The last three years has perhaps seen the most delays in the entire entertainment industry as a whole. Movies, TV shows, and video games, all had to take a pause due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and ensuing lockdown. However, while the pandemic is thankfully behind us, many are still feeling the after effects of it. Primarily among these are indie game developers, many of whom had to delay projects multiple times – and that's the best case scenario.
Endnight Games is one such dev that had to delay its upcoming game, Sons of the Forest, first to October 2022, then to February 2023 – which we're currently in. However, it seems that the developers still want to make tweaks to the game, which would usually mean another delay. But Endnight is tired of constantly pushing the game back, and has opted for another approach – getting the community involved. Sons of the Forest will still release on February 23, but in Early Access, so as to avoid another delay.
"It’s been a long journey since we first started ‘Sons of The Forest’ development and it’s grown into the biggest most complex game we have ever made," said Endnight via a statement on Steam. "There is still so much more we want to add; items, new mechanics, gameplay balance and more. We didn’t want to delay again so have instead decided to involve the community in the continued development of this project and keep our February 23rd release date but instead release in Early Access.
"The Forest turned out to be a massive success, due mostly to the awesome community and the suggestions, feedback, and bug reports the players shared with us," continued the statement. "We are really excited and hope that players want to come on this new journey with us to make this the ultimate survival horror simulator."
The announcement trailer for Sons of the Forest came out all the way back in 2019, as the game was announced at Game Awards. Unfortunately, the pandemic was just around the corner, and surely contributed – at least in part – to the game's multiple delays.