Mercenary Kings will be missing its planned 2013 launch target, and instead aim at early 2014. Developer Tribute Games has announced the delay, and chalked it up to working out any bugs and fine-tuning the multiplayer experience so it's smooth online or on the couch.

According to a post on Tribute's blog (via Joystiq) the game is content-complete and is currently getting layers of polish to the sound and localization. It's now planned for early 2014 on Steam and PlayStation 4, and remote play for Vita is promised to work on day-one. An 'Early Access' version is available on Steam, but Tribute is clear that it lacks quite a bit from the finished release.

"Again, we'd like to thank you for your patience," the statement from Tribute says. "We do not take lightly the privilege of having people be excited about the game and asking us about it everyday on social media! We're working really hard to get it in the best possible shape and in your hands early 2014."