The director of Horizon Forbidden West admitted that Guerrilla Games had previously delayed the title for the benefit of the developers.
The developers of Horizon Forbidden West almost had to work overtime.
Overtime has always been an important concern in the video game development industry. But in recent years this situation has become a more prominent and widespread problem as many employees and developers are falling victim to it. It was recently revealed that the developers of Horizon Forbidden West almost had to work overtime, but fortunately they were able to avoid it.
When a game is delayed, it can be beneficial because it gives the product more development time to create better quality for players. But overtime will cause employees to sacrifice their time to produce products in a quick period of time, which can negatively affect employees and the quality of the game. play. In an interview with NU.nl, Horizon Forbidden West game director Mathijs de Jonge commented on this controversial issue and mentioned why Guerrilla Games was trying to avoid it.
Thanks to the decision to delay the game, Horizon Forbidden West can launch in the best state to please the gaming community.
The interview discussed general ideas and themes in Horizon Forbidden West, as well as about Guerrilla’s decision not to design Aloy’s appearance in a sexualized way. The interview then ended with a question on “why companies today are systematically overtime.” The director responded to this question by admitting that “Horizon Forbidden West might have been released late last year, but to do that we might as well be working overtime.” This proves that Jonge and Guerrilla Games did not intend to burden their developers just to finish the product quickly. He asserts that Guerrilla Games doesn’t like overtime, which is why the company closed for two weeks over Christmas and “you can’t even go there to work.”
Furthermore, director Jonge emphasized that everyone “should have the opportunity to relax and go on vacation” to “be with family and friends.” This is not the first time that overtime has been criticized for putting everyone’s health first. Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price also recently spoke about how Marvel’s Spider-Man had to change the battle with Doctor Octopus to avoid overtime because if the design of this battle was according to the old plan, it would will need to do a lot of work to get it done in just a short amount of time. All in all, thanks to the decision to delay the game, Horizon Forbidden West can launch in the best state to satisfy the gaming community.
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