Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst’s release date parkours from May 24 to June 7

Battlefield and Mirror’s Edge developer DICE has had a lot of experience releasing a game with a shaky online infrastructure, and that is likely one of the reasons it is delaying the launch of its next big game.

Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, an open-world parkour game, is now coming June 7. That’s about two weeks later than its original May 24 release date. DICE is about to offer some players a chance to try out the game starting tomorrow as part of a closed beta test, but the studio already seems to know that it needs to put a bit more work into the project. Specifically, the company wants to ensure that its new “Dashes” and “Social Play” features (which enables players to create their own time-trial challenges for their friends) works as intended, according to a blog post by DICE design director Erik Odeldahl. Catalyst is a big game for publisher Electronic Arts in 2016 and is its major summer release, and giving it the best possible debut should help it get the biggest return on investment in the $99.6 billion gaming industry.

“To support the Social Play features, we are using a brand new online technology,” wrote Odeldahl. “We also want to make sure we have the opportunity and time to address player feedback from the Closed Beta. That is why we will give ourselves a bit more time to perfect the game, with a new release date for Mirror’s Edge Catalyst of June 7 in North America and June 9 in Europe. We’re confident that these extra two weeks will make sure the game is as amazing as possible for you the players.”

Two-week delays are not uncommon in the gaming industry. Developers and publishers sometimes push their releases back half a month to put some last-minute polish on their products, and it’s something that EA clearly thinks is worth doing to give Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst the best chance to succeed.