In December 2021, Iron Galaxy hosted a closed technical test for its upcoming wrestling-themed battle royale Rumbleverse. It didn’t blow up the internet, but for a closed test drawing attention to a game few had heard of prior, it certainly drew some interest. As battle royale players know, however, to thrive a battle royale needs more than light interest at launch. Iron Galaxy appears to agree, as publisher Epic Games has now confirmed that Rumbleverse has been delayed indefinitely.
To be clear, Rumbleverse‘s indefinite delay appears to be in service to positioning it for a stronger launch, rather than potentially shelving the battle royale. It was previously planned to release on February 15, a date not only in the middle of a very busy month but also doing Rumbleverse no favors considering the lack of hype and advertising so far. Iron Galaxy also says that it wants to “perfect the experience” before it goes live.
Rumbleverse won’t be going away in the meantime, even though it doesn’t have a new release date yet. Epic Games and Iron Galaxy are planning additional tests for Rumbleverse going forward. The first will start on February 12 and is, unfortunately, exclusive to PC once more. It’s intended to help Iron Galaxy test out its new infrastructure and will only be available for two hours, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Central Time. Iron Galaxy says this is just the first test leading up to launch, so expect more in the future.
Iron Galaxy also addresses one other important issue in its announcement. It previously allowed excited Rumbleverse fans to pre-order an Early Access Pack of DLC that included a week of early access. Since Rumbleverse is no longer launching on February 15, and has no new release date, Epic Games will be refunding everyone that purchased an Early Access Pack. It can then be repurchased once Rumbleverse has a new launch date.
While this may seem like a frustrating and potentially worrying decision for Rumbleverse, the development team seems genuinely inspired by the response from its First Look test in early December. The extra time will allow Iron Galaxy to create the full experience it wants to deliver with Rumbleverse.
At the very least, it lets Rumbleverse escape early February, which would have come after the launch of Pokemon Legends Arceus and Dying Light 2 and just before Horizon Forbidden West, Destiny 2‘s The Witch Queen expansion, and Elden Ring. Escaping February gives Rumbleverse the chance it’s going to need.
Rumbleverse is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
