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A studio’s greatest fear is encountering a development hell. Here are five games that eventually escaped development hell.
What is development hell in the video game industry? Development hell is usually referred to as a period where the production of the game goes through constant turmoil. There is a lack of vision leading to frequent changes in the direction the game takes. Developers begin to face crunch periods while trying to live up to the promised release date.
Creative conflict arises, disrupting the progress, as each director and producer envisions a different direction for the game. New ideas emerge to compromise the failure of adding the promised ideas. These are just some of the issues. Let’s look at five games that managed to escape development hell.
1. Dead Island 2
After the booming success of Dead Island in 2011 and its spinoff Riptide in 2013, people were hyped for the next release in the franchise. That’s when the announcement trailers for Dead Island dropped in 2014, which further raised expectations. It is after this that one problem after the other began arising.
Dead Island’s original developer, Techland, had to leave Deep Silver to go work with Dying Light. During the 2014 E3 that year, it was announced that Yager Development would be taking up the task of this project. But soon conflicts arose between Deep Silver and Yager Development over creative differences. Deep Silver was not too pleased with the direction and route being incorporated by Yager Development, and they were then removed in 2015.
After that, Sumo Digital took up the project in 2016. However, due to another set of internal issues, Deep Silver parted ways with Sumo Digital as well, putting the project on an unforeseeable hiatus. That is when Dambuster Studio, formerly known as Crytek UK, which was acquired by Deep Silver in 2014, took up the project.
After 4 studio shifts and a nine-year-long wait, the game finally came into existence. It proved to be a massive hit, selling one million units in three days and becoming Deep Silver’s biggest launch.
2. The Last Guardian
Fumito Ueda, a well-known game developer, was responsible for the predecessor of this game, The Shadow of the Colossus. He heard how touched people were by the bond shared between Wander and the horse. This helped form the roots of The Last Guardian. The studio began production in 2007 and announced the game as a PlayStation exclusive at E3 2009.
The developers seemed confident about their ability to launch the game soon, releasing another trailer in 2010 and also releasing a demo product for press members. A release date was later announced by the end of 2011. This is when the head of development, Shuhei Yoshida, explained that the team had failed in trying to bring the game to life. The trailers were adulterated to look good for the E3 2009 showcase. Furthermore, Trico’s AI and animation were proving to be a challenge to perfect.
Even Fumito left Sony in 2011 but continued to work as a freelancer. Despite the hardships, Sony made it clear that the project was still in development in 2012. It was then decided that the game would be moved to release as a PS4-exclusive title. Fumito was not originally happy about the news but eventually came to terms with it. It was a necessary step to help keep Fumito’s vision alive as the PS3 hardware struggled to make much progress.
In 2014, the lead programmer Jinji Horagai left to form a new studio with Fumito. The art direction, game design, and animation were then taken over by GenDesign. Six years later, at E3 2015, Sony finally re-revealed The Last Guardian and confirmed that it was a PS4-exclusive title. The following year, the game finally made its release and won the hearts of the fans.
3. Skull & Bones
2013 marked the year Skull & Bones first began production. The success of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag was one of the reasons behind the game being developed. It was initially meant to be an expansion for Black Flag but later became a stand-alone project.
Ubisoft announced the game for the first time at E3 2017. PvP naval battles combined with RPG features were promised to the players. Ubisoft had high hopes for the game but was unsure of which direction they wished to take. Ubisoft constantly rebooted the project while scrapping old builds and implementing new ideas.
E3 2018 and E3 2019 showed no apparent signs of the game taking any shape. Following more delays, another release date was announced in March 2020.
In 2021, Ubisoft came out with news on how the project underwent multiple leadership changes and how the game took different shapes under each creative director. The project turned out to be a nightmare due to poor management and lack of vision. Ubisoft, according to various reports, had invested close to $120 million by this year.
In 2022, Ubisoft finally re-etched the game into the minds of the eagerly waiting fans as a multiplayer pirate survival game. A release window was set between 2023 and 2024. The game finally released in 2024.
4. Cyberpunk 2077
This title has to have had one of the most infamous launches compared to any other title out there. In 2012, shortly after Witcher 2’s success, the game was announced, followed by the release of an early teaser trailer in 2013. Cyberpunk’s development was halted due to apparent clashes with Witcher 3’s development.
Keanu Reeves being introduced as the voice and body of a character in the game during E3 2019 was monumental for the title. The game also released breathtaking visuals and engaging gameplay footage to further hype the crowd.
Cyberpunk saw its first release date set for April 16th, 2020. A lot of features were to be cut to match the release date.
The game saw its first delay, pushing the release to September 17th, 2020. CD PROJEKT justified the delay, mentioning how large the scale of the game was and that they needed this time to ensure a perfect release.
Its second delay then occurred, pushing the game further to November 19th, 2020. The studio believed that this period of two months would solve all their built-up issues. This further delay would help them sort out all the bug fixes and balance the game. The last delay was set for December 10th, 2020.
The game was a disaster at launch, with major game-breaking bugs and glitches, terrible NPC and AI performances, and a lot of crashes. This resulted in the PlayStation Store eventually removing the game from the store and CDPR offering refunds. Things looked bleak for CDPR, but they didn’t let this situation hold them down, and further down the line, with tons of major updates and DLCs, they redeemed themselves with the 2022 and 2023 patch updates.
5. Doom (2016)
id Software intended to create a Doom in a more cinematic and story-driven manner after the success of Doom 3 in 2004. This path they chose to embark on proved to be futile. The game had now lost all essence of what truly made it Doom.
id Software and Bethesda decided to pull the plug on the project in 2013. They could now focus on making the game from scratch with the project being cancelled. Doom was always known for its fast-paced gameplay, lack of cover-based shooting, and brutal fight styles, unlike the formula adapted by most FPS games.
They also developed the id Tech 6 engine. This engine provided the game with more fluid movements, detailed environments, and more FPS across platforms. E3 2015 was when Doom finally made its presence known. The reception for Doom was well received, and the game was finally released in 2016.
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