Without this game, Sony has a bit of a gap in its schedule.

During the Gamescom 2021 presentation yesterday, Guerrilla Games made a disappointing announcement: the PlayStation exclusive Horizon Forbidden West, sequel to 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn and a major draw point for the PlayStation 5, will not be making its originally planned 2021 release window. Instead, the game now has a tentative release date of February 18, 2022.

Horizon Forbidden West launches February 18, 2022 for PS5 & PS4.

Pre-orders go live September 2.

Full details: https://t.co/wr0Vy7S86t pic.twitter.com/UMTtFILla9

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) August 25, 2021

The game’s director, Mathijs de Jonge, explained that following the game’s initial reveal back in May, development had proceeded at a fairly steady clip, but unfortunately, not quite steady enough to get the game out before the end of the year. According to de Jonge, one of the primary culprits behind the delay being difficulties caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

BREAKING: Horizon Forbidden West will launch on February 18, 2022! #OpeningNightLive pic.twitter.com/idFrU0NSQu

— GameSpot (@GameSpot) August 25, 2021

This delay puts Sony in a bit of a predicament, as without Forbidden West, the PlayStation 5 doesn’t have any major exclusives coming out before the end of the year, with the upcoming sequels to Gran Turismo and God of War still a ways off. On the bright side, as de Jonge announced, a patch has been released for Horizon Zero Dawn, specifically for those looking to play it on the PS5, that would allow the game to run at 60 frames per second.