Is IL-2: Battle of Kuban final release close?

2–3 minutes

I think I write about this nearly weekly as new information trickles out and questions keep coming: When is patch 3.001 coming out? Here’s the latest hints we have.

The sale theory

The most optimistic among us think that release is imminent and the latest reason for that follows the announcement of the Lunar Sale today.

The sale starts today and lasts until Monday the 19th. This is a fairly short sale as far as the IL-2 series is concerned. Most last longer but this one is short and it comes connected to a project update e-mail including the following:

Battle of Kuban is nearing completion which is scheduled for Q1 2018. That means the time is running out to take advantage of the current discount on its Pre-Order in our webstore.

Read one way you could suppose that release is imminent and after Monday the 19th release could happen any day.

I’m not reading it that way personally but we’re exploring theories here so lets stay optimistic. Or… we might inject some realism in here.

The March theory

This one I put a little more stock into for a few reasons. Looking at the quoted statement above in another way we can draw on the idea that release will happen before the end of Q1. The quarter system in financial markets is usually also how video games get targeted and Q1 ends March 31.

The development itself is currently focused on completing and testing the remaining important features like Pilot Career, Co-Operative Multiplayer and the remaining aircraft like the P-39L.

This sounds to me like development is ongoing and indeed it is. If the last dev diary update is indicative of the current state of the project, it looks like the P-39L-1 cockpit still needs work.

That’s not a criticism either but rather just the reality that they are still finishing that aircraft – and a key one too as its really the star of this product release being the aircraft on the box and one flown by many ace pilots in the Kuban battle in 1943.

P-39L-cockpit-wip
The beautifully detailed but not quite there yet P-39L-1 cockpit.

With a key aircraft cockpit still being finished and testing on the new Career and Co-op modes still underway, it seems likely to me that next week as the release date is just not realistic. It was my best guess a few weeks ago but with the latest information available… I just don’t think so.

So which will it be?

 

Nobody really knows exactly when it will be but we do know it will be soon. I hesitate to say it…. Two weeks? You can start laughing now!

4 responses to “Is IL-2: Battle of Kuban final release close?”

  1. Habsburger Avatar
    Habsburger

    Now that the Lunar New Year sale has been extended to 26th, I’m cautiously hoping the update will be released then or later that week… That’s most likely too optimistic, but one can hope. It has been such a long wait. What gives me hope is that – if I remember correctly – the big Kuban map update last year came on a tuesday right after a sale had ended? So perhaps history might repeat itself 🙂

    At least my replacement joystick arrived last week, so I’m no longer grounded, and can take full part in launch celebrations. A-20 will bring the fireworks.

    However, you have an excellent track record when it comes to guessing – the way you predicted Bodenplatte from the dev diary showing improved metal skins comes to mind – so I think I won’t be laughing at your latest guesstimate. But I hope you will forgive me for wishing this time you’ve overshot your guess, so that we might get the update sooner rather than later 😀

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    1. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
      ShamrockOneFive

      This is certainly one of the theories out there. I honestly am hoping its not next week as I’ve got a busy week ahead and may not really be able to do much flying with it if it does come out. That said I’m trying to be completely unbiased with my guess.

      The theory is still going that it will come out, as you say, following the end of the sale. I’d love to believe that but I have a few reasons for not:

      1) If they had confidence (and they should by now) that they were ready to launch next week. I think they might announce that.

      2) In the e-mail announcing the sale they specifically said by the end of Q1 2018. That gives them technically to March 31st. I honestly don’t think its March 31st but I do think they are not QUITE there yet.

      I still think we’re a couple of weeks out. Especially because I think after waiting so long that they really want to stick the landing and have a quality release.

      With Battle of Bodenplatte, they gave us a pretty big hint just before they announced it. With this… we don’t have too many hints. We’ll see! 🙂

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      1. Habsburger Avatar
        Habsburger

        All good points 🙂 I simply remember them launching the Kuban update with little prior fanfare, apart from generally showcasing the coming features in dev diaries and saying it would be soon (as they are basically doing now). If we get a developer diary tomorrow, it might give a better idea or not. It’s fun to speculate!

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      2. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
        ShamrockOneFive

        Today’s developer update might have been the clue I was looking for. I’m increasing chances that release will happen on Tuesday.

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