The Rogue Prince of Persia Delayed to Avoid Hades 2 Competition

ign.com:

Upcoming 2D roguelite The Rogue Prince of Persia has been delayed from its May 14, 2024 release date to avoid competition with Hades 2, which was released into Steam Early Access on May 6.

Developer Evil Empire announced the delay on X/Twitter but assured it wouldn't push the game too far. Though it won't reveal an exact release date until May 13, Evil Empire said it would still be in May 2024.

"Seeing as everyone and their mum is playing [Hades 2] (including out entire team and their mums), we have decided to let people have their fun with it before we release The Rogue Prince of Persia," the developer said.

"While we have every confidence in The Rogue Prince of Persia, it's not every day that a game in the same genre as you, which is one of the most anticipated upcoming games of 2024, will release into Early Access a week before you plan to do the same.

"We are not prideful enough to ignore the implications of that, and we truly believe that this short delay is the best decision for us and our Early Access journey."

Evil Empire said it would keep polishing the game in the meantime by adding "more cool things" and removing bugs, but said it understands the delay is still frustrating. "We can only hold our hands up, apologise, and hope you understand," the developer said. "It will be worth the wait."

Hades 2 is certainly proving popular on Steam despite only being in Early Access, having doubled the original game's concurrent player count in a single day. As a sequel to the critically acclaimed Greek mythology themed roguelite, Hades 2 returns players to that world as they meet legendary figures like Odysseus, Nemesis, and Dora through a blend of storytelling, action gameplay, and dungeon crawling.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.