Big Ant Studios have announced that their upcoming game Cricket 22 will be delayed and will have Tim Paine removed from the cover following the recently publicised sexting scandal has forced the former Australian men’s Test captain to step down from his role.
In a statement to 9news, the Melbourne-based studio has said that: ‘Unfortunately, factors beyond our control have meant that we need to update the game’s cover art, other visuals and team lists.’ These last-minute changes have forced the studio to delay the game from its initial release date of November 25 to December 2, 2021.
Cricket 22 is set to be the latest cricket game developed by Big Ant Studios and will be the official game to accompany this summer’s Ashes between the Australian and England men and women’s cricket teams. While the original Australian cover art of the game featured Tim Paine standing alongside women’s captain Meg Lanning, the former will be removed after Paine resigned from the captaincy last Friday in the wake of a sexting scandal he was involved in with a colleague back in 2017.
The new cover will be revealed in the coming days and will be implemented across Cricket 22’s digital store fronts. According to the 9news article, the physical versions of the game will include a digital copy of the new cover that people can print off at home if they choose to replace the existing one.
Cricket 22 will be releasing on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on December 2, 2021.
Are you excited for Cricket 22? Are you going to replace the old cover with the new one? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
