As 2022 slowly draws to a close, we’ve seen many awards ceremonies where we’ve looked back at the best games that have arrived in the past 12 months. And really, during 2022, there were a lot of important titles, some expected and some not, in what seemed like a perfectly well-rounded gaming year. And what about unfulfilled expectations?
Top 8 2022 Games Delayed to 2023
Check the list below for the top 8 games we were supposed to get in 2022 but were pushed to 2023 (or beyond).
8. Hogwarts Legacy
The first footage for this Harry Potter simulator was leaked back in 2018, but the game would be officially announced at the PlayStation 5 event in 2020. Since then, the game has been delayed twice, and the last release window was “during 2022.”
Although we’ve seen many new trailers and gotten to know the game a little better in 2022, Hogwarts Legacy isn’t arriving until February 10, 2023.
7. Forspoken
Square Enix’s strange side-project, Forspoken, was initially supposed to materialize as early as May 24, 2022, only to be pushed back to October 11, 2022. After the release date of the new God of War Ragnarok was revealed, Forspoken was immediately pushed back even more, this time to January 24th, 2023.
If nothing else, we recently got a massive free demo for the title that has convinced some that this game is worth the wait.
6. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
Remember E3 2021? Yeah, it actually happened, as an online event. There, we saw the trailer for Ubisoft’s Avatar game, which was announced for July 2022 – a month before the original Avatar hit theaters again. Well, the release didn’t happen, and now this standalone story from the Avatar universe in the game format is coming sometime in 2023, or maybe 2024.
After the recent premiere of the second Avatar movie, The Way of Water, maybe this delay was not a wrong strategic move. Hopefully, it comes out before the third movie.
5. Redfall
It seems like everything announced at E3 2021 for 2022 is getting pushed into 2023. We didn’t know much about the next Arkane Studios title Redfall, but we got to see a little bit of the gameplay during this year and got the news on May 12 that the game is being delayed until the first half of 2023.
It’s an interesting take on the FPS co-op game with a diverse cast – it might be called a vampire shooter for zoomers.
4. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake
This one is delayed so much that we don’t blame you if you can’t even remember that it was supposed to be released in 2022. Earlier in November, Ubisoft had to confirm that The Sand of Time Remake is actually still in development, reassuring fans that the game is not canceled – but at the same time, closed pre-orders and offered refunds. Yikes!
3. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Initially announced in August 2020, Rocksteady Studios’ new Suicide Squad game set in the “Arkhamverse” was supposed to arrive in 2022, but back in March, it was announced that this DC anti-hero title would be pushed to early 2023.
Recently at The Game Awards 2022 event, we got a new trailer, the exact release date of May 26, 2023, and the heartwarming fact that Kevin Conroy voices Batman in the game.
2. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
And here is another unfulfilled promise made at E3 2021. Formerly known as Breath of the Wild 2, the sequel to the mega-popular open-world Zelda game was supposed to be released in 2022.
But this year, instead of a game whose name we didn’t even know until September 2022, we got a new trailer, a name reveal, and a release date for the next year: May 12, 2023.
1. Starfield
Was there anyone who really believed in that 11/11/22 release date? Bethesda announced this date in a short teaser trailer at E3 2021, of course, and since then, the game has been delayed until the first half of 2023.
In 2022. we at least got to see the game in action with the first-ever in-depth gameplay presentation. Starfield seems ambitious; it is certainly much more than just a reskinned Fallout/Skyrim in space. Now it remains to be seen whether the game announced as the biggest release of 2022 will be the biggest release of 2023. We’ll just have to wait and see and… trust Todd Howard.
Those were some of the biggest games that we were supposed to get this year, according to the promises from E3 2021 and previous events, but we didn’t. Nothing guarantees that all games from this list will arrive in 2023, but that’s the nature of our industry – get hyped, and let’s hope for the best. Cheers!
For more 2022 recaps here on Prima Games, check out Prima Games’ GOTY 2022: Truly, These are Games of the Year.
