Shannon Loftis, the general manager of Microsoft Studios Publishing, recently commented on Twitter about the release window for Crackdown 3, in reply to users concerned about the game.

Reports began to surface that the campaign, cooperative mode and the Wrecking Zone mode for Crackdown 3 were all being delayed. Obviously, gamers asked if some part of Crackdown 3 was still being released this year, but Loftis clarified with a follow-up tweet explaining that the entire game will be delayed into spring of 2018 because it’s “super ambitious”, and the team needs more time to polish.

To clarify: the entire game is moving to Spring 2018. It’s super ambitious, and we want to make sure the game delivers. https://t.co/cGdHTnuI2b

— Shannon Loftis (@shannonloftis) August 16, 2017

While some Xbox fans are disappointed, this is actually really, really good news.

The last development footage for Crackdown 3 appeared at the San Diego Comic-Con, and it was not good. The game lacked focus, it lacked intensity, the AI was extremely contained, and there wasn’t much use of the widely touted physic systems.

Much of the game was just a typical run-and-gun third-person shooter with some glitchy NPC vehicle reactions, some less-than-stellar environmental destruction, and par-the-course weaponry. They had originally planned to release the game on November 7th, 2017.

Part of the game’s design is being powered by Cloudgine’s cloud-streaming technology. However, Microsoft and Sumo Digital have been coy about how the cloud-streaming is even being utilized for the latest iteration of Crackdown 3. Some reports indicated that it would be limited to the multiplayer only, while previous reports indicated that some aspects of the single-player would be utilizing the features as well.

Part of Microsoft’s efforts lately for Crackdown 3 has been to put the focus on the game featuring Hollywood actor Terry Crews, talking up how he did mo-cap for the game, voice work, and even had his likeness scanned in. Of course, adding in Crews without adding in fun gameplay is kind of a moot point. So if the delay means the game might actually become fun, then the wait isn’t that bad. The major issue is that Xbox One and Xbox One X lose yet another exclusive this year, following up on Scalebound being cut from the line-up.

At this point the only major AAA exclusive Microsoft has for the fall is Forza Motorsport 7. Every other noteworthy game is multiplatform. However, putting more time into an open-world game to ensure it doesn’t turn out like Driv3r is never a bad thing.

All in all – to paraphrase the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto – a delayed game will eventually become good, but a rushed game will forever be bad.