Release date and unlock times
The official worldwide date is October 16, 2026; the unlock lands at 15:00 PDT on October 15, which is why Steam and some storefronts show October 15 2026 instead.
The official date and the date on your store page disagree by one day. Both are correct, and the reason is timezones.
The official answer
Bandai Namco announced the launch as Friday, October 16, 2026, worldwide. The same announcement gave the unlock moment explicitly:
- 15:00 PDT, October 15
- 00:00 CEST, October 16
Those two lines describe the same instant. North and South America see it land late on the 15th; Europe and everything east of it see it land at midnight on the 16th.
Why your store page might show October 15
Steam's store page lists the release as October 15, 2026 because the store prints the US Pacific calendar date. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo pages typically print the local date for the region you are browsing from, which is why European and Asian storefronts show the 16th. Neither is a delay.
| Region | Local unlock time |
|---|---|
| US Pacific | 15:00, October 15 |
| US Eastern | 18:00, October 15 |
| UK | 23:00, October 15 |
| Central Europe | 00:00, October 16 |
| Japan / Korea | 07:00, October 16 |
| China | 06:00, October 16 |
| Australia (East) | 08:00, October 16 |
What to do before it unlocks
- Wishlist it now. Store notifications are the reliable way to be told the moment it goes live, and the store page is already published.
- Check your storage and your controller. The remaster ships with full controller support including DualShock and DualSense pads, so a wired pad is the lowest-friction setup on PC.
- Decide on the edition before launch. Pre-launch windows are the usual time for edition bonuses, and the Deluxe contents are listed on the editions page.
About the date itself
The 2001 original launched on PlayStation, and the North American version that year shipped under a different title entirely. This remaster is based on the later handheld port rather than the original disc, which is why it can restore content — including the skits — that the first English release was missing.
