In a rather bizarre marketing decision, publishing partners Southpeak Games and TopWare Interactive have decided to delay their North American launch of their RPG Two Worlds II. The region will only see official launch of the game sometime in January 2011. The EU region will still be receiving the game in October 2010, which means South Africa will likely be receiving it in OCtober as well. Developer Reality Pump will be focusing on creating DLC content during the interim.
The two companies got their lines crossed yesterday when making this information known, with Southpeak first indicating that there were quality assurance issues at play. TopWare was quick to set the record straight however, saying that the game is already finished, and the delay is actually to avoid having Two Worlds II lost in the melee of holiday releases.A strange decision considering that the same argument could be made for the EU region, which will presumably be seeing the same influx of new titles. Perhaps the publishers have done far more market research than little old me however.
North American gamers have indicated that they will import or torrent the game, to which Southpeak responded: “For those that have said that they will torrent or import the game because they simply cannot wait, there’s nothing that we can do to stop you. However, please remember that by pirating the game, you are hurting those who worked hard to make the game for you, reducing the chance of another game in the future.”
Call me a cynic, but somehow I don’t think this plea will be heeded, especially considering that European gamers will be playing the game for three months before their American friends. There is bound to be a certain level of piracy in the North American region, which could well be avoided by a simultaneous release. Still, let’s assume the publishers know what they are doing – we’ll wait and see if they complain that piracy ended all hopes of Two Worlds III.
Sources: Industry Gamers, Gamespot
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