciate your support and patience regarding this matter, and look forward to delivering Mighty No. 9 to our backers and fans in the best state possible.

– The Mighty No. 9 Team

Further down, Josh from Comcept adds the following:

As I know, some members have been disappointed regarding the silence on the MN9 forums, and I apologize that I haven’t been around to help clear up some of the confusion. As some of you may have noticed, I was helping with the running of the Red Ash KS as AP so a lot of my time was taken up with that. 

I know that a lot of backers have some apprehension about the fact that there was silence leading up to this announcement among a lot of rumors.

The reason why we are only talking about this now, is that Inafune-san felt it was important for fans to hear the message directly from him as he is the project lead and he feels responsible for the delay.

Gamescom 2015 was an opportunity to not only do that, but also give official word to the media so as to try to cut down on any miscommunication or misunderstandings.

Unfortunately, there were a few mixups that caused rumors to start spreading.

We are truly sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Suffice to say, this is disappointing news. What’s more, it would seem those who speculated that Comcept was holding off on such an announcement until after the Red Ash Kickstarter had concluded (though not to retailers, apparently) will appear vindicated by this turn of events.

On the bright side, at least we know that they aren’t rushing out a buggy or incomplete game — doing so would unquestionably rain down even more unfavorable publicity on the company, and that’s something they can ill afford at this juncture as faith already seems to be wavering.

As always, discussion is welcome in the comments below.

News credit: Get Me Off The Moon

LBD "Nytetrayn"

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

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