Crackdown 3 was delayed and relatively few gamers even knew it happened. After we reached out to several at Microsoft, the official Crackdown Twitter responded with a link to a blog that they shared last month.
We made an announcement last month you might be interested in at https://t.co/Li8Ig8R55h.
— Crackdown (@crackdown) July 13, 2016
While absent from E3, the developers announced that the game will not be delivered this year, but it should be expected to release in 2017. Surprisingly, this news has gone under the radar with many gamers and media suggestively asking themselves if it would be present at Gamescom 2016, which now seems unlikely. Major Nelson took to his blog to share Aaron Greenberg’s announcement that the Xbox team would not be holding a media briefing this year at Gamescom. Despite this, the company would still be present delivering games to the masses in a more ‘intimate’ Xbox Fanfest experience.
It’s under five weeks until gamescom 2016 and I’m excited to share the news that Xbox will give our fans the opportunity to get hands-on with the most anticipated titles for 2016 and 2017, across Xbox and Windows 10. From our stellar lineup of blockbusters, including Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Halo Wars 2, ReCore and Sea of Thieves, to a host of ID@Xbox titles including We Happy Few, Everspace and Cuphead, we can’t wait for our fans to play. This year we’re also in a brand new location – you’ll be able to find us in Hall 8 of the Koelnmesse near the north entrance.
With being delayed into 2017, and the release of Project Scorpio, it’s not hard to assume that Crackdown 3 might be pushed to be a release title for the upcoming console. It’s also hard not to speculate whether or not the Xbox One would have been able to handle the ambitious destructive environments of Pacific City.
Crackdown 3 was sold on the idea of having highly destructive environments as the next step to the ‘super-cop’ themed franchise. Early on, the game was shown as a tech demo to display the cloud processing power of Azure. Now, with Project Scorpio on the horizon, it feels as if Microsoft might be ditching the emphasis of ‘cloud processing’ to a more tangible 6 teraflop system.
Crackdown 3 will be available on the Xbox One and the Windows 10 PC as a cross-play & play anywhere title.
Source: Crackdown Official & Major Nelson
