Maybe it was to be expected at this point, but nonetheless, The Wonderful 101: Remastered’s retail release and shipments of its backer rewards have been delayed.
Developer PlatinumGames notified its Kickstarter backers of the delays on Thursday, citing the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on production and distribution as the cause. Physical copies are now set to release on June 30 in the US and July 3 in Europe. However, backers who paid for tiers that included a physical version of the game were warned that they might have to wait even longer depending on the state of shipping and distribution in their area.
Digital codes, meanwhile, will start going out to their respective backers beginning May 7. And as an apology for the delay, PlatinumGames is offering physical version backers a Steam key for the game in an effort to still have them playing at the same time as everyone else.
The coronavirus has impacted nearly every aspect of the video game industry, causing studios to work from home, games to be delayed, and public events to be either postponed or canceled outright. The altered launch of The Wonderful 101: Remastered is just the latest to be added to that list.
Originally released in 2013 for Nintendo’s beleaguered Wii U console, The Wonderful 101 was (and in many ways still is) a unique action game that let players control a whole team of superheroes all at once. The game struggled to sell, but had no problems becoming a cult classic thanks to its endearing charm and creativity.
The Kickstarter campaign for a remaster, launched at the beginning of February, was a means of giving the game another chance on modern platforms and for PlatinumGames to take its first shot at self-publishing. It was a massive success, raising more than $2 million to fund Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Steam versions, along with the development of two new epilogue side-scrolling missions.
The Wonderful 101: Remastered was initially set for a May release in North America and Europe (June in Japan), which it will technically still make with digital copies, albeit in a much more staggered fashion and certainly not in a way anyone was expecting just a couple of months ago.
The post Coronavirus Delays The Wonderful 101: Remastered’s Retail Release, Backer Rewards by Nick Tricome appeared first on DualShockers.