Why Holiday 2009 Video Games are Being Delayed Until 2010

The 2009 holiday season has been hampered by numerous delays of big games such as Bioshock 2, StarCraft II and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction. While games get delayed all of the time, it is a bit unusual seeing so many big blockbuster titles being pushed back from the busiest shopping season of the year. Here are a few reasons why 2009 holiday games are being delayed until 2010.

Crowded Holiday Season
While the 2009 holiday season may be the best time of the year to release a video game, it can also get pretty crowded at the same time. Although it can provide numerous blockbuster sales, the same period could also produce disappointing sales for high-profile games. For every breakout hit like Left 4 Dead, there are big time flops like Mirror's Edge. The holiday season may be a tempting time to release new games; there are also numerous stories of caution.

Heavy Competition
The holiday season is the time where the biggest games from the biggest franchises are released. For the 2009 holiday season, you can expect Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3: ODST, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and many more sure-fire hits to dominate sales. Because of that, lesser-known games will most likely end up getting lost in the shuffle. For that reason, you see many of these titles being delayed until early 2010.

Proven Sales in Other Periods
The gaming industry has expanded exponentially in recent years. As a result, more games are being released than ever before. Several big non-holiday releases have proven that a game can still sell great without being released in a shopping season. Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Grand Theft Auto IV both broke sales records with their spring release. Meanwhile, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and UFC Unleashed 2009 demonstrated that even the dry period of summer can be great for game releases. Thus, more gaming companies are getting more comfortable with delaying a game out of the holiday season of 2009 for a 2010 release date.

Bad Economy
The economy also plays a big role in the frequent delays of holiday 2009 games. For the first time in many years, sales have been declining. It is not a small decline either as numerous companies are seeing big drops in sales. With less money in the pockets of consumers, many gaming companies simply chose to get out of the holiday 2009 timeslot and wait until a time when the economy recovers. Not to mention that the extra time can then be used to polish the game as much as possible.