On game development, it's no coincidence that last year some games were still being released on schedule but towards the end of the year a number of developmers (larer than Polyphony) came out and said that the pandemic was causing delays, Square Enix being one of them.
Yep. But you notice that some bits of Squeenix adapted better than others. The new expansion for FFXIV is still scheduled to come out Fall this year, which is maybe a month or two behind their normal two year cycle, and they've been releasing scheduled patches as well with some minor delays. Division 5 and Yoshi-P are staggeringly well organised, and it shows.
There could be a huge number of reasons for this, there's a lot of creative thought and teamwork invlved in game developemnt and a ell of a lot of organstational control is required over who does what and when. Of course working remotely will slow all of that down.
I didn't say that it was easy, but these people are supposed to be highly paid, intelligent professionals. It's okay to critique them when they drop the ball.
Likewise, I didn't say that there shouldn't be delays compared to the pre-COVID plan, but if it's only becoming apparently now in February 2021 that a delay is required then someone isn't doing their job.
The you have the practical aspects of havign to travel to caputure locations and vehicles for a game like Gran Turismo, that's also something likely to be impacted.
That one is actually interesting because it's a legit restriction, but it seems like something that could be worked around. We know Polyphony have tons of data already, and maybe it isn't to the exact quality or of the exact things that they want but they just have to make do. Maybe they have to spend more time on gameplay and less time on content, which would be nice.
But again, to most people it was pretty apparent in the middle of last year when there were literally thousands of deaths a day that it was going to be mid to late 2021 before anything like normal travel would be available (assuming a vaccine was made and produced which wasn't a given at that point). If they're only figuring out now that lack of travel is going to hurt them, that's just dumb.
There are things that are obviously results of the pandemic that no amount of rational planning could have mitigated. But I find it hard to believe that someone with access to the internal information that Polyphony had at the release of the PS5 couldn't have identified that the game wouldn't make a 2021 release date, especially given that people on GTP could pick it based on no more information than "Polyphony has delayed almost every game they've ever released".
It's far too simplistic to say they've had x amount of time to adjust, there's nothing to say that they have or haven't adjusted, but making the adjustment doesn't mean your efficiency equals what it was pre-COVID.
But efficiency isn't the point. Their efficiency could be half of what it was, and it's still possible to make a reasonable prediction of when the game will be finished based on that. The efficiency of making a game is completely unrelated to the ability to make an accurate prediction of when it will be ready to ship. It's not about needing to get your productivity back to pre-COVID levels, that may be impossible. But you can adjust your forward planning and release dates quickly and easily once it's clear that your production rate is going to be affected.
It's a crazy time for lots of people still but if major companies haven't got their 🤬 together after 12 months I don't see the need to make excuses for them. When everything was being delayed and cancelled Q3 last year, that was understandable. That was the time when it really became clear that everyone was in this for the long haul, and I say that as someone in Australia which is really barely affected compared to some other places.
If companies are just now figuring out that actually they may be a bit behind schedule, that sounds exactly like how Polyphony operates. Throw out a random date (or in this case, a random year), and then ignore it until it becomes glaringly obvious that it would be impossible to hit it. After nearly 25 years they still haven't come across the idea that Prior Planning Prevents Pretty Poor Performance.
