While the rumors of Horizon Forbidden West being delayed until 2022 have been making the rounds for the past few months, it seems that it has come to light. Bloomberg is currently reporting that the title has been delayed to Q1 2022 and has stated that this has come directly from PlayStation. While I can believe that the game has been delayed as there has yet to be a release date and a 2021 release period was up in the air, PlayStation has yet to confirm this officially. As of now, there has been no announcement via PlayStation’s official Twitter page nor via the PlayStation blog.
Not seeing or hearing any mention of the title during the recent PlayStation State of Play has confirmed what many had feared; that the game wasn’t far enough along, as we were lead to believe. This also confirms the rumor from GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb, who had mentioned that he believes that Horizon Forbidden West, which may have originally had a September 2021 release window, would be pushed back to 2022.
However, PlayStation Studios’ own Hermen Hulst mentioned that while he believed that Horizon Forbidden West was on track to release this Holiday 2021, it wasn’t completely certain.
Interestingly enough, if the rumor is correct, I can’t confirm that Sony has yet to announce the delay officially. This could likely put Horizon Forbbiden West around the same release window as the upcoming Fromsoftware title, Elden Ring.
I’m sure that this will be both a disappointment and an exercise in frustration as this is yet another pS5 exclusive that has been delayed. Still, I would rather it be delayed than have it not come out as the developers fully intend the game to be. There’s way more than enough of that happening as it is. Hopefully, if this is actually being delayed, and I believe it will be, PlayStation spills the beans already.