Reports are circulating that "Battlefield 2042" will soon be delayed and pushed back until 2022. My initial reaction was one of immense disappointment and the urge to declare the day ruined, but on second thought, it's actually okay.

Of course, no one truly enjoys delays. For developers, it could mean months of extra work. For gamers who are eagerly awaiting the title, they will have to wait many more weeks. After giving it some thought, I definitely think the delay of Battlefield 2042 is a good thing.

Rumors of a delay, so far only rumors, surfaced earlier this week when industry insider Jeff Grubb tweeted that more delays were coming this week. He later clarified that he was actually referring to this one delay; other sources, including Xbox Era's Nick Baker, quickly backed up this claim, suggesting that the game in question was Battlefield 2042.

Nick Baker quickly clarified that he had only heard that the game would be delayed, not that it would definitely be delayed to 2022. Instead, it may just be pushed a bit to November or December. Either way, it is certainly looking less and less likely that "Battlefield 2042" will make it to its currently scheduled October 24 release date.

A delay to 2022 would put it in competition with "Call of Duty: Vanguard" and "Halo Infinite," which are scheduled for release later in the year. But that is not why I accepted the possibility of a postponement. Let me explain why I am happy about the postponement of the launch of "Battlefield 2042."

Although the game is supposed to be released in a little over a month, "Battlefield 2042" has barely been seen. In fact, about two weeks ago, the official Battlefield Twitter account posted a short one-and-a-half minute clip.

The short social media clip sits alongside a cinematic reveal trailer and two highly edited gameplay trailers of three minutes each. Such a paucity of gameplay footage is unusual for a game that is set to launch in a few weeks.

By comparison, "Call of Duty: Vanguard" entered its second all-player beta this weekend, and "Halo Infinite" had a playable technical preview in August. Needless to say, these games have plenty of unscripted game footage, which can be viewed online.

"Battlefield 2042" held a technical alpha over the summer, but it was held under a strict NDA and participants were not allowed to talk about their experiences or share footage. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a few players did not follow this rule and leaked some rather rough gameplay footage.

While the few minutes of officially approved gameplay footage looked solid, the dozen or so minutes of leaked footage do not really paint a good picture of the game. The technical alpha is almost certainly an outdated build at this point, but Battlefield 2042 could use a little more time to build up.

An open beta was also scheduled to take place this month, but developer Dice has yet to provide a date or more information. Battlefield's Twitter account made fun of the flood of inquiries about the beta earlier in the month. However, we are now halfway through September and have yet to hear anything. This could be an ominous sign.

All clues taken together, there is no doubt that "Battlefield 2042" does not appear to be ready for prime time. If this is indeed the case, I hope the developers take the necessary time to further polish the game so that it will be in good shape upon release. I have been waiting since 2013 for the Battlefield mainline games to return to a more modern setting so I can wait a few extra months.

Another reason I can agree with the delay is that I have seen what happens when you rush a Battlefield game to market. Battlefield 4 is now considered one of the best in the series, but that was definitely not the case when it was first released.

Battlefield 4 was released in a broken state. At launch, there were so many technical problems that many players were literally unable to play for weeks. I vividly remember the launch weekend, I probably spent more time watching the matchmaking screen not connect than I did actually playing the game.

Even if I finally get my hands on Battlefield 2042 later this year or in 2022, I certainly don't want to repeat that experience. If the developers of Dice decided that a delay was necessary, it is because they are desperate not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

As the old saying goes, "Blessed are those who wait," and that may be true of Battlefield 2042; it would certainly be disappointing if it were not deployed to the battlefield by October 22. But in the long run, I'm confident that patenting it will lead to a better game, and that's a trade-off I'm willing to make.