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Physical copies of Bandai Namco title Little Nightmares 2 have been delayed by Brexit. With shipping problems causing the issue.
According to a tweet from Bandai Namco UK, the game will be delayed by “a few days” across all of the UK and Ireland. “We sincerely apologize for this delay and assure you that we are doing everything in our power to ship your copies as soon as possible.”
The Tarsier Studio-developed title will still launch digitally as expected on the 11th of February. The title was originally expected to launch in 2020, but given how that year panned out, the shift to 2021 was hardly unusual.
However, the latest delay, even if it’s only by a few days illustrates the possible issues that the UK is having with new Brexit regulations holding things up at ports.
“Little Nightmares is one of the most successful IPs we’ve created,” Hervé Hoerdt (SVP marketing, digital and content at Bandai Namco) told MCV/DEVELOP in 2019.
“Obviously you don’t just turn a company from distribution to IP creation – it takes time and we need to shift all the skills, competencies and marketing to IP creation, in terms of production, because usually our production skills are more at the end of the process and now we’re more at the start of the process.
“So while we still have many other unannounced projects, this is the one we want to focus on in the short term because this is the one that had the best fan reaction. I think we are now at 1.6m units [sold for Little Nightmares]. So it’s showing that the reception is good. And we feel like this is unique enough in terms of atmosphere and targeting a different audience that we should accelerate on this one.”
The game was actually written by Liverpool-born Dave Mervik, senior narrative designer at Tarsier, so at least something from this country is still working well with those overseas. Mervik spoke to us as part of our recent spotlight on the Skåne region.
“I’ve heard enough bad impressions of the Scouse accent to last a lifetime, but that’s a piece of cake compared to Skånska. So far I’ve managed to say the words ‘four’, ‘school’ and ‘back’ in Skåne-ish without people laughing. It’s got even worse with where I’m living now, and I’m fast running out of vague, non-committal replies. They’re gonna find me out any day now!”
