Telepath Tactics Release Date Moved to April

While Craig Stern originally planned to release Telepath Tactics in March, he has decided to delay the game to April, and announced the precise date of its release: April 16th.

The delay was motivated by the large amount of RPGs releasing in March that would likely steal the spotlight from Stern’s title:

So why push it back? In short: for tactical reasons. I did some scouting, and to put it bluntly there are a metric shit-ton of games coming out in March 2015, including quite a few RPGs and turn-based strategy games. Pillars of Eternity is releasing. Bloodborne is releasing. Project S.T.E.A.M. is releasing. Worlds of Magic is releasing. Atelier Shallie is releasing. There’s even a new Final Fantasy coming out! And on top of all that, GDC and PAX happen back-to-back in March, the two of which are sufficient to tie up the press for several weeks all on their own. March is going to be a bloodbath, basically.

If I may briefly analogize this situation to something we might see in a strategy RPG: releasing Telepath Tactics in the midst of all the craziness of March 2015 would be like sending my best front-line fighter into the middle of a throng of 20 enemies on open ground. We all know what’s going to happen to the fighter if I do that she is going to die.

Releasing Telepath Tactics in March means that its arrival will be drowned out by coverage of much higher-profile titles. The smarter move the move I intend to make is to find more favorable terrain to engage on, terrain where I won’t be swarmed by quite so much competition for attention. April is going to be very quiet; that’s the point of engagement I want.

Keep in mind that I’ve been working on Telepath Tactics for a very long time, and I am really really eager to just release it already. I have so many other game ideas that I’m just dying to get started on but I haven’t spent the past five years making Telepath Tactics just to launch it into a coverage vacuum and watch it suffocate. So I am being patient, and I am putting off releasing the game just a little bit longer. Being patient is not the easiest or the most pleasant choice for me, but it’s the smart one.