Prison Architect 2 delayed indefinitely one month before its expected release

Prison Architect 2 has been delayed indefinitely, just one month before the game was due to be released.

It marks a third delay for the 3D successor to 2015’s prison management sim, which was originally scheduled to be released for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Steam on March 26, before slipping to May 7 and more recently to September 3.

“Our continuous internal reviews and beta test groups have highlighted areas that we need to focus on more, mainly performance and content, which we need to address before launch to ensure that you, the players, get a good experience in the game,” reads a message attributed to the Prison Architect 2 team.

“We need to raise the quality a bit more to meet the standards we’d like to achieve with this sequel.”

“We are confident that the sequel to Prison Architect will be great, and we’re looking forward to showing you all the new ideas brought into it: the switch to 3D, multi-floors, and the new behavior system that all bring a new dimension to the game and open new gameplay possibilities for the players,” the statement added.

“However, we want to make sure the game lives up to the franchise’s legacy and is released in a state that satisfies both you, our players, and the Prison Architect 2 teams at Kokku and Paradox Interactive.”

Paradox said it will be refunding pre-orders on all platforms, and that pre-order items will now be added to the base game.

It’s been a difficult year for the Swedish publisher. In April, Paradox announced that customers who purchased Cities Skylines 2’s first DLC would be refunded, with the content set to be added to the base game for free after being “rushed out” in an unsatisfactory state.

Future paid DLC, and the game’s console version, were also delayed again.

And in June, Paradox announced plans to close its Tectonic studio following the cancellation of life simulation game Life by You.