With Tokyo Game Show 2024 going down this past weekend, many fighting game players were expecting to get an official release date for Hunter x Hunter: Nen Impact, but instead got quite the opposite.
Bushiroad Games and Arc System Works announced today that the Hunter x Hunter fighting game is being delayed for a very good reason.
While the Eighting-developed title was originally slated to launch sometime in 2024, that timeline has now been pushed back to a nondescript 2025 window.
The main reason behind the delay is said to be so the team can add rollback netcode to the game, which came as a bit of a surprise.
In the year of 2024, you’d think rollback would be the default standard for a new fighting game, but that apparently wasn’t quite the case.
Eighting and ArcSys have previously collaborated on DNF Duel, which did launch with rollback already except for the Nintendo Switch version, so it’s curious that they’d approach a newer game without it.
It seems that most of the fighting game scene had moved on to pushing crossplay to be the next standard after rollback though the chances of that happening for HxH are looking pretty low unless they can add that as part of the delay too.
Those who’ve gotten hands on Nen Impact have typically reported having some good ol’ Marvel vs. Capcom-style fun though this push back of the release date seems to be pretty welcome by the community.
Even as the game continued to improve in more recent builds in terms of presentation quality, there were still concerns of how it stacked up against the competition, so this delay could also prove benefitial for polishing the fighters too.
We’ve also seen a bit of a split among players about the decision to make Nen Impact an active tag fighting game like Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite instead of a traditional tag system, so we’ll see what the team does with further player feedback too.
With all of Hunter x Hunter’s base roster seemingly confirmed already, there’s a good chance we won’t really be seeing more of the game until they have major developments to show off or are ready to provide a release date.
Hunter x Hunter: Nen Impact is currently in development for the PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC.
You can find the full announcement for the game’s delay below.
“The release timing for Hunter x Hunter: Nen Impact will be changed from the previously announced 2024 timing to now release within 2025.
We sincerely apologize for the trouble caused by this delay to the players who are looking forward to the game’s release. This delay is so that we will be able to implement rollback netcode for release.
Rollback netcode is a system that reduces the feeling of connection delay when playing online matches.
We made this decision out of concern that players would not be able to fully enjoy the game in a state where some players would encounter issues with online play, given the nature of fighting games.
The release date will be announced at a later time.
We appreciate your understanding, as we continue to work to provide the best game possible.”
The release timing for HUNTER×HUNTER NEN×IMPACT will be changed from the previously announced 2024 timing to now release within 2025.
We sincerely apologize for the trouble caused by this delay to the players who are looking forward to the game’s release.
This delay is so that… https://t.co/35PqDSTYi2— Arc System Works America (@ArcSystemWorksU) September 30, 2024