Ubisoft Is Pleased That Red Dead Redemption 2 Got Delayed

In case you missed it earlier this year, Rockstar Games confirmed that Red Dead Redemption 2 wouldn't make it out for its previously announced September release date, instead being pushed back to 2018. Some fans took the announcement a bit hard…though Ubisoft seems a bit pleased by it.

Of course, that's probably because the game won't be a direct competitor to the company's forthcoming titles this holiday season, like South Park: The Fractured But Whole and Assassin's Creed Origins, which are pegged to be the best-sellers leading into Christmas for the team.

Ubisoft CFO Alain Martinez spoke up on the delay, noting, "Clearly the fact that there is no Red Dead Redemption (2) is a positive for our fiscal year 2018. This is something that we had taken into our (financial) assumptions. So the absence of that game is, of course, giving us a better window for the launch of some of our games."

In addition to the two aforementioned titles above, Ubisoft is also betting big on the Nintendo Switch market, as Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is closing in on its August 29th release for the system. The company is expecting it to be a big hit, alongside the forthcoming Hong Kong expansion that'll be debuting for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege later this fall.

That said, the confidence isn't going too high for the company. "Overall, we think it's (too) early to have a view and change anything," noted Martinez. "…we have more confidence but we think it's too early to change our guidance."

However, Ubisoft should keep in mind that Far Cry 5, which is coming out next February, could find itself right in Red Dead 2's crosshairs, depending on what kind of release date Rockstar gives for the forthcoming title. Granted, they'll both be fun action games…

We'll see what the holiday slate brings, with Mario + Rabbids coming out in just a few weeks, followed by South Park: The Fractured But Whole on October 17th and Assassin's Creed Origins on October 27th. Both of those aforementioned titles will be coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.