Cricket 22 developer forced to delay game over Australia Test captain sexting scandal
"... we find ourselves in an unprecedented position."
The developer of Cricket 22 was forced to delay the game after the Australia Test captain stepped down over historical investigation into texts sent to a colleague.
Melbourne-based Big Ant Studios said "factors beyond our control" mean it has to update the cover art, in-game assets and team lists, and must now revoke a critical day one patch.
Cricket 22 was due out 25th November. This new patch won't be released until 2nd December, which means all versions of Cricket 22 are delayed by a week to that date.
"This is the first time Big Ant Studios have ever had to delay a game release," the studio said in a statement, "but we find ourselves in an unprecedented position."
Big Ant Studios' statement does not mention Australia Test captain Tim Paine, but there is no doubt the delay has to do with the ongoing sexting scandal around the cricketer.
On Friday, Paine stepped down as Australia Test captain before the Ashes over a historical investigation into sexually explicit texts to a female colleague.
Paine admitted he had sent messages to a co-worker at Cricket Tasmania in 2017 that led to a misconduct investigation after she made allegations against him in 2018.
He said he was "exonerated", but announced he was stepping down as he had learned his texts were set to be revealed publicly.
Cricket 22 originally featured Paine and Australian women's captain Meg Lanning on the cover. Paine has now been replaced by Pat Cummins, vice-captain of the Australian men's cricket team.