'Crackdown 3' release date update: Video game sequel delayed, arriving in 2017 to PC

"Crackdown 3," the hotly anticipated sequel to 2010's popular Xbox 360 video game "Crackdown 2," has been delayed until 2017.

The new release date for the upcoming sandbox-style third-person shooter game, which was originally slated for a summer 2016 drop, was announced this week in a blog post on the official "Crackdown" website.

According to Reagent Games Creative Director Dave Jones, upon its release, "Crackdown 3" will be available not only for Xbox but for Windows 10 PCs as well. The game will also be part of the Play Anywhere initiative, allowing players to buy one version of the game and play it on either a PC or an Xbox One. Play Anywhere also allows gamers to swap back and forth between playing on either device.

While Jones did not offer specific reasons for the "Crackdown 3" delay, he wrote that the company's "top priority is to give gamers an experience they have never seen before at a scale never thought possible." He also explained that "sticking to our original timeline would have compromised that goal."

"We know that many are looking forward to becoming Agents in 'Crackdown 3' and we are committed to delivering the best experience in 2017," he added. "This decision was made with our fans and their gaming experience in mind."

Jones closed the post by confirming that "Crackdown 3" will not be at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), as some had predicted.

"Crackdown 3" is the third installment in the "Crackdown" series of video games developed by Realtime Worlds and distributed by Microsoft Game Studios, originally only for the Xbox 360. "Crackdown," the first game in the franchise, was released in 2007.

"Crackdown 3" was officially announced during E3 2014. At Microsoft's gamescom in 2015, Jones demonstrated how Microsoft Cloud and Xbox Live make creating "completely physical and destructible multiplayer environments" possible.

Jones, the creator of the series, is also the man behind "Grand Theft Auto" and "Lemmings."