Nine Dots Studio has announced that Outward 2 will no longer launch into Early Access on July 7th, with the game now targeting a 2027 release date. The news comes from a community memo, addressing feedback from the recent Outward 2 playtest.
Outward 2 EA release date delayed to 2027
CEO and Creative Director Guillaume Boucher-Vidal broke the news in a candid message to the community, acknowledging the timing is painful given the game’s summer release date had been publicly promoted.
“Dropping this news is especially painful, knowing that some of our most dedicated players actually planned their summer break around the release date,” he said. “It sucks for you, and I personally apologize to everyone affected this way.“
Boucher-Vidal was upfront about the reasoning, saying the studio took a hard look at the game and concluded it wasn’t at the standard needed to charge money for. He pointed to player feedback from recent playtests as a key factor, noting that a significant portion of comments called for more development time before launch. “The point of a playtest is to listen to feedback, and so we will,” he said.
The delay is framed as a quality call rather than a crisis. Boucher-Vidal stating the studio’s aim is for there to be a stark jump in quality between the current playtest build and whatever eventually hits Early Access. “We want you to be happy to be there again for Outward 2,” he added.
It’s worth noting that, as it wasn’t just a sudden realisation something was heavily wrong, but wanted to merely launch Early Access with a much better footing than what would otherwise be on offer.
The first Outward built its fanbase largely on goodwill and word of mouth, and it seems like the studio is prioritizing that relationship over hitting a summer window.
It’s also important to acknowledge that Early Access games often represent significant spikes in player interest, and if the version they were going to launch wasn’t optimal, it could damage the game’s potential launch later. This is further amplified by EA requiring players to give even more feedback, aiming to make the game better than whatever the beta players have flagged to the devs.
Authored by
Craig Robinson
Craig Robinson is an experienced gaming and esports writer with nearly a decade of coverage experience since 2015. With a background in software engineering, he combines his journalistic expertise with a strong understanding of technical SEO and web development fundamentals. He’s passionate about covering MMO games, competitive esports, and crafting guides that help players get the most out of their favorite titles.
He's been writing about gaming and esports for over 10 years, which started as for fun project during university. He has since developed his skill set, contributing to newsrooms coverage of key games and event, and blending evergreen content strategy and a solid grasp of content marketing fundamentals. His work has appeared in Esports News UK, Gamer Guides, theEscpaist, and VideoGamer, and he now contributes to Gamehub's review team. When he’s not writing, Craig can usually be found running, at the gym, or tinkering with coding projects to keep his GitHub active.
