14 DAY TRIAL // While we’ve often lamented the fact that almost all big, triple-A games are crowding themselves in the fall season, specifically October or November, it now seems that many titles have begun clamoring for two new months, in the form of April and May.
The end of autumn and the beginning of winter is a great time to release new games, as not only do hardcore players save up to buy them but regular people also start getting them as presents for their friends or family.
Sadly, this has led to an oversaturation of the gaming market during October or November, as we’ve often seen not one or two but four big games released in the same day.
This trend isn’t stopping, as already plenty of big titles have scheduled their release dates for the end of autumn, including BioShock Infinite, Borderlands 2, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Halo 4 and more.
Now, it seems that the a new time frame is also growing in terms of popularity, as more and more companies have started releasing their games during the spring season, specifically April or May.
Already quite a few games are scheduled to appear soon, from the likes of The Witcher 2’s Enhanced Edition, to the Devil May Cry HD Collection, Kinect Star Wars, Prototype 2 (on consoles only), Street Fighter X Tekken or Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.
The latest and probably the most awaited game that’s been confirmed for a late spring release is Diablo III, which is currently scheduled to appear on May 15. As further testimony to the crowded month, that's the same day as another big game, Rockstar’s Max Payne 3.
Once again, this crowded season isn’t great for gamers, especially those who don’t have a lot of money to invest in this pricy hobby. As such, many will either postpone buying some of the aforementioned titles or just rent them, resulting in low sales and forcing companies to release titles during another time frame, like the “always” profitable winter holiday one.
Hopefully, more publishers will realize this strategy isn’t exactly right and will start releasing titles during other months, like January or February, not to mention June, July or August.