Sony's delayed Motorstorm: Apocalypse's UK release, following the earthquake disaster in Japan this weekend.
The platform holder said yesterday that the PS3 racer, which places players in a post-apocalyptic city rocked by natural disasters, would not be released in Japan on March 17 as planned, and that date changed to 'TBA'.
An SCE statement reads:
"Although we have shipped the game into the channel last week, given that we are able to do so, we have chosen to postpone the launch in the UK. In the meantime we will continue to monitor the situation very closely.
"We are shocked and saddened to see the impact of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and our thoughts are with all those affected, including our colleagues within the Sony family, living and working throughout Japan.
"We are very conscious of the parallels between these events and the underlying theme in Motorstorm and are doing everything we can to be as sensitive as possible to the situation. Although the game itself is already in distribution, we are ceasing any further shipments and removing as much of the marketing materials as possible."
Motorstorm was originally due to be released in the UK this Friday. No new ETA was given.
As reported earlier, Yakuza: Of the End has also been delayed along with Marvel Vs. Capcom 3's Jill and Shuma DLC, while publisher Irem has outright cancelled Disaster Report 4.
Comments
17 comments so far...
pmantis on 15 Mar '11 said:
Part of me says fair enough "i can wait another couple of weeks/months" but then part of me is a raging conspiracy nut. I think Sony have read all the reviews and come to the conclusion that certain things need to be changed and altered, thus delaying it. The Japan situation is just an excuse to get a little bit extra development time.
raredevice on 15 Mar '11 said:
From a respect point of view, I think this is a good call. However, I can't say I really 'get it'. It's a video game. Based on nothing in particular. Isn't this why they have disclaimers on movies, the old "Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely co-incidental"? Most people have admitted that they didn't even make the connection before the suspension was suggested, and I include myself in that. So if we're not joining the dots, how does postponing the game help. In fact, how does it really help at all? Would it not be better to have donated a percentage of the profits to the cleanup fund? They'd probably have sold more, so everyone would have won. Ah well.
raredevice on 15 Mar '11 said:
Yes, but they've already admitted the games have been sent out in the supply chain. It's not a recall, just a postponement. They can only update through PSN now anyway.
GunstarHeroX on 15 Mar '11 said:
I wanted to trade in that piece of s**t Killzone 3 towards this. Can't wait to get rid of it. I hope KZ3 is still worth as much for trade in whenever Motorstorm finally does release.
If not I can at least put it towards my 3DS maybe...
I definitely don't agree with this delay. Yes, what has happened to Japan is a horrible tragedy but this is a work of fiction and has no relevance to what's going on over there. Any resemblance to events past or present is purely coincidental.
TheLastDodo on 15 Mar '11 said:
I wouldn't have bought it even if a small amount was donated, in my opinion its crap, just donate the regular way. I'm surprised its being delayed in the UK.
gnokgnik on 15 Mar '11 said:
It's not crap. I have played it for fours days now. It's great!
Anyway, am I the only one who got this early? I bought it in Scandinavia on March 12th. Will be interesting to see if they pull it from the shelf now...
Bryanee1983 on 15 Mar '11 said:
GAME have apprantly started to process orders. Shouldnt be delayed imo.
Augustus_aka_AG on 15 Mar '11 said:
The irony of this game being delayed by an earthquake is off the Richter scale....
FlimFlam on 15 Mar '11 said:
Crazy that a giant corporation shows a little sensitivity and gets roundly critisised for it...
'oh yeah well what happened in Japan is bad but where is my game'
A game in which the central mechanic is destruction by natural disasters.
I commend Sony for seeing how inappropriate that could be and taking action. At the stage it was at,it can't have been easy or cheap, so you have to respect them for that.
verynaughtyboy on 15 Mar '11 said:
Think about this... The headlines on The Star/Daily Record/The Sun/The Mail etc if the game WAS released. They'd probably claim the game went into production as soon as the producers heard about the disaster. I can imagine the articles... "You play as a tsunami ravaging through the land. You score points for killing people, destroying buildings, murdering prostitutes and sex mini-games with small inland bodies of water you encounter. This game is responsible for the increase in natural disasters we have seen lately. Alan Titchmarsh said..." etc.
Think we've dodged a bullet!
Mark240473 on 15 Mar '11 said:
I was looking forward to picking this up, but Kudos to Sony. I wouldn't be able to enjoy the game anyway, knowing that others are going through difficulties.
rbt2 on 15 Mar '11 said:
That's a good point but a double edged sword too. It's giving in to the moronic masses.
As I said in t'other thread, the cynical side of me sees the company's decision to delay as more of a tactic to stay out of the headlines brought on by the likes of Keith Vaz and his cronies than out of any sort of misguided sympathy or respect for victims on the other side of the globe.
Ellscore on 15 Mar '11 said:
I think the game's release should not be postponed. The tragic events in Japan are co-incidental. If anything they could donate a percentage of profits from the title to the rescue effort. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out that Sony are playing for extra PR. If they were genuinely concerned about the impact this title would have towards the general emotion they would pull the title altogether. I accept that Sony are in something of a precarious position and will probably face criticism for whatever they decide to do. I'm sure miss Peasgood will have an opinion on this.
verynaughtyboy on 15 Mar '11 said:
Thing is that Sony are a Japanese company and I am sure that some of the high ranking members will have been personally affected. It's also the case that large corporations will try to generate goodwill. I think in this situation two cliches are applicable - "Pick your fights" and "Sometimes discretion is the better part of valour."
skidpro on 15 Mar '11 said:
This is truly amazing......
Email from GAme this mornig, processing Motorstorm A, I read news, I look at my order, my card was charged and item released for packing, then CANCELLED please check card details and funds! Eh? No email saying this has been cancelled due to Japanese tragedy?
So I have to reorder this time no release date, TBH, I dont think it should be cancelled, I mean a fictional game, has nothing to with the current disaster in Japan....UNLESS the severs are affected....?
Talk about mucking us about GAME! The Japan earthquakes are a tragedy....yes....but this game is not a tragedy but it looks like its turning out to be!
gmcb007 on 15 Mar '11 said:
We live in a society where PC has went through the roof where saying bugger on daytime TV would spark an outrage so yes they may be trying to play it safe. Then again they could actually be doing it out of respect I just dont understand why people can't believe that.
kevarsa on 15 Mar '11 said:
Ordered this of play.com and says it's been posted 2day so hopefully I get it Thursday