The Difference Between A Placeholder And An Official Release Date

 

It seems most gamers don’t know the difference between a placeholder and an actual release date issued by the publisher. Because of this I hear many people saying “The Last Guardian” is coming out (or did) in 2012 and apparently Kingdom Hearts 3 will be out before the end of 2014 (even though Nomura’s team at Square-Enix has spent the last 8 years working on a Final Fantasy game that is nowhere near being ready to be ship).

So what is a placeholder and why do they exist? Well a placeholder is an unofficial (i.e. wrong) time frame in which a game could potentially come out. This is made up by stores that sell video games because they need some sort of date to include the game in their database or it’s designed to encourage people to buy or pre-order the latest and newest game systems. For example, in the lead up to the launch of the Xbox One and Playstation 4, many shops advertised the new Wolfenstein would be coming out in 2013. We’re at the end of 2013 and the new Wolfenstein still hasn’t come out.

Hopefully this article will educate and help people avoid confusing a place holder with an actual release date issued by publishers. If you want an accurate date for when a game is coming out, visit the official site of the video game or contact the publisher via email. Also remember that each region could have a different release date and don’t forget the Americans have a different format for dates. Horray, for more layers of confusion!!!