Much to the disappointment of everyone, the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 is facing another delay. Originally planned to come out in 2025, the game's release date was pushed further back to November 19, 2026, by Rockstar Games. That's around a six-month delay that everyone will have to wait longer. As highly anticipated as Grand Theft Auto 6 is, the continuous wait for the game to arrive on consoles and PC has frustrated nearly everyone. But it's not the first time a highly-anticipated game has been severely delayed from releasing.

Over the years, some of the biggest game releases have suffered from delays for one reason or another. Whether it was problems with development or forces outside anybody's control, sometimes a big game needs the extra time to be worked on. But as the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto once said, "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." As true as that might be, it's never fun having to wait longer for the games we want to play. Here are some other major game delays that made us cry over how long we had to wait to play them.

The Last Guardian

Multiple problems and delays

Back in the early 2000s, PlayStation fans were enjoying a collection of artsy games on the PlayStation 2. One of the studios that developed titles like this was Team ICO, who developed games like ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. While their work was highly praised, the announcement of their next big game for the PlayStation 3 in 2011 got a lot of attention. The Last Guardian was going to be a big deal, as many believed that it would push the limits of the hardware and tell another heartfelt, emotional tale that Team ICO was so good at making. But the development of The Last Guardian was very rocky and suffered from multiple delays.

During the game's development, multiple members of Team ICO left Sony, including Fumito Ueda. They eventually went on to create the studio GenDesign, while The Last Guardian continued to linger in development. Although Ueda would remain as a creative consultant for the game, the delays piled up and pushed the game out of the PlayStation 3 generation. For a time, everyone thought the game wouldn't ever come out. It wouldn't be until 2015 when The Last Guardian was reintroduced to everyone at Sony's E3 conference, along with a solidified release window. Eventually, The Last Guardian released on PlayStation 4 in 2016 and received a lot of praise from critics and players. It took a long time, but Sony was finally able to deliver on their promise from nearly a decade earlier.

Duke Nukem Forever

Relic from a forgotten past

One of the biggest and most infamous video games to get delayed was Duke Nukem Forever. The story of the game being delayed has taken on a cult status of how things can go very wrong within development. By the time of its official release, Duke Nukem Forever set a Guinness World Record for the longest development time for a video game to come out, which was a total of 14 years. Originally announced back in 1997 by 3D Realms, Duke Nukem Forever was a follow-up to the first-person shooter Duke Nukem 3D. For fans of the genre, Duke Nukem was a series that borrowed elements from hits like Doom, while adding on a cliché 80s action hero twist. Duke Nukem 3D was highly priased at the time, so the excitement for the next installment in the series was at an all-time high.

Little did everyone know that they would be waiting more than a decade for the game to release. The original plan for Duke Nukem Forever was to use the Quake II engine to make the game, but plans were change and development shifted to the new Unreal Engine, before once again switching engines a year later. A combination of problems with development and layoffs at the studio would cause the game's release to be pushed back further and further, which lead to work on the game being restarted in 2006. Eventually, Gearbox Software would take over working on the game in 2010, after production was stopped when 3D Realms fell into more financial troubles.

Finally, in 2011, Duke Nukem Forever was completed and released on consoles and PC. The game received a lot of mixed reactions and criticism, citing a lot of problems and outdated design choices. It took nearly 15 years for the game to be completed, and the result for some was mediocre at best. There was a bit of controversy over the humor during gameplay, but it wasn't enough to overshadow many of the game's other problems after being in development for so long.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Early announcement and long waits

The upcoming release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is the conclusion of a long wait for Nintendo fans who have been patient since 2017. Metroid Prime 4 was originally announced during the Nintendo Direct presentation at E3 2017, with only a teaser for a logo shown. For a long time after that, not much was shown of the game by Nintendo, and discussions about it were very uncommon, despite fans wanting to know more. At the time, Metroid Prime 4 was being developed by Bandai Namco, but was still hidden from the public. Former Nintendo of America president, Reggie Fils-Aime, spoke with the media in 2018 about how deep into development the team was with Metroid Prime 4, but the game still wasn't shown that year during Nintendo's presentation.

Unfortunately, sad news would come in 2019 when Shinya Takahashi, Nintendo EPD manager, announced that development on the game was restarted. The company had become unsatisfied with how things were progressing on Metroid Prime 4, and decided to change plans and shift the project over to Retro Studios. It would then be another few years before Nintendo fans got their first real look at Metroid Prime 4 in 2024. The game had a new title and a new console to release on, the Nintendo Switch 2. Although it took a long time and a restart with its development, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is set to release on December 4, 2025, for the Switch 2, and will have a selection of amiibo figures to come out alongside it. For Nintendo fans who had been following news about the game since the beginning, the wait is looking to be really worth it.

Lamenting game delays

Knowing that we'll have to wait longer than expected to play a brand-new game can be agonizing for anyone. With major games like Grand Theft Auto 6 being highly anticipated, and Rockstar Games set to make a giant splash within the industry, any kind of delay will have people frustrated.

We all want to play the newest games that companies reveal to us, especially when they give a timeframe of when to expect them. And whenever that suddenly changes, and we're forced to wait even longer, it can be a real downer for everybody. But like Miyamoto said, a delayed game is eventually good. But nobody said we have to like waiting for it.