An elephant never forgets, and neither does Level-5, apparently. After originally being slated for release all the way back in 2018, the football RPG *Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road* is actually coming out (for realsies!) on November 13.
Presumably confident in its original release date, the developer held a giveaway around seven years ago, offering a lucky group of gamers a chance to win a copy of the game upon launch. The giveaway went live, winners were picked, and all was good.
And then the game got delayed — first to May 2019, then again to 2020, and again to 2021. In a sign of remarkable foresight, Level-5 then skipped a year, pushing the release into 2023. But delays didn’t stop there; the game got postponed to 2024, then 2025. In fact, earlier this year, it was delayed twice—from June to August, and finally to next month.
With the November release date finally here to stay, Level-5 hasn’t forgotten those who won copies in its giveaway all those years ago. As reported by Automaton, winners have received a letter from the developer, complete with their prize and a heartfelt apology for the wait.
One winner posted a snippet of the letter to X (formerly Twitter). Automaton translated part of it, which reads:
“We deeply apologise for the significant delay in sending out the prizes for the *Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road* giveaway,” along with instructions on how to redeem the game once it’s out.
A machine-translated follow-up message from the original poster reveals some perspective on just how long the wait has been: they were “still in elementary school” when the giveaway occurred, and are now “about to become a high school student.”
Another X user shared their letter as well, writing:
“My daughter was in fourth grade when she won, and she’s a high school sophomore now lol.”
The passage of time is, indeed, terrifying.
As someone who often promises to do something and then immediately forgets once another task presents itself, I have to admire Level-5’s commitment to fulfilling its giveaway duties—no matter how long it took. Hopefully, the seven-year wait will have been worth it for those eagerly anticipating *Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road*’s release.
It’d be a bit of a bummer if the game turned out to be naff, eh?
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/approximately-2-555-days-after-a-day-one-giveaway-people-are-finally-receiving-copies-of-a-game-they-won-7-years-ago/
