Studio MDHR said the COVID-19 pandemic has been 'extremely challenging.'
It's been a rough go for Cuphead's The Delicious Last Course DLC. It was announced in June 2018 with launch expected sometime in 2019, but a year later it was delayed into 2020. "We want to be absolutely certain that this next adventure feels at home in the world of Cuphead and is full of moments that surprise and delight players," Studio MDHR said at the time.
But with 2020 nearly over, The Delicious Last Course has been delayed again, this time because of the difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"In true Studio MDHR fashion, we aren't content for this final chapter to be anything less than our best work. Throughout development, we've challenged ourselves to put everything we learned from making Cuphead into the quality of The Delicious Last Course's animation, design, and music," the studio said.
"Meeting this standard has been extremely challenging for us amid the global pandemic that has affected so many of our fellow developers. Rather than compromise on our vision in response to COVID, we've made the difficult decision to push back the release of The Delicious Last Course until we are confident it will delight the Cuphead community the way we feel it should."
In the wake of the ongoing global pandemic affecting so many, we have made the difficult decision to push back the release of The Delicious Last Course. For our wonderful Cuphead community, we've prepared a letter from Studio MDHR founders Chad & Jared Moldenhauer to share more. pic.twitter.com/XiU57Wcn1yNovember 25, 2020
This isn't the first Cuphead-involved delay we've experienced over the years: Cuphead itself was originally scheduled for a 2016 launch but didn't actually come out until September 2017. It turned out to be worth the wait, as we called it "a demanding but supremely rewarding modern 2D shooter that looks and sounds fantastic" in our 86/100 review. In 2019, it surpassed five million copies sold, which is nice too.
An updated release target hasn't been revealed, but we're now at the end of November, and since The Delicious Last Course had never been given a more specific launch date than 2020 (which, for the moment, is still listed on Steam), I think the safe bet is that we're now looking at 2021. I've reached out to Studio MDHR for more information, and will update if I receive a reply.
