Koei Tecmo and Gust's RPG adaptation of Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail has been delayed according to Famitsu. In its upcoming releases calendar, this week's Famitsu magazine (officially titled "Weekly Famisu Magazine June 4, 2020 Issue") lists Fairy Tail RPG as releasing on July 30 instead of June 26.

 

Famitsu makes this calendar by asking Japanese companies about their game's status. And Famitsu is in contact with Koei Tecmo Japan, not Koei Tecmo America, who should know more on the game's status. However, it could also be an error. As it recently happened with Digimon Survive, whose release date in Famitsu went to "TBA" for a week and then back to "2020" the following week.

If this isn't an error on Famitsu's part, Koei Tecmo should confirm the delay of Fairy Tail RPG in the next few hours or days.

If confirmed, this would be the second delay for Fairy Tail RPG, as it was first supposed to release on March 19. Back when that first delay happened, Producer Keisuke Kikuchi explained how the game has been furthermore improved.

The most likely scenario is development of the game slowing down due to work from home conditions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. If you're been keeping an eye on DualShockers, we reported multiple times these past weeks how Japanese studios in particular are struggling to adapt. Square Enix, Arc System Works, Masahiro Sakurai, or niche studios you probably never heard about like Entergram all mentioned development is slowing down with telework.

Fairy Tail RPG is coming to PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. You can read the latest character profiles and game systems, most notably the guild system and the duel system, with our past coverage.The game has a physical limited edition in Japan with an Erza + Lucy + Wendy swimsuit poster. You can check it out here along with some OST samples. This physical Limited Edition, titled the Guild Box, was announced in Europe and my own country France, but not in USA. Seems like americans always get the short end of the stick when it comes to limited editions.

Update: Koei Tecmo has officially announced the delay with a statement citing Covid-19 impacting the development schedule as expected. Fairy Tail RPG is coming on July 30 in Japan and Europe, and one day later on July 31 in North America.