'Birthdays: The Beginning' misses its March release date, slips to May

By Danny Cowan Published December 27, 2016

Birthdays the Beginning - TGS Trailer (PS4, Steam)

Arc System Works’ and Toybox Inc.’s world-building ecology sim Birthdays: The Beginning will miss its targeted March launch date, publisher NIS America announced this week.

The creativity-sparking life sim will now launch in May for the PlayStation 4 and PC platforms via Steam.

Announced earlier in 2016, Birthdays: The Beginning is a simulation game where players customize a growing, living world to attract new lifeforms and evolutionary species. Individual worlds will differ based on choices players make throughout the quest, as different creatures will inhabit player environments based on factors like climate, temperature, and the availability of certain foods.

Birthdays: The Beginning is developed in a partnership between Guilty Gear series developer Arc System Works and Toybox Inc., a studio founded by Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada. Wada serves a key creative role in the project, drawing the attention of Harvest Moon fans in search of laid-back gameplay in a similar vein as their preferred farming simulation series.

Wada’s previous design credits include Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, Harvest Moon 64, and Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. Prior to founding Toybox Inc., Wada served as an executive producer for cult-status games like Deadly Premonition, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Half-Minute Hero, Shadows of the Damned, and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.

NIS America did not address the delay beyond a brief press release and an updated Facebook cover photo. The reasoning behind the shift in release date remains unclear, but the project remains in development.

Birthdays: The Beginning is scheduled to launch digitally and at retail in North America on May 9. A European launch is scheduled for May 12.

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