The new Walking Dead shooter from Payday developer Overkill Software has been delayed. Previously expected to launch this year for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, the game is now slated to arrive sometime in the second half of 2017, parent company Starbreeze has announced.

　　The news came as part of a bigger announcement that the Swedish company had received a $40 million investment from Korean game developer Smilegate, maker of the popular CrossFire mobile game.

　　In explaining Starbreeze's decision to delay Overkill's The Walking Dead game, the company said it plans to expand the game with "more content," while an Asian version is also being developed to launch simultaneously with the western version.

　　"The partners are convinced this will pave the way to success, maximize revenues, and cement it as a tent pole product for the next decade to come," Starbreeze said.

　　Little is known about Overkill's Walking Dead game, but the developer previously talked about how it will deliver a "completely new co-op experience" to the Walking Dead universe that will explore new characters and storylines. The game is being made with the blessing of The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, who says he was certain from the first day he saw the project that it was the "co-op action game fans have been waiting for." It is also the result of a new "long-term" partnership between Starbreeze and Kirkman's Skybound Interactive company. This partnership will extend "into the next decade" and marks a new era for Starbreeze, the company said.

　　"It will be gameplay focused, ferocious, and bring chaos to the traditional industry model--from us developers straight to you," Starbreeze CEO Bo Andersson Klint said about it back in 2014. He added that the game represents Starbreeze's "biggest endeavor to date."

　　505 Games, which is publishing Overkill's new Walking Dead shooter, has high hopes for it as well. Raphael Galante, the CEO of 505's parent company Digital Bros, previously said that it could duplicate or surpass the success of Payday 2. That game has sold more than 9 million copies, performing so well that it single-handedly pulled Starbreeze out of a 15-year loss in six months.

　　As part of Smilegate's investment in Starbreeze, the Swedish studio will develop a western version of CrossFire. The game is a massive hit in Asia, where Smilegate claims it has 500 million users.