Ubisoft announced plans to delay three upcoming games today: Far Cry 5, which had been slated to come out on February 27, 2018, has been pushed back to March 27; The Crew 2, slated for March 16, 2018, is now expected to be ready sometime between April and September; and an "unannounced franchise game" that had been planned for release in the company's 2018-19 fiscal year is now set for 2019-20.
"Our vision for The Crew 2 has always been ambitious; to really surprise players by pushing the boundaries of the open-world racing genre to the limit. The feedback we’ve received so far from fans and press alike has been hugely encouraging, and we’re grateful beyond words for your continued trust and support," the Crew 2 team said in its delay announcement.
"In order to truly stand by our promise, we have made the difficult decision to delay the release date to between April/September 2018. While we’re excited to share the joys of Motornation with you as soon as possible, we don’t want to do so before the game is ready."
Far Cry 5 doesn't currently have such a verbose delay message of its own, but an update on the Ubiblog says that "the extra time will allow the team at Ubisoft Montreal to make some additional improvements that will bring the best, most ambitious Far Cry experience in line with the team’s original vision."
Ubisoft Worldwide Studios Executive Director Christine Burgess-Quémard said the decision to hold back the games was driven in part by the success of Assassin's Creed: Origins, which came after Ubisoft's decision in early 2016 to ease up on annualized sequels.
"Taking more time with Assassin’s Creed: Origins enabled our talented development team to fully express their creative vision. As expected, this had a very positive impact on the game’s quality and largely participated to its commercial success," Burgess-Quémard said. "Taking a similar approach, we have decided to invest additional development time in three upcoming games."
Obviously a one-month delay of Far Cry 5 isn't the same as a one-year delay of AC: Origins, but the Crew 2 rescheduling is squishy enough that I wouldn't be surprised to see it go longer, particularly if Ubisoft sees an opening for an "open world dink-around arcade racer" in the 2018 holiday quarter. But regardless of the specifics, I won't complain: I'd rather wait for something good than get a half-assed effort on time.