You’re going to hear a lot of release dates this summer, and should probably just ignore them all

Next month we’re going to be inundated with game announcements. The number of trailers you’re going to watch—don’t pretend you aren’t—will make your eyes bleed. And you’re going to be given a lot of dates to mark in your calendar. But hold on, because release dates are mostly bollocks. 

This is nothing new: since our primitive ancestors first left their caves to visit brick and mortar stores to check out new releases, we’ve had to deal with the disappointment of highly anticipated games getting delayed. But it feels so much more pronounced these days because there are so many games, so much competition, and incalculable amounts of money being poured into marketing campaigns. 

Every developer and publisher is going to have a different approach to announcing a release date. But when you get to the larger publishers, who are largely beholden to shareholders, there are some common trends. And they have very little to do with when a game might realistically be ready for launch.