Rumors of Second Delay for Alpha Protocol

The upcoming espionage action RPG Alpha Protocol from Sega might not come out until next summer. Since it was first announced, in March 2008, the games original launch date of the first quarter of 2009 has already been pushed back once to Q4 2009.

Now, Eurogamer has broken the news that Gamestop and Amazon have revised the expected release dates in the US for Alpha Protocol to June 2010. Meantime, Canadian and UK retailers either list the October 2009 dates, or no date. Eurogamer says Sega has declined to comment on the delay.

Alpha Protocol, listed as a PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 title, as previewed by Bit-Tech.net is described as a "modern-day spy action-RPG about a betrayed CIA operative who goes hunting for some missing warheads and comes up against a bunch of secret societies and the like". The game is being developed for Sega by Obsidian Entertainment, who are also behind Neverwinter Nights2: Storm of Zehir and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II.

An internal Sega document, leaked earlier this year on a French site, included the following meeting notes on Alpha Protocol:

"Michael Foster, product evaluator, said AP felt barely RPG. Initial level too challenging for players. Mass Effect felt more RPG. Review notes sent to John Merlino a few weeks prior. After meeting Gerald mentioned AP is a high priority for his team".

Two previous projects that Obsidian was developing with Sega were both canceled, so make of all that what you will.