2K’s NFL Arcade Game Delayed Past March 2022

2K’s upcoming NFL arcade game has been delayed. Originally set to release this year, 2K announced that its upcoming untitled NFL arcade game has been pushed out of fiscal year 2022. This places the game’s release date to beyond March of next year.”While we are very excited to once again be working with the NFL and NFLPA, our first title under these new partnerships is no longer expected to be released during fiscal year 2022,” a statement from 2K reads. “2K will have more to share on their plans for our football offerings going forward.”

This news comes by way of publisher Take-Two Interactive’s full-year financial results that were released today. These results revealed that the publisher has plans to release a total of 21 games between now and the end of its fiscal year in March 2022. None of those 21 games are likely to be Grand Theft Auto 6, nor will they be 2K’s first foray back into NFL games in years.

When 2K’s NFL arcade game was announced as in development, the company said it will be working on “non-simulation football game experiences,” meaning the games will not be like EA’s Madden football games, which has the simulation football video game experience cornered quite well.

When this 2K NFL arcade game releases presumably next year, it will be the first time in well over a decade that anyone but EA has released an NFL football video game. The last non-EA NFL game was 2K’s extremely well-received, aggressively-priced ESPN NFL 2K5 back in 2004. After that release, EA signed a long-term exclusive deal with the NFL.

It’s unknown when this game will release, but it is now known that fans shouldn’t expect to play it before April of next year. When asked for details about the untitled game when it was originally announced, 2K said the goal is “always authenticity, depth, fun, and as it relates to these titles — approachable and social football experiences.” The company also said it believes this game is “a good opportunity to service a more casual market, and our research shows there’s an appetite for that.”

As far as what that means for platforms, that’s currently unknown. While waiting to learn more about this game, check out our thoughts on the only NFL game released last year in IGN’s Madden NFL 21 review.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.