The bad news: Outriders is getting delayed. But to soften the blow, Square Enix and People Can Fly are dropping a demo next month, and any progress made will carry over to the full release. Originally set to release on February 2nd, 2021, the Outriders delay pushes it out to April 1st, 2021, for extra fine tuning and to deliver a “fantastic play experience at launch.”
An important update regarding Outriders. pic.twitter.com/HHZrq5GIik
— Outriders (@Outriders) January 6, 2021
The good news is that people won’t need to wait that long to actually play Outriders for themselves. A free Outriders demo will launch on February 25th, allowing players to play through the first few hours of the game with all four character classes, including both single-player and co-op. The best part about the demo is that all of your progress will carry over to the full game when it releases, so on April 1st, you can pick up right where you left off with no time wasted.
“We believe its important that players get to experience a new IP like Outriders before release,” the statement from People Can Fly said. “So that you can decide for yourselves whether the game is something you wish to preorder, purchase, or play.” The statement also says the migration of character progress from the demo to the full game will be “seamless.”
This is a brilliant way to announce a delay, pairing it with what is essentially a free trial version of the early parts of the game. With other recent releases gaining a lot of notoriety for delays and a lack of transparency, People Can Fly is taking the exact opposite approach, offering players free access to the game more than a month ahead of its full release. This is Outriders‘ second delay. It was first pushed from a late-2020 window to February 2021 last year. At that time, they paired the delay with the announcement of cross-play.
The developer has already detailed many of the systems in Outriders, including the character classes and how the endgame content will work. When it launches on April 1st, 2021, it will be coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Stadia. The free demo should also be available on all platforms.
