  The gaming industry is rapidly expanding. With over 2.7 billion players
worldwide, game development has become increasingly challenging. To meet the
ever-changing demands and expectations of players and due to unforeseen
hindrances in the development process, game developers may require to delay the
release of their game. We conducted an empirical study of 23,485 games on the
Steam platform to analyze how often, and which games delayed their release
date. We find that delaying a release is common: 48% of the studied games had a
delayed initial release. Games delayed their release by a median of 14 days.
Games for which a release date range (e.g., "Q1 2019") was specified, rather
than a specific date were more likely to release within that range. Across
different game genres, the percentage of games that delay release is similar
(ranging from 48% to 52%). Finally, games with a delayed release are rated
lower than games that release on time, but the difference is negligible.
