Even if the game is delayed (and until Atlus says so, I don't believe that rumor for one second, simply because it could've been started by someone who doesn't want the game to do well.) then they might as well wait till January to release it for these interconnecting reasons.
1) November is where every non-high profile game will be sent to die. The month is far too loaded for a title like KoF XIII to get the attention it deserves.
2) Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 is getting released on November 15th, which means that any fighting game released within 4 - 6 weeks of its release (And just to get this out of the way... Yes I do believe SNKP/Atlus are pushing it with an October 25th Release) that's not named Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat will almost certainly get ignored by potential American (and possibly Western) Consumers at large. KoF XIII might have legs, but it needs to be released where the attention of the consumers is at a maximum and the competition is at a minimum
3) If its not released in October, January 2012 is the "ideal" spot where this game can do well. November is not going to work and December is usually an extension of what sells in November. There has been precedents where January games do relatively well simply because there are dollars to be spent due to a dearth of releases at this time. Also, SF X Tekken is more than likely a Fiscal 4th Quarter release, which means that it'll be till April before SNKP and Atlus will have another month where they can command as much of the spotlight as possible.
Also, (and this reason is independent of the others) as has been said before, SNKP and Atlus need to make sure that this product is as solid as possible. They've already done an EXCELLENT job with the added Story, Challenge and Tutorial modes, but being a niche product they need to make sure that the "hater fuel" is at an absolute minimum. Which means that the netcode needs to be solid and the loading is at the bare minimum. Those things are far more important than Spectator Mode and must be at their very best.
Finally, it would be nice to rethink their current DLC characters. I rather wait another 6 - 8 months for unique DLC characters than have EX Characters as DLC. And if the current 4 have to be DLC, make sure they're fairly priced (and I'd say fairly priced would be 240 MS Points/$2.99.) and give some us unique ones down the road.
That's my 22 cents on the probable situation.
1) November is where every non-high profile game will be sent to die. The month is far too loaded for a title like KoF XIII to get the attention it deserves.
2) Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 is getting released on November 15th, which means that any fighting game released within 4 - 6 weeks of its release (And just to get this out of the way... Yes I do believe SNKP/Atlus are pushing it with an October 25th Release) that's not named Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat will almost certainly get ignored by potential American (and possibly Western) Consumers at large. KoF XIII might have legs, but it needs to be released where the attention of the consumers is at a maximum and the competition is at a minimum
3) If its not released in October, January 2012 is the "ideal" spot where this game can do well. November is not going to work and December is usually an extension of what sells in November. There has been precedents where January games do relatively well simply because there are dollars to be spent due to a dearth of releases at this time. Also, SF X Tekken is more than likely a Fiscal 4th Quarter release, which means that it'll be till April before SNKP and Atlus will have another month where they can command as much of the spotlight as possible.
Also, (and this reason is independent of the others) as has been said before, SNKP and Atlus need to make sure that this product is as solid as possible. They've already done an EXCELLENT job with the added Story, Challenge and Tutorial modes, but being a niche product they need to make sure that the "hater fuel" is at an absolute minimum. Which means that the netcode needs to be solid and the loading is at the bare minimum. Those things are far more important than Spectator Mode and must be at their very best.
Finally, it would be nice to rethink their current DLC characters. I rather wait another 6 - 8 months for unique DLC characters than have EX Characters as DLC. And if the current 4 have to be DLC, make sure they're fairly priced (and I'd say fairly priced would be 240 MS Points/$2.99.) and give some us unique ones down the road.
That's my 22 cents on the probable situation.