Metro Exodus delayed to 2019

The next entry in 4A Games’ Metro series, Metro Exodus, won’t make its previously scheduled fall 2018 release date. THQ Nordic, parent company of Koch Media (which owns Metro publisher Deep Silver), confirmed in an earnings release today that Metro Exodus is now slated to ship in the first quarter of 2019.

“The development of Metro Exodus is progressing well; we are all really excited by what we are seeing,” 4A Games and Deep Silver said in a statement on the game’s website. The companies added, “We want everyone to be able to experience what is the most ambitious Metro game to date at its absolute best and therefore we have taken the decision to move the release date to Q1 2019. We know that this will be disappointing news for fans that had hoped to play the game this year, but also know that you will appreciate the results that this additional development time and new release date will bring.”

4A Games said it plans to spend the next eight or nine months of development focusing on polishing Metro Exodus, which it calls its most ambitious project to date. However, the statement seems to suggest that the developer may also be changing elements of the project based on other recently released games — Deep Silver and 4A said, “We have been constantly reviewing the games progress [sic] to ensure that we deliver a product that gamers and fans of the Metro series want and deserve, as well as keeping an eye on announcements from our competitor products.”

Metro Exodus, which was announced at E3 2017, will send players beyond the confines of post-apocalyptic Moscow on a yearlong, cross-continental journey. Players once again take on the role of Artyom as he and a band of survivors search for a new life in the east; the game will bring the series above ground for a bigger, more open-world experience than the previous entries, 2010’s Metro 2033 and 2013’s Metro: Last Light. Deep Silver and 4A said that they will show “brand new gameplay from a never before seen game environment” in Metro Exodus at E3 2018.

Metro Exodus is bound for PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.