Announcing Crackdown 3 at E3 2014 was a mistake, admits Microsoft

Crackdown 3 was announced at E3 2014. Since then, it’s been delayed several times. The first saw its release pushed back from 2016 to 2017. And now it’s been pushed back to 2018. “I think we probably announced Crackdown too early,” Shannon Loftis, Microsoft Studios Publishing’s general manager admits.

I think that might be an understatement.

The game’s trio of modes and developers needed more time, explained Loftis in an interview with Polygon, which resulted in the latest delay. The experience needed to be better, and that was more important than rushing it out.

“We definitely underestimated the challenge of making sure the quality bar of all three of those modes was high and it delivers on what we need to deliver on,” she said. “So we had to take the extra time, [and] make sure that we’re delivering the game the Crackdown fans want. It was a super hard decision to do that, and it was made harder because we announced the game.”

Going forward, Microsoft won’t be making as many announcements, though Loftis is quick to point out that this doesn’t mean that there aren’t things in development right now.

“I think in the past we have made the mistake of announcing some exclusives a little bit too early,” she said. “We’re trying to learn from that mistake and do better, so we have a bit that’s in development now that we’re not talking about. We’re in this for the long haul, and we wanna make sure that not just in the spring of 2018, but in the summer, and in the fall, and the spring of 2019 that we’ll have great, unique, fun experiences for Xbox gamers.”

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.