SEGA finally released a press release declaring Alpha Protocol as no-show for its intended October release date. The official press release announcement comes after last week's changing of the release date on the website, and last month's expectation that the game was going to be late.

Unfortunately for fans of the game, no release date has been pinned down besides 'Spring 2010.'

According to Masanao Maeda, SEGA President and COO, the game has been delayed in order to improve it:

"Since the inception of Alpha Protocol, SEGA has recognized the potential for the game to establish itself as an AAA title.  We’ve worked in conjunction with Obsidian Entertainment in making the decision to move Alpha Protocol’s ship date to spring 2010 to ensure that we have the best game possible at launch."

Spy-themed RPG Alpha Protocol (but arguably better classified as an ARPG) is being made by Obsidian Entertainment for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. Though Obsidian is generally well-regarded as a RPG maker, they have had a somewhat rough track record when it comes to buggy releases. Perhaps this extra amount of polish will really help the game out. However the title will now be going up against Splinter Cell: Conviction and Mass Effect 2, amongst others, making a successful Spring release potentially more challenging.

In an unofficial forum post concerning the delay announcement, Obsidian PR and marketing guy Matthew Rorie said:

"The game is going to get a good coat of polish to it, and it's also hopefully going to become more visible to the gaming community at large. So that's a win-win for everyone. It sucks that it won't be coming out for a while, but it'll be awesome when it does."