Overkill's Walking Dead shooter is delayed at least a year

The Walking Dead shooter that Overkill and Starbreeze Studios announced last year will be delayed into the second half of 2017, Starbreeze announced on Thursday.

The Walking Dead (as it is now titled) was originally given a release window in the run-up to E3 2015. Starbreeze tucked the news of the delay inside the announcement that the Korean publisher Smilegate, maker of Asia's hit shooter CrossFire, had bought a $40 million stake in the company.

The delay is apparently attributable to the launch, via Smilegate, of The Walking Dead in Asian markets. Starbreeze said that The Walking Dead "will be expanded with more content" and that an Asian version will be developed to launch simultaneously.

The Walking Dead is being published in North America by 505 Games and will launch on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One. Skybound, the company that owns and manages The Walking Dead's license, consented to the delay as well.

The Walking Dead has seen two critically acclaimed seasons as a narrative video game developed by Telltale Games. An earlier FPS, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct by Terminal Reality and Activision, was a critical flop when it launched in 2013.

As part of the arrangement with Smilegate, Starbreeze will develop a western edition of CrossFire. That has been the leading shooter in Asia for some time but has seen recent competition from a free-to-play Call of Duty that launched in China last year.

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