The publisher of Two Worlds II says that it chose to delay the game into next year for additional development, but the developer says that the game is already done.
Earlier this month, SouthPeak Games abruptly delayed the release of Two Worlds II. The publisher claimed that it wanted the game to be “absolutely flawless” upon launch (as opposed to the absolutely flawed Two Worlds), indicating that SouthPeak felt there was still work to be done on the title.
The people actually working on the title, on the other hand, don’t agree. Oh, that’s not to say that they don’t agree with the delay – they just don’t think that SouthPeak’s stated reason was the right one.
Development on Two Worlds II was absolutely finished, a representative of TopWare Interactive told GameSpot, and the decision to delay the game came from concerns that it would be overshadowed in a crowded holiday season. “Truth be told, fans only have so much time to spend playing these content-rich games, and there were concerns our title could potentially be lost in the fanfare,” said the studio’s managing director James Seaman.
“Our publishing partner SouthPeak, to their credit, has acknowledged this fact and made an adjustment, postponing their launch of Two Worlds II into early 2011.” However, everything on the development side, said Seaman, had been finished – production, bug testing, localization and the like. The European launch of the game (planned for late October) and the North American launch (now planned for next year) would be virtually identical with the exception of any patches added to the game after its European release, he said.
So, in other words, either SouthPeak was lying, or there is a severe communications breakdown somewhere along the line here. Either way, this is embarrassing for somebody – if you’re going to lie, folks, make sure you get your story straight with everybody involved first.
