Highlights
- The release of the console version of Phasmophobia has been delayed due to a fire in the game developer's office building.
- The game became extremely popular upon its release in 2020, receiving positive reviews and winning awards.
- Despite the delay, fans are mostly understanding and hopeful for a polished and well-worth-the-wait console release in October 2023.
The long-awaited console release of Phasmophobia has been delayed to October due to a fire in Kinetic Games' office building. These Phasmophobia ports were originally announced in June of this year as a way to expand the game's audience.
Released in mid-September 2020, Phasmophobia took the horror game world by storm, offering an immersive first-person perspective, compatibility with VR, multiplayer support, a whole slew of different modes and features, and a highly customizable experience. It underwent a massive spike in popularity that same year due to releasing just before the Halloween season, combined with many popular Twitch streamers promoting its existence. In fact, it ranked as the sixth most popular game on the platform that October. As a testament to its popularity, it was the bestselling game on Steam for three weeks straight and won Best Debut Game at The Game Awards 2020. Furthermore, Phasmophobia has been continuously supported with various updates.
As reported on Phasmophobia's official Twitter profile, its planned console release has been officially delayed to October 2023 after it was initially promised to launch in August. The studio cites a fire in its office building, along with "unpredicted development issues." The development team promised to take the fine-tuning process seriously and thanked the fan base for its continued support and patience. To compensate for the delay, they also promised to hold a special launch event on the week of Halloween.
As one might imagine, most people in the comments didn't seem very thrilled with the news, but barring a few skeptics and impatient folks, they were very understanding. Many expressed hope that no one was harmed. Several even suggested that the delay was a good thing since not only would it be thematically appropriate, but it would also mean more polish, citing the amount of patches the PC version has received. It is likely that the fandom offered such a kind response seeing how Phasmophobia's developers have explicitly catered to them in the past.
It's never fun to receive news like this, especially for a game that one has been looking forward to for the longest time. But plenty of precedent exists when it comes to delaying games, showing that the extra refinement time is often a net positive. With any luck, the upcoming console ports of Phasmophobia will be well worth the wait, and given how well Kinetic Games has treated its loyal fans throughout its few years in business, there isn't much reason to doubt its decision.
Phasmophobia is available to play on PC, with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S ports due out in October 2023.
