Arma 3 delayed after "an eventful year"

Bohemia Interactive have today announced that they will be postponing the release of Arma 3 after what they, as kings of understatement, describe as "an eventful year".

They are, of course, referring to the arrest and detainment of Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar, Bohemia employees who were charged on suspicion of espionage while on holiday in Greece.

Joris-Jan van't Land, who recently took over as Arma 3's project lead, said in a press release, "We've been in the process of implementing changes that will help us innovate as a studio under unexpected circumstances - facing problems we simply couldn't have imagined.”

"We're still trying to make sense of the situation and hope that our colleagues will be released soon. Although their plight has certainly affected us on a personal level, we continue working on the tasks identified as key to the release of Arma 3."

The studio had planned to enter closed beta with Arma 3 this month, but are now pursuing an unspecified "2013" date. They expect to make a more complete statement at the beginning of next year.

Last week, the lawyer representing Ivan and Martin filed a second appeal , which is due to be processed in the new year. You can keep up with the community's efforts to support the pair at the website helpivanmartin.org , which includes a recently released Arma machinima film explaining the situation.

Thanks, PCGamesN .

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.