The Settlers Has Been Indefinitely Delayed Again

Just days before it was meant to launch, Ubisoft has delayed The Settlers to an indefinite date. According to developer Ubisoft Dusseldorf, the feedback received from January's closed beta prompted the studio to delay its plans to release The Settlers on March 17.

"As we went through this feedback, it became clear to our team that the quality wasn't yet in line with the team's vision," the studio wrote. "Therefore, we took the decision to postpone the launch of the game to a later date. The additional time will be used to further improve the game and push quality as our main priority for all our players."

First announced in August 2018 and aiming for a 2019 release, details surrounding development on the city-building strategy game have been kept under wraps for years now. This marks the third time that The Settlers has been delayed, and the second time that it was slapped with an indefinite release date. Based on the decades-old franchise, this new incarnation of The Settlers is being developed on Ubisoft's Snowdrop engine, the same software that powers games such as The Division 2 and the upcoming Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

The last game in the core series was The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom, which was released all the way back in 2010. Three DLC packs were added to the game over several months--Uncharted Land, Conquest: The Empire, and Rise of the Rebellion--with everything eventually being bundled into a deluxe edition in 2011.

Afterward, The Settlers: Kingdoms of Anteria was scheduled for release in 2014 but Ubisoft and developer Blue Byte pulled the plug on the original version of that game after receiving negative reception from the closed beta. That title would eventually be redesigned into an action-RPG that was released in 2016 as the standalone Champions of Anteria.

The Settlers is currently available for preorder with two available versions, a $60 standard edition or an $80 deluxe edition. The deluxe edition includes a digital artbook, soundtrack, in-game item skins, a 3-day Shard Booster, a unique title, and more.