Warhammer 40,000: Darktide will delay the release of its Xbox version as well as the planned seasonal content indefinitely, according to developer Fatshark.
The Warhammer 40K tabletop miniatures franchise has been enjoying a streak of successful adaptations to other media. In 2022, it had a successful tie-in with Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering as a Secret Lair standalone, as well as a series of video games set in its universe. Darktide was one of these, but it has also been plagued with issues since its announcement in 2020.
In an open letter posted on social media, CEO and Co-Founder Martin Wahlund of the game’s developer Fatshark explained the reasoning for the extended delays:
— Warhammer 40K: Darktide (@Darktide40K) January 24, 2023
We take enormous pride in our ability at Fatshark to deliver a game that millions can enjoy[…] to create a highly engaging and stable game with a level of depth that keeps you playing for weeks, not hours.
We fell short of meeting those expectations. Over the next few months, our sole focus is to address the feedback that many of you have. In particular, we will focus on delivering a complete crafting system, a more rewarding progression loop, and continue to work on game stability and performance optimization.
The second half of the open letter confirmed that the seasonal content and the release for the Xbox series X|S consoles would also be postponed to a later date:
This also means that we will delay our seasonal content rollout and the Xbox Series X/S launch. We will also suspend the upcoming releases of premium cosmetics.
The rest of the open letter thanked the Warhammer 40K: Darktide player base for their feedback and support of the game.
So how long will the delays be? Unfortunately, Fatshark did not give a clear answer. Thus, for the interim, players of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide will be looking at an indefinite delay of the aforementioned content and rollout for the Xbox consoles.
It should be noted that this is not the first time that Warhammer 40K: Darktide has suffered delays. After it was announced in 2020, the original release date was to be sometime in 2021. However, this was pushed back to a tentative spring 2022 release. But even this was pushed further to September 2022, before the final actual release in November.
With that said, the Darktide player base are generally willing to accept the delays, mainly due to the many issues plaguing the game.
As of the time of this writing, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has received over 53 thousand Mixed reviews (with the most recent being Mostly Negative) on its Steam page. Although hailed for its impressive graphics, immersive audio and music, and well-balanced combat, Warhammer 40K: Darktide is also criticized for its ridiculously low chance of upgrading and incomplete crafting mechanics. The rewards system has also received criticisms for being largely unsatisfying.
Based on the popular Warhammer 40K setting from Games Workshop, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is currently available for play on Windows PC.
