2022/04/24 by Balreet Grewal, Grewal, Balreet, Dayi Lin +5
Computer Science · Engineering · Social Sciences · #Computer Science and Game Theory (cs.GT) #Digital Games and Media #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Green IT and Sustainability #Peer-to-Peer Network Technologies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2204.11191
openalex publication_date 2022/04/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The gaming industry is rapidly expanding. With over 2.7 billion players worldwide, game development has become increasingly challenging. To meet the ever-changing demands and expectations of players and due to unforeseen hindrances in the development process, game developers may require to delay the release of their game. We conducted an empirical study of 23,485 games on the Steam platform to analyze how often, and which games delayed their release date. We find that delaying a release is common: 48% of the studied games had a delayed initial release. Games delayed their release by a median of 14 days. Games for which a release date range (e.g., "Q1 2019") was specified, rather than a specific date were more likely to release within that range. Across different game genres, the percentage of games that delay release is similar (ranging from 48% to 52%). Finally, games with a delayed release are rated lower than games that release on time, but the difference is negligible.