Minecraft Dungeons delayed until late into May

Here’s the bad news: Minecraft Dungeons has been delayed. It’s hardly the only title to be pushed back in recent weeks. The good news is that the Minecraft action role-playing dungeon crawler is only being delayed by a month and will now debut on May 26.

That’s not too bad, is it? As nice as it would be to have a slice of blocky dungeon-based action to pass the time while in lockdown, only having to wait a few extra weeks is hardly the end of the world. In a post on the Minecraft website, writer Per Landin stated that, yup, this delay is very much coronavirus-related:

As you all know, we initially planned to release Minecraft Dungeons by the end of April. However, due to the current state of the world, this was no longer possible, as we wanted to guarantee the health and safety of our teams, and empower them to deliver the best possible experience to you, our players. We hope you’ll find it was worth the wait.

Why delay Minecraft Dungeons at this late stage?

At this late stage, a delay of this nature probably doesn’t have much to do with Minecraft Dungeons‘ core gameplay. Instead, virus concerns have interrupted the last-minute polishing that a game goes through before being released. These last few weeks of development can often make a difference to how smoothly a game runs, creating a more pleasant user experience. A good game will still be enjoyable if it doesn’t get all the final tweaks that it needs, but a little extra elbow grease helps to make that core experience shine all the brighter.

Gather your friends and gear up for adventure: Minecraft Dungeons is coming out May 26th on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Game Pass! Pre-order your copy now:

↣ https://t.co/A2UnaxJtzy ↢ pic.twitter.com/q9VTPXs2Ps

— Minecraft Dungeons (@dungeonsgame) March 31, 2020

By giving itself a little more time, Mojang is making sure that Dungeons lives up to fans’ expectations. This is crucial if the game is to stick the landing. No doubt the studio wants to avoid repeating the mistakes of Minecraft: Story Mode.

The delay, while frustrating, is designed to help make Minecraft Dungeons as appealing and enjoyable as possible. This is for the best, as getting hold of the game a few weeks early wouldn’t be worth it if the result falls short of its full potential.