Today, SEGA and Relic Entertainment announced a delay for Company of Heroes 3. Previously scheduled to launch on November 17th, the third installment in the acclaimed strategy game franchise will now launch on February 23rd, 2023. Justin Dowdeswell, General Manager at Relic Entertainment, stated:
Working with the CoH-Dev community over the last years has been an invaluable experience and we’re immensely grateful for all of their contributions to Company of Heroes 3 so far. We want to deliver the biggest and most immersive game in our franchise’s history, which means we need a bit more time for bug fixing, balancing, and polishing to ensure our players have a fantastic experience at launch.
The press release also reveals some of the most significant improvements that originated directly from user feedback.
- Relic has made distinct improvements to its brand-new Dynamic Campaign Map, such as updating its new supply system, implementing a more aggressive AI, and seeing faster travel across the map through seaport and airport enhancements.
- The studio has added a stronger focus on visual grit and details during battles, by improving shader technology and finetuning. Additionally, Relic has made significant changes to the overall lighting of Company of Heroes 3.
- Relic has enhanced moment-to-moment gameplay by making changes to the camera positioning and providing clearer mini-map information. Improvements are also being made to the HUD layout and the overall theming of the UI.
- Seeing players experiment with the Multiplayer Pre-Alpha in November 2021 really helped the developers make significant improvements on Battlegroups, their upgrade trees, units, and call-in abilities.
- Relic has reviewed and improved parts of the voice-over lines to ensure they are authentic to specific characters and their native accents featured in the game.
Company of Heroes 3 can already be pre-ordered on Steam. A few days ago, the developers also confirmed that the Essence Editor modding tools will be supported on day one, allowing modders to create user-generated content and then share it through Steam Workshop.
