Bandai Namco announced today a delay to the upcoming console release of its side-steppin' 3D fighting game Tekken 7. Originally slated for release in early 2017, Bandai Namco revealed today the new date of June 2, 2017.

"We were trying our best to get the game out at that time, to get it into the hands of users as early as possible," project leader Katsuhiro Harada told GameSpot during a press event in Tokyo last week. "We saw some titles--some from our own company and some from others--which didn't have a very good launch because of a lack of content, or whatever it was, that caused players to bash the product." Harada and team wanted to avoid a similar fate, deciding to continue forward with its original content plan, "even if that meant the game would come a little later."

According to Harada, the decision wasn't an easy one. "Although this is the first time we've actually announced a date, it wasn't always June. It came through a process and we made some hard decisions and that was the result." Apologetically, he added "'early' was probably March or April from your average person's perspective, so we're not going to try and sugar-coat it. We realise it's not 'early,' I'm so sorry!"

You can read more thoughts from Harada and his team on accessibility, the Japanese arcade scene, and designing fighters in our recent Tekken 7 feature.