The Outer Worlds' Switch Port Delayed Due to Coronavirus

Just a week ago, RPG fans were excited to learn that Obsidian Entertainment's The Outer Worlds would make its way to the Nintendo Switch in early March. Now, with the team behind the port closing their office due to the Coronavirus outbreak in China, the port is being delayed indefinitely.

Private Division, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, announced the delay of the port alongside today's release of Take Two's latest quarterly earnings. On Twitter, Private Division clarified that the developers behind the port at Virtuos, which is based in Shanghai and has satellite studios in Chengdu and Xian, have not been impacted by the virus itself, but that the studio remains closed out of concern for health safety.

While Private Division and Virtuos are waiting to finalize a new development timeline and arrive at a release date, the publisher has confirmed that the physical edition of The Outer Worlds for Switch will now come on a game card. Previously, the port was set to ship as a game case containing a download code.

When Kat interviewed The Outer Worlds' co-director Leonard Boyarsky in October for Axe of the Blood God, Boyarsky talked about how pleased the team at Obsidian was with the quality of Virtuos' early work on the port. "We saw the proof of concept from the external team who was doing it and we were very, very surprised," Boyarsky told USG.

Today, Take-Two also announced that since its launch in October, The Outer Worlds has already sold over 2 million copies across PC, PS4, and Xbox One (where it launched as a Game Pass title). For more on The Outer Worlds, check out USG's review.