【Secret Sex Society (2018)】

It's time to check your expectations if you were amped for the May 15 arrival of Marvel's Avengers. It's going to need a little more time.

In a message shared on Secret Sex Society (2018)Tuesday morning, developer Crystal Dynamics confirmed that the heavily hyped game will now be releasing in the fall, on Sept. 4, 2020. The scope of this thing is pretty large, the message says, and the studio needs more time to get it ready.

Here's the full text of the message, which is attributed to Crystal Dynamics co-heads of studio Scot Amos and Ron Rosenberg:

At Crystal Dynamics our ambition has always been to deliver the ultimate Avengers gaming experience. In order to achieve that goal, we have made the difficult decision to move the release date of Marvel’s Avengersto September 4, 2020. As fans ourselves, it’s an honor and a privilege to work with these legendary characters and we know what these Super Heroes mean to us and True Believers around the world. When we set out to bring you our vision for Marvel’s Avengers, we committed to delivering an original story-driven campaign, engaging co-op, and compelling content for years to come. To that end, we will spend this additional development time focusing on fine tuning and polishing the game to the high standards our fans expect and deserve.The worldwide teams working on Marvel’s Avengerssincerely appreciate the support you’ve shown us. We thrive on your enthusiasm and feedback and we can’t wait to show you more.  We apologize for the delay. We’re confident it will be worth the wait.

Make no mistake, this is a good thing. Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind all the most recent iterations of the Tomb Raider series, is hardly new to the challenge of making big "AAA" video games. We know Avengershas big ambitions as a cooperative online game with hooks designed to keep people playing long after the story's credits have rolled.

There's also been a bit of backlash aimed at the game's character designs, which many have characterized as off-putting MCU knock-offs. The message from Crystal Dynamics doesn't say anything about reworking the look of the characters – and in all likelihood, the delay has everythingto do with making the stuff you actually play better – but for anyone who's been concerned about how characters look, the extra development time could bring changes there as well.

It's generally a good thing when a big game like this gets delayed, as it means people behind the scenes made the difficult decision to torpedo existing launch plans in the name of delivering a stronger game. We won't know for sure until Sept. 4, of course, but don't worry: There are plenty of other exciting games to get hype about in the months ahead.