Captain America/Black Panther team-up game Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra has been delayed, and will no longer release early next year, according to a statement from developer Skydance Games

This marks yet another delay for the long in the works game, which was originally scheduled to release in 2025. It was pushed off to "early 2026" back in May, and now it seems that won't be the case either. In both cases, developer Skydance Games has cited a need to reach a certain bar of quality and player experience.

Here's Skydance's full statement, which was posted on their social media:

"At Skydance Games, our goal is to deliver unforgettable, premium games that honor the characters and worlds we're fortunate to work with. MARVEL 1943: Rise of Hydra is an ambitious project, and we are committed to ensuring it meets the level of quality that our team, players, and fans expect.

"To fully realize our vision for MARVEL 1943: Rise of Hydra, we've made the decision to shift our release window beyond early 2026.

"We're grateful for the passion and support from the community and players around the world. The team is working hard to create something truly special, and we look forward to sharing more with you as development progresses."

The Marvel 1943 delay is the second big announcement of a major game release being pushed off, with the notoriously long-awaited Grand Theft Auto 6 also being delayed by six months. It's de rigueur for the industry, but it's always disappointing when a highly awaited release is delayed.

While we wait, stay up to date on all the upcoming video game release dates for 2025.

World of Warcraft's next expansion will introduce player housing and it's coming with WoW's first ever premium currency. Wowhead recently dug up something called "Hearthsteel" in the files of the Midnight alpha and now Blizzard has made a blog post confirming that it's real and on its way with the expansion.

It clarified a few basic things, like being able to buy Hearthsteel with your Battle.net balance (and therefore with in-game gold via WoW tokens) and that it intends to keep the catalog small compared to what you can earn by playing the game.

"Housing items tied to core fantasies of a player's race or class, or that already exist in Azeroth, won't be sold in the shop," it says. "Thematically important decor that players know and love will also not appear in the shop."

Then it went on to explain why it's adding a premium currency in the first place, especially when it already sells mounts and cosmetics for real money values. In addition to providing "appropriate financial protections for both parties"—whatever that means—Blizzard says it's to help players purchase multiple items at once.

"As an example, you may want a full set of chairs to place around a dining table, multiple place settings for your invited guests, or even many candles to help decorate the room for a complete look," it says. "Using an in-game currency can help make the process of obtaining many of these types of inexpensive items more efficient."

A quick glance at the WoW Reddit will give you an idea of how well this has gone over with players. Even though Hearthsteel isn't here yet, players are convinced Blizzard is intentionally side-stepping the fact that it wants to sell bundles of currency like every other game does to try to get you to spend more than you need.

Blizzard - I personally don’t mind buying decor items individually on the shop with real money. It’s this what I’m afraid of by needing an unnecessarily new currency. from r/wow

Reddit user d1eselx made a mockup image of the problem everyone is worried about: In their example, a decoration might cost 1,100 Hearthsteel, but you can only buy 1,000 or 2,000 Hearthsteel at a time, forcing you to pay more than the exact price.

Blizzard says a premium currency makes it easier to buy multiple items, but, as Reddit user Pariah points out, "so does a shopping cart."

The same comment also has players worried that every housing item will require buying or earning multiple copies. Part of this I can understand from Blizzard's perspective. It would be kind of weird to have 30 copies of a dragon head mounted on your wall from a single boss kill. Some items should be limited to preserve their importance. But at the same time, you should let people place as many chairs and tables as they want in their home.

Blizzard has made it clear that player housing is a work in progress and still will be even when Midnight launches sometime next year. It just so happens that when you try to introduce a premium currency into a game that was doing fine without one, people will have quite a lot of feedback to give about it. I only hope that Blizzard takes the reactions seriously and doesn't nickel and dime people for a feature they've been looking forward to for years.