2021 May Face More Issues Than 2020 Due to COVID-19
According to executive vice-president of Gaming at Microsoft Phil Spencer, gaming may face broader issues in 2021 from the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the fact that motion capture has been halted completely during the pandemic, games that haven’t had any mocap done will be held up and Spencer suggests that most of these titles were planned for 2021. Apparently next-gen consoles are still on track to release during the holiday season and 2020 games have been hit with minor delays, but 2021 games will be more heavily impacted according to Spencer. Xbox Game Pass is available across PC and Xbox One, with a next-gen version bringing plenty of games to day one Xbox Series X adopters.
“Mocap is just something that’s basically stopped. We’re not going into mocap studios,” said Phil Spencer. “If you had all your animation captured and you’re doing touch up in more individual art production and in areas like textures and other things, you’re in a better position. If you’re waiting for a lot of either large audio work, when it’s with symphonies and other things, or mocap, you’re held up right now and you’re making progress in areas that you are.”
Several games have been delayed in 2020, with The Last of Us Part II being delayed by about a month and Iron Man VR receiving a similar delay. Most games that were on track to release in 2020 are still making progress, with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla seemingly well underway to accompany the release of next-gen consoles. If Phil Spencer is to be believed, many titles expected to release in 2021, especially ones without motion capture footage, will receive broader delays than titles that were already in the works when developers started working from home.
What 2021 games do you hope aren’t impacted by delays? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Gaming Bolt