Mighty No. 9 Delayed to 2016

Keiji Inafune's spiritual successor to the Mega Man series, Mighty No. 9, has been officially delayed to 2016.

Comcept has revealed on the Kickstarter page for Mighty No. 9 that the game's release has been delayed to sometime early next year. Unfortunately, Beck will be missing his Sept. 15 release date, having been delayed already earlier this year. This delay arises amidst a recent controversy surrounding the Kickstarter campaign of Red Ash, Comcept's spiritual successor to Mega Man Legends. Comcept recently announced Red Ash will be published and funded by Fuze after the game was nowhere close to finishing its $800K Kickstarter campaign. Many fans felt lied to, having added to the game's funds thinking that this Kickstarter page would make or break the game's development. Mighty No. 9 is one of the highest-funded Kickstarter games of all time, and it's a shame to see such a rocky road it has had.

Here's what Comcept's team had to say about this delay:

We have an important announcement to share with our backers.

Although we understand that everyone was looking forward to playing Mighty No. 9 as soon as possible, a release delay is going to be announced for the game at Gamescom 2015, which is currently being held in Cologne, Germany.

This is a project that would not have existed without the support of our backers, so we at least wanted to deliver this news to our backers before it is officially announced. We are unable to confirm a final release date at this time, however we will be aiming for a release in Q1 2016. Once a solid release date is set, we will announce it immediately to our backers and fans.

Of course, it is important to explain why exactly the game is being delayed. As we have communicated in the updates to our backers, all of the core content for the game is developed and in a complete state. However, there are still bugs and issues pertaining to the online features that are included in the game. These bugs and issues have a direct affect on enjoyment of the game, so a decision was made to work these issues out before release.

Currently, comcept and their partners are working at full capacity to resolve these issues and fix any remaining bugs. In addition, we have received quite a few requests for additional information regarding the various platforms that are part of the platform survey we have sent out. We have also only managed to receive around half of the total responses needed for the survey.

Considering the fact that the game’s release has been delayed, we are planning to open another platform survey once a final release date has been settled upon.

We will continue to deliver the most up-to-date info to our backers and fans through our forum updates, so please keep an eye out!

We appreciate your support and patience regarding this matter, and look forward to delivering Mighty No. 9 to our backers and fans in the best state possible.

- The Mighty No. 9 Team

Mighty No. 9 producer Nick Yu explained to Kotaku why the delay was first revealed to retailers first and not the fans:

The delay was decided about a week ago. We (all partners) all made the decision together. The decision required discussion since we needed to consider the possibility of releasing the game on time but with some bugs still inside. However, doing that would not only damage the game itself, but most importantly damage the actual gaming experiences of our backers and fans. The reason we waited until Gamescom to announce the delay is simply that it took time to weigh the options and make a final decision. There was a rumor already out there, but I can assure you that backers received the news of a definite delay (100% confirmed by us) before anyone else. I gave the go-ahead to Josh to post the update before the very first interview we had during first day or Gamescom (today).

Mighty No. 9 was originally scheduled to launch this past April and was delayed to a Sept. 15 release. Now, Beck and his buddies will debut in Q1 2016 and is still expected to launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PS Vita, Nintendo 3DS and PC.

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