Big Ant Studios' Cricket 24 game gets delayed; new release to clash with ODI World Cup's curtain-raiser

The renowned game production firm Big Ant Studios has been working on coming up with a next-level Cricket game for the Esports gaming fans for a long time now. Notably, Cricket Australia have partnered with the firm and announced Cricket 24 back in April. The game was expected to get launched in June but as per the latest development, the release of the game has been shifted ahead. Now, a new release date of October 5 has been announced by the gaming giant which clashes with the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023, to be played in India.

However, this delay may not be bad news for the fans as the Ant Studios have provided new updates on the game. Earlier the goal was to release the game just around the start of the Ashes Test series. But this extension of a few months has led to adding a few more things to the game to make it even more exciting for the fans.

One of the key additions will be the Pakistan Super League (PSL) along with some teams from India which are still kept under the curtain. Apart from them, Ant Studios had already announced various reputed cricket leagues like the Indian Premier League (IPL), Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and the Big Bash League (BBL) to name a few. If that wasn't enough, the game will have over 50 stadiums to choose from to play and get the feel of international iconic venues across the globe. For the icing on the cake, the game will have an added calendar of Pakistan's tour of Australia too.

Speaking of the game, Cricket 24 will be released across various gaming platforms. PlayStation lovers will be able to enjoy the game on PS4 and PS5, while Xbox users will be able to play on Xbox series X, S and One, respectively. Moreover, the game will also be having a PC version as well. Interestingly enough, Nintendo fans need not lose their heart as the game has got a release time frame for them. For the Nintendo Switch users, the cricket game will arrive in November 2023.

Meanwhile, the major reason for this delay has been the misunderstandings between the stores that will be selling the games. Some stores had mentioned June 30 as the date by which the game will be up for sale while some mentioned July 31 as the date for accessing the game. Hence, to sort out the confusion, the studios have kept the release and some finishing touches on hold.

Cricket 24 will carry three interesting features

Now talking about the game, Cricket 24 will boast three key features. Career Mode is the first major feature which will follow a career trajectory, whereby the gamers will start as fresh club-level cricketers and will progress ahead to become an international stars. The second interesting part is the total overhauling of the fielding mechanism for the game. In Cricket 24, the algorithms for fielding will be quite realistic and real-time just like in the real world of cricket. This will lead to having more realistic controls for the fielding side.

Lastly, the powerful cricket game will have cross-platform utility apart from playing with other online multiplayer. This means that irrespective of the devices a player is using, all the different platforms will be able to sync and play together. Furthermore, using the 'Academy' feature, gaming aficionados will be able to customise and share teams, players and venues.