Crunch is a project management failure. This is my professional opinion as a tech lead at a mid sized gaming company.
When I saw all the praise the game received at release, the level of detail etc. My first thought was, so what was the cost on individuals?
Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing game. But I worry that a lot of overtime went into this.
And other projects will be measured against that. This might set another very bad example.
Release windows can make or break a game, and they were counter programming Starfield, which they expected to be a bigger deal. I would interpret “a bit of crunch” to be a few weeks rather than the several month death march you hear about in game development all the time.
I agree, it does, and it does. In many cases it’s necessary for the survival of the company once you’ve committed to release dates and marketing expenses. Larian ought to have enough cushion for their next project that requiring it makes even less sense.
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I agree.
Crunch is a project management failure. This is my professional opinion as a tech lead at a mid sized gaming company.
When I saw all the praise the game received at release, the level of detail etc. My first thought was, so what was the cost on individuals?
Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing game. But I worry that a lot of overtime went into this.
And other projects will be measured against that. This might set another very bad example.
Exactly. I can think of one valid reason for a crunch: production is down. That’s it.
Release windows can make or break a game, and they were counter programming Starfield, which they expected to be a bigger deal. I would interpret “a bit of crunch” to be a few weeks rather than the several month death march you hear about in game development all the time.
deleted by creator
I agree, it does, and it does. In many cases it’s necessary for the survival of the company once you’ve committed to release dates and marketing expenses. Larian ought to have enough cushion for their next project that requiring it makes even less sense.
Here’s a video by Tim Cain that I think covers this topic well: link
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