Delayed Release for 'GTA With Cops' Game Requires Longer Wait

The development team of The Precinct has announced a delay for the game without providing a specific replacement release date, stating that they are seeking to ensure a high-quality experience and are now aiming for a fall 2024 launch. The new delay trailer showcases GTA-like gameplay elements, offering a glimpse into the expanded scope and ambition of the project as the team works to deliver an immersive open-world experience for players.

The Development of The Precinct Delayed for Quality Assurance

The development team behind The Precinct, a top-down police-based action game that's drawn a lot of comparisons to Grand Theft Auto, is delaying the game's release, pulling it from its previously announced release date of August 15, 2024. While the game being compared to Grand Theft Auto should still be playable sometime this year, no replacement release date has been announced.

The GTA-style game was announced in May, and it is planned for release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The plot centers around rookie police officer Nick Ordell Jr., and while the gameplay feels similar to the Grand Theft Auto series in a lot of ways, players will be trying to maintain order instead of causing chaos as they fight procedurally generated crimes.

Posting on the game's official Steam page on July 17, the five-person team at independent development studio Fallen Tree Games Ltd and publisher Kwalee said the decision to move off of the August 15 release date was reached after running into some unspecified obstacles. While GTA fans may be keeping their eyes on The Precinct, the team stated that its members want to provide a high-quality gameplay experience for their players, and for that reason, they are aiming at a fall 2024 release, with no specific date announced at this time. While it doesn't list the obstacles causing the delay, the message to fans states that developers will be using the extra time to fix bugs and fine-tune the gameplay and that the game would not have been in a state the developers were happy with by the original release date.

The Precinct Scheduled for Release in Fall 2024

Along with the news of the delay, the development team has shared a new delay trailer for The Precinct, which was released a day prior to the official announcement on Steam. While the trailer shows off a lot of the GTA-like cop game's gameplay elements, such as gun combat, driving, and helicopter flying, it also carries an undertone that reflects the nature of the delay. Early on in the trailer, Officer Ordell is seen botching a mission and is called into the chief's office for a verbal dressing down, where the chief states that he isn't ready and is being sent back to the academy, remarking "Too much, too soon."

Moving the game off its original release date of August 15, 2024 wasn't a decision the developer or publisher made lightly, and they apologized to fans for the disappointment. "We know that a lot of you were looking forward to our August release date and we are deeply sorry for the disappointment this delay announcement will undoubtedly cause," the message states. While fans of the genre wait for a new release announcement, they can also check out an unexpected unofficial port of Grand Theft Auto 3, provided they've still got a working Dreamcast.