Sacred 2 - Delayed to Sept 2008

In a lengthy open letter at the official site, Ascaron has announced a delay for Sacred 2 to September 2008, despite the recent PR ramp:

12-25-2007

Dear friends and fans of SACRED 2 – Fallen Angel

We would have preferred to announce the delay to the release date at an earlier stage, but there are many reasons why we could only inform you of it now.

A longer development process requires maximum performance in all areas, and a large number of people are involved in that process. In a crucial decision making phase it is impossible to communicate important news directly – we hope you understand.

An extension of the development process was necessary in order to ensure that we realize all the development plans and ship both PC and Xbox 360 versions with the best possible quality and stability.

A game as complex as SACRED 2 – Fallen Angel, with its many technical innovations, requires extensive testing and balancing in all areas. In certain areas of development we often had to make our way into uncharted territory when it came to implementing the new technologies which are required to make SACRED 2 – Fallen Angel the game that we set out to make. This inevitably led to situations where satisfactory realization of a vision took a bit longer than originally planned.

So, what to do? Scrap features? No, definitely not!

Patch with a patch as only a patch can patch? No, that's also out of the question!

The most important thing, after all, is the game. Fortunately for everyone, we are in the enviable position where all involved parties (share holders, banks and distributors) agreed to our plans for continuing to develop SACRED 2 – Fallen Angel according to our vision and create the best action RPG possible.

We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to our partners for their support and belief in both Ascaron and in SACRED 2 – Fallen Angel.

We'd like to ask our fans and friends for their understanding, and we hope that any potential disappointment is outweighed by looking forward to a superb SACRED 2 – Fallen Angel release in September 2008. Indeed, it is quite likely that many of you will have a chance to beta test the game.

Shortly before the release we'd like to make a demo available to the public and, who knows, maybe we will have a surprise ready for the Games Convention 2008… Watch this space.

You can rest assured that the Ascaron team is pulling out all the stops to deliver a SACRED 2 – Fallen Angel game that not only meets the high expectations, but blows those expectations clean out of the water!

Season's greetings and a happy New Year to one and all

The Ascaron Team