It's no secret that triple-A development cycles are becoming longer as the bar for quality and performance is continuously raised year-on-year. A successful triple-A can often be in development for 5–6 years, and some take over a decade. In contrast, the entire Mass Effect original trilogy was released in five years, and the gap between Daggerfall and Skyrim is less than the gap between Skyrim and the mythical Elder Scrolls 6.
I can think of a few reasons why development cycles have elongated: higher fan expectations, more sophisticated technology, and larger teams that are harder to manage efficiently. However, former Tripwire Interactive chief executive officer John Gibson has a different theory. The executive, now owner and founder of Templar Media, blames remote working.
In an interview with Wccftech, Gibson explained that he feels Killing Floor 3 (which was met with mixed reception) took so long to develop because of the advent of remote working brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
"The industry faced a 'video game apocalypse' in 2023 and 2024 as things collapsed following the pandemic boom. Games were not always of high quality or were taking much longer to develop. For instance,...
