Blacksad: Under The Skin has launched in Europe. There's a tiny problem, though — the game's release date is November 14th, 2019, and it wasn't supposed to go live just yet, after being previously delayed a week from the previously planned (and now unplanned) November 5 release date.
A tweet from Microids contains a lengthy letter which details the situation behind the error and advises people not to play the game just yet. Although spoilers may be a concern in such a scenario, the developers are actually worried about something else: the day one patch.
Microids 'Strongly Advise' Waiting for the Blacksad Day One Patch
The tweet released by Microids contains a statement from the developers about this accidental early launch of the game, a portion of which we're reproducing here:
Dear friends,
Originally planned for a November 14th release, Blacksad: Under the Skin is available as of today on the PlayStation Store and the Xbox Market due to a technical malfunction.
In order to enjoy the game at its fullest, this version of the game requires an update via a downloadable patch. The patch coming up later these days for the PS4 and Xbox One versions will bring required enhancements to the frame rate as well as fixes for major bugs, missing musics (find more details about the patch below).
Before diving in the adventure of Blacksad: Under the Skin, we strongly advise waiting for this patch as we feel it's essential to experience the game like the development team at Pendulo Studios envisioned it.
If you're not familiar with the basics of game development, most games "go gold" and are sent off to the various online services (and in some cases, printers for physical discs) several weeks before the actual release date. The developers don't stop working there, however — they typically spend the remaining time before launch working on a "Day One" patch that fixes any problems they weren't able to get to before it went gold.
Here's what the Day One patch for Blacksad will have:
- Major Bugs fixed
- Performance optimization and various improvements
- Loading textures improvements
- Textures quality improvements
- Framerate greatly improved
- Sound
- Sound effects fixes
- Ambient sound added through the game
- More musics added
- Some characters animations and lip sync improved
If you're one of the folks who happen to have Blacksad early thanks to this glitch, it's probably best to wait until its official release date so you can get the Day One patch and enjoy the best possible version of the game. Blacksad officially launches on November 14, 2019, for the PS4, Xbox One, and Steam, and the Nintendo Switch version launches on November 28, 2019.
What do you think of Blacksad accidentally launching early? Do you think the developer and publisher are responding to the situation well? Let us know in the comments below!
