Dino school story Goodbye Volcano High gets pushed back to August

The meteor has been delayed

Prehistoric narrative adventure Goodbye Volcano High is shifting dates. Publisher and developer KO_OP announced that Goodbye Volcano High has been delayed to an August 29, 2023 release date.

Originally scheduled for June, this is only a delay of a couple months for the narrative title. In a post from KO_OP, the studio says the decision was made after taking a look at its production schedule.

“The reality is that, with our current workload, we could not have met our June launch date without significant cuts to the quality and scope of the game,” said KO_OP. “This would mean delivering something much different than what we’ve envisioned and worked toward. We don’t want to release anything less than the best version of the game we have been making throughout our development cycle.

“Plus, we’re a studio that prides itself on avoiding crunch. Meeting our original launch date would require our team to work nights, weekends and early mornings to ship and risk burning people out.”

Moving out the busy June schedule also opens the studio up to more opportunities and a greater chance of success, according to KO_OP. Which, looking at the stacked calendar for June, is pretty accurate. Volcano High already demoed early this month at LudoNarraCon, but another public demo is in the works.

The end has no end

Goodbye Volcano High is a narrative adventure game that’s been in the works for a little while now. The studio hit a snag early on, originally surfacing at the 2020 PlayStation showcase alongside the PS5 but going quiet for some time.

It follows Fang, a dinosaur working through the drama of dino-high life while the end of the world looms overhead. It’s a good metaphor, and the combination of narrative social  elements and rhythm game mechanics seem like they could make for an angsty, intriguing experience.

We’ll see what’s in store later this summer, as Goodbye Volcano High now targets a launch date of August 29.

Eric Van Allen

Senior News Reporter – While Eric’s been writing about games since 2014, he’s been playing them for a lot longer. Usually found grinding RPG battles, digging into an indie gem, or hanging out around the Limsa Aethryte.