Why was this game 6 years in development?

[Athaz]

I read somewhere that it had around the clock development cycle across different studios and time zones. Why did it take 6 years to finish?

[TripSin]

Because making a video game this complex is extremely difficult and a huge undertaking, not to mention a huge gamble in terms of invested money and other resources.

[zero]

most games vaguely have a 6 year development cycle

[John Cena]

the bear sex scene took alot of work. they had to hire intimacy coordinators and real actual bears to figure it out.

[Morgian]

The simple answer here is: because. None of us have an inkling how long making games takes. Star Citizen is already on its 11th year (ok, that was maybe a little unfair).

[Sieglinde Eilserv]

The devs wanted to try something new, so had the game written in cobol. Took a long time to find 400 cobol programmers these days and the dr pepper needed to fuel them.

[Noctoculus]

From what I heard, covid and they had to replace 51% of the writers through the development.

[yoot]

I hate to sound like I'm d*ckriding and defending this game but bro make your own game like this in less than 6 years we can wait.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

The cinematics, mocap, and VA.

[KocLobster]

Originally posted by Athaz:

I read somewhere that it had around the clock development cycle across different studios and time zones. Why did it take 6 years to finish?

The game was in development for 6 years so that it could be developed.

[Spudcake]

Games of this scope usually take 5+ years to finish.
Also there was that whole Rona thing that happened.

[Zent]

cus writing/voicing/animations take time to schedule, record, render, redo until perfect, etc.

[murometz]

Originally posted by Athaz:

I read somewhere that it had around the clock development cycle across different studios and time zones. Why did it take 6 years to finish?

Lot of possibilities, here. Marketing is sometimes involved: tell them your game has taken 9,659 years to complete, and buyers will think it must be infinitely better for all that work. At least, that's the marketing theory.

Or the game could be a parttime project by a very small team. That 's in fact the way it was for the original Baldur's Gate, with 4 physicians who loved playing AD&D together in their spare time.

Or the publishers may decide to pull the rug out from underneath a game they figure has problems associated with their development team. Back to Baldur's Gate, it went through 3 developers, taking their own time.

Or the game simply may take 6 (or whatever) years to develop. It happens.

[SoloQ]

Originally posted by Athaz:

I read somewhere that it had around the clock development cycle across different studios and time zones. Why did it take 6 years to finish?

Do everything in the entire game and then talk. There's an absurd amount of story in this game.

[BeelzeBob]

Originally posted by Athaz:

I read somewhere that it had around the clock development cycle across different studios and time zones. Why did it take 6 years to finish?

Games take a long time to make in general. Games with this much content even more so. Frankly, it probably needed another year to be properly finished.

[Zero McDol]

It's 150GB game. In other words, a lot of work.