No More Heroes 3 won’t make release this year and has slipped into 2021, creator Goichi ‘Suda51’ Suda has announced.

In a tweet from the developer, Suda51 apologised to fans who had been hoping for more news since the game’s reveal at last year’s The Game Awards, saying that “all staff members at Grasshopper Manufacture have been working as hard as possible on developing the game in the hopes of releasing it in 2020, but the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have unfortunately proven to be a real body blow to our schedule, causing unforseen delays in development. Now that we have managed to get back on our feet with development, we have decided to focus on prioritising quality, and to therefore push back the final release date.”

All being well, No More Heroes 3 is aiming to launch exclusively for the Nintendo Switch in 2021.

I have a very important announcement to share today. pic.twitter.com/i4qTdNpYeD

— SUDA51/須田剛一 (@suda_51) September 10, 2020

Presenting “Demzamtiger & His Master” – a specially commissioned piece for NMH3 by Darick Robertson. pic.twitter.com/hk3FvsGJh7