Forspoken, the first PC game with Microsoft DirectStorage, has been delayed to next year

[midian182]

What just happened? Forspoken, the action-RPG from Square Enix that was used to show off Microsoft's DirectStorage technology back in March, won't be arriving this year. The game has been delayed for a second time, moving from its previous October launch date to January 2023.

"As a result of ongoing discussions with key partners, we have made the strategic decision to move the launch date of Forspoken to January 24, 2023," the game's official account tweeted. It added that while all game elements are complete, the final polishing phase is continuing.

An update on #Forspoken. pic.twitter.com/sRLvXX2kjS

— Forspoken (@Forspoken) July 6, 2022

This marks the second time Forspoken has been delayed. Its official release date was originally May 24, 2022, so one would expect a third postponement to be unlikely, though not impossible.

Even if you're not excited about Forspoken, the news means we're now unlikely to see Microsoft DirectStorage technology running in Windows 11 this year. Microsoft released the API to PC game developers back in March—it's already part of the Xbox Series X/S consoles—and Forspoken is set to be the first PC game to use it.

Developer Luminous Productions says that DirectStorage, which allows games to make multiple concurrent IO requests and with greater efficiency, will reduce Forspoken's loading times from an average of 10 seconds when using a SATA SSD to just one second on an NVMe SSD capable of delivering read speeds of over 5,000 megabytes per second, though some have disputed those figures.

Additionally, Microsoft previously said DirectStorage would reduce a processor's overhead in games by up to 40% when using it in Windows 11 (it'll also be supported in Windows 10) alongside an NVMe drive. The extra CPU cycles could be used for background processing, AI workloads, or other game features like gigantic open-worlds. We'll find out if Forspoken's implementation of DirectStorage lives up to these promises next year.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/95215-forspoken-first-pc-game-microsoft-directstorage-has-delayed.html

 

[Uncle Al]

MicroSludge will delay it until they can really screw it up, THEN release it ....

 

[m4a4]

MicroSludge will delay it until they can really screw it up, THEN release it ....

...What? What's the point of this comment?

A delay for polishing any game is a good thing...

 

[defaultluser]

...What? What's the point of this comment?

A delay for polishing any game is a good thing...

depends on who is in-charge; in the last decade, anything from Squeenix that didn't have a DQ or FF mainline release logo on it turned-out to be marginal to complete **** (and even FF14 took several years to completely fix!, because they outsourced )

Yes, Final Fantasy XIV Really Was This Bad The First Time Around

Since its 2013 relaunch as A Realm Reborn, Final Fantasy XIV is one of the best massively multiplayer role-playing games going, but let’s not forget the poor performance, shoddy lighting effects and nightmarish copy-pasted landscapes from the original 2010 release that made the relaunch...

kotaku.com

Delays on these side-projects have rarely improved things, because nobody in management cares - as long as it sells in whatever state its in on-release, they still get their paychecks (and they will rush-out dress-up clothes and DLCs before they will ever bother fixing bugs.)

 

[m4a4]

depends on who is in-charge; in the last decade, anything from Squeenix that didn't have a DQ or FF mainline release logo on it turned-out to be marginal to complete **** (and even FF14 took several years to completely fix!, because they outsourced )

Yes, Final Fantasy XIV Really Was This Bad The First Time Around

Since its 2013 relaunch as A Realm Reborn, Final Fantasy XIV is one of the best massively multiplayer role-playing games going, but let’s not forget the poor performance, shoddy lighting effects and nightmarish copy-pasted landscapes from the original 2010 release that made the relaunch...

kotaku.com

Delays on these side-projects have rarely improved things, because nobody in management cares - as long as it sells, they still get their paychecks.

What is the point of this? My statement still holds true, as you're forgetting that the delay is for polish (oooh look, context that you ignored!), not to fix core aspects of it.

Ps. a tiiiiiny bit better is still better.....

 

[terzaerian]

I get the bad feeling that, despite DirectStorage, games are still going to manage to have minute-long load times on all systems. All advances like SSDs and the like seem to do is give game developers a blank check to be even sloppier on optimization.

 

[Uncle Al]

...What? What's the point of this comment?

A delay for polishing any game is a good thing...

Guess you just have to be old enough to understand MicroSludge's history of software ... then you could understand and appreciate the source of the comment .....

 

[m4a4]

Guess you just have to be old enough to understand MicroSludge's history of software ... then you could understand and appreciate the source of the comment .....

"MicroSludge"? If you're being serious, you can at least act serious.

Point still stands: a delay for polish is always a good thing. You can look past your obvious bias and at least see that.......