Funnily enough, this news doesn't surprise me, and that's because back in July some Japanese customers received emails stating that the product would be delayed until next year. Many didn't believe this was the case as some Japanese customers never received the email; it's as if it slipped past their automation and/or marketing team, to then be swept under the rug.
But as of today, NEOGEO and Plaion have made an official statement confirming that indeed, the upcoming NEOGEO AES+ consoles will be delayed until 16th September 2027, a whopping one-year delay for a console that's already being shown off at events, including the Tokyo Games Show later this year.
Pre-orders will remain open and existing orders will retain their priority in the shipping queue. According to Plaion, the decision follows a response to NEOGEO AES+ that has significantly exceeded expectations, prompting Plaion to expand manufacturing and secure the component supply needed to support a larger-scale worldwide launch. In simple terms, a lot of cool nerds pre-ordered it, and they screw up their expectations.
"As part of the revised launch plans, all consoles from the launch production run will include a Founding Supporter Bonus. Standard and Anniversary Edition consoles will include a free NEOGEO AES+ Gamepad, while Ultimate Edition owners will receive a 30% discount voucher for future NEOGEO AES+ games," states Plaion, which is a nice touch for sure. Though I will say that's a very long time to hold people's money, and it's not often we see delays as long as a year, though we hope this gives them enough time to perfect the console, because we too are excited about it.
