Homeworld 3 is delayed and will now launch in February 2024, Gearbox Software announced on Thursday. The schedule change confirms what fans had suspected, as previously the sci-fi real-time strategy game had been slated for a launch sometime in the first half of this year.
We are moving the launch of Homeworld 3 from the first half of 2023 to February 2024 so that we deliver the quality experience that fans deserve. pic.twitter.com/DaCX4eFMm4
— Homeworld (@HomeworldGame) May 25, 2023
In a Twitter statement, Gearbox said the delay is meant to give those fans “the quality experience [they] deserve.” The studio added that “we need more time to refine and polish the game.” Homeworld 3
Blackbird Interactive, which made the spinoff/prequel Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak for Gearbox in 2016, has been developing Homeworld 3 since 2017.
This makes the second delay for Homeworld 3, whose first launch window was 2022. The series dates to 1999 but hasn’t seen a main-series launch since 2003’s Homeworld 2 (though a remastered version of that did launch in 2015).
The series’ dormancy comes from former publisher THQ’s bankruptcy and liquidation 10 years ago; Gearbox’s acquisition of the franchise; a crowdfunding campaign to support the long-awaited sequel; and then Embracer Group’s acquisition of Gearbox, suspending that campaign.