Alone in the Dark reboot pushed to 2024 to avoid the competition

Alone in the Dark, THQ Nordic’s reboot of the classic survival horror game of the same title, has been delayed to January 16, 2024. The game joins the ranks of several other games delayed out of the busy month of October, with the announcement saying, “Horror games thrive on the eerie embrace of solitude, something that is impossible to achieve in a gaming month as busy as October.”

THQ Nordic was explicit about its intentions, saying in a statement this delay avoids putting Alone in the Dark too close to fellow horror title Alan Wake 2: “Our intention is to avoid competing with the wake of Alan’s epic release and to evade the dazzling skyline of cities adorned by the graceful swings of Spider-Man. We aim to truly remain as Alone in the Dark as possible … This extension will serve a dual purpose: Not only will it permit us to meticulously perfect the gaming experience, but it will also grant us the opportunity to fully immerse ourselves in the remarkable releases of October.”

October’s games schedule has shuffled up quite a bit in the last few weeks, as games companies attempt to avoid crowding each other. Ubisoft moved Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s release date from October 12 to October 7, while Remedy pushed Alan Wake 2’s launch from October 17 to October 27. This is all seemingly to avoid the mid-month triple-A releases, which include Super Mario Bros Wonder and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (both of which launch on October 20).

Even before October, games publishers have shifted their schedules to accommodate other major releases. Larian Studios pushed the release of Baldur’s Gate 3 from August 31 to August 3 in order to give it more breathing room before Bethesda’s Starfield launched on September 1 in early access (and September 6 generally).