How Does February's Packed Release Schedule Compare To Gaming's Other Big Months?

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Next year's slate of games looks spectacular! But dissimilar astir years, a ton of the games we're excited astir already person a merchandise date, coming conscionable a mates of months aft the premier vacation season. February 2022 is presently looking similar 1 of the astir stacked months successful gaming ever, reminding america of the biggest and champion weeks of the fall. We thought it'd beryllium amusive to comparison the upcoming 28-day gauntlet, which is gaining much killers each day, to monolithic merchandise calendars of gaming's past. First, let's instrumentality a look astatine what we person to look guardant to this February.

The period starts retired beardown with the Life is Strange Remasted Collection connected February 1, followed soon down by Dying Light 2 Stay Human, Techland's open-world zombie RPG, on February 4. OlliOlli World from Roll7 lands February 8, the aforesaid time arsenic the promising martial-arts-focused Sifu.

A little spread successful releases allows america to drawback our enactment and bask the month's beardown opening salvo of games earlier The King of Fighters XV kicks successful the doorway with its merchandise connected February 17, allowing an avalanche of must-play titles to determination onto our increasing 2022 backlogs. Horizon Forbidden West continues Aloy's escapade the adjacent time connected February 18. The pursuing days bring the coming of Savathun in Destiny 2: The Witch Queen connected February 22 and perchance the astir anticipated crippled of the month, From Software's Elden Ring, which plans to instrumentality implicit our consoles and PCs on February 25. Square Enix has besides delayed the merchandise of Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster to sometime during the period – in lawsuit you besides wanted to play 1 of the champion RPGs of each time.

It conscionable doesn't fto up. But let's look astatine different relentless months of releases from caller memory. In our archetypal comparison, we look backmost to November 2006, not conscionable the hottest constituent of a large vacation season, but the oculus of the tempest for 2 large console launches successful the Wii and PlayStation 3. Not to beryllium outdone, previous-gen consoles and the present one-year-old Xbox 360 bringing its archetypal monolithic franchise to the console are firing shots crossed the bow of the newcomers arsenic well. Here are the November 2006 crippled releases that devastated our slope relationship balances.

November 2006 Releases:

  • Elite Beat Agents – November 6
  • Call of Duty 3 – November 7
  • Gears of War – November 7
  • Guitar Hero II – November 7
  • Tony Hawk's Project 8 – November 7
  • Sonic the Hedgehog – November 15
  • PlayStation 3 – November 17
  • Resistance: Fall of Man – November 17
  • Nintendo Wii w/ Wii Sports – November 19
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – November 19
  • Red Steel – November 19
  • Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas – November 30
  • Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – November 30

Granted, immoderate of the games listed supra are fondly remembered successful hindsight, portion others, similar Red Steel, were panned by critics and consumers alike. That's besides not adjacent adjacent to the afloat database of releases from November 2006. Still, the period was undeniably delectable for gamers, galore of which were worthy of preorder to unafraid a transcript during the engaged buying season. Compared to the current time crisis we're facing successful a fewer weeks, the enactment is beauteous adjacent successful presumption of anticipation.

Honestly, it's hard to find these kinds of blockbuster months successful the past decade. Most companies became savvier astir laying assertion to a definite period oregon week, avoiding contention that whitethorn chopped into precious sales. The closest week aft week assault without a console merchandise happened in October 2018, which positioned a hefty handful of big games to capitalize connected the vacation rush, anchored by arguably the year's biggest merchandise yet successful Red Dead Redemption 2. Like this upcoming February, determination was besides a akin dispersed of breathtaking remasters and intriguing indie games to anticipate.

October 2018 Releases:

  • Forza Horizon 4 – October 2
  • Mega Man 11 – October 2
  • Assassin's Creed Odyssey – October 5
  • Super Mario Party – October 5
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 – October 12
  • LEGO DC Super-Villains – October 16
  • Starlink: Battle for Atlas ~ October 16
  • Return of the Obra Dinn – October 18
  • Soulcalibur VI – October 19
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 – October 26

So wherefore are we seeing a vacation season's unreserved of games truthful soon aft the commencement of 2022? In immoderate cases, games are pushed to the opening of a caller calendar twelvemonth to amusement a fiscal instrumentality earlier the extremity of the fiscal year, which usually concludes astatine the end of March. That, combined with improvement complications owed to the pandemic implicit the past 2 years, determination whitethorn not beryllium a amended enactment for companies close present than to motorboat their products and amended the numbers for this current 12 period period. February was erstwhile location to the merchandise of the caller Saints Row earlier it was bumped until August. Though, moving retired of the mode of a Horizon oregon Elden Ring whitethorn not beryllium an enactment for organizations that trust connected their bottom enactment looking bully twelvemonth implicit year.  Hell, look astatine the ever-growing database of games present with merchandise dates successful March, which is starting to look similar a repetition of the stacked which precedes it. 


Which months oregon seasons bash you retrieve having an astir intolerable deluge of releases? Are you successful favour of having merchandise schedules this packed conscionable aft the holidays, oregon would you similar them to dispersed retired much passim the year? Let america cognize successful the comments!

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