Mark Darrah, a veteran of BioWare and creator of the Dragon Age series, has shared insights on why big-budget games seem to take so long to develop and why they are often announced far ahead of their release dates.
Through his YouTube channel, Darrah explains that the extended timelines are partly due to games being announced during the very early stages of their development, often when only small teams are working on initial ideas and pre-production. This early announcement can give a misleading impression that substantial progress is being made when, in reality, full-scale development hasn’t yet begun.
Darrah notes that studios might announce a game early for several strategic reasons. One reason is to maintain public interest and assure stakeholders of ongoing projects, especially if the publisher’s current slate is weak. Another reason is to prevent the publisher from canceling the project.
These announcements, though potentially misleading, serve to keep the game in the public consciousness and signal to the publisher that there is interest and expectation for the title.
An example of this is BioWare’s announcement of Mass Effect 5 in 2020, even though the primary focus of the studio has been on developing Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Despite annual updates with concept art and visuals, it is clear that Mass Effect 5 is still in the early stages of development and far from release.
This strategy of early announcements helps maintain excitement and anticipation among fans, even if the actual game development is progressing slowly.
Darrah emphasizes that while early announcements are not always the best strategy, they are sometimes necessary. The pressures of maintaining public interest and securing the project’s continuation can outweigh the risks of misleading the audience about the game’s development progress. This approach, though pragmatic, can contribute to the perception that big-budget games take an excessively long time to develop.
In his video, Darrah also discusses other factors that can delay game development. The increasing scope of open-world and live-service games requires larger, more complex teams and longer development cycles.
Additionally, publishers push for greater iteration and higher fidelity in-game visuals, which further extends development times. These factors, combined with strategic early announcements, contribute to the lengthy timelines commonly associated with AAA game development.
