There's a common view among game developers that it's a miracle any games are ever made. Game development is tricky, expensive, and comes at a pretty large human cost. According to God of War Director Cory Barlog, most developers don't even have a smoothly running game right up until the end.
Responding to an article about Cyberpunk 2077's delay on Twitter, Barlog noted, "Every game runs badly until you optimize for the hardware in the final push before gold." Barlog is referencing the term "going gold" a common industry saying that means a game is finished. "Games are very ugly, for a long time, until they're not," Barlog added in a follow-up tweet, "Traditionally, that is right near the end."
Barlog blamed the technical hiccups on a "bananas level of complexity" when it comes to making games. The creator certainly isn't wrong. Any veteran of the game's industry is bound to have war stories of hellish development cycles and intense crunch periods. It's an unfortunate aspect of an industry where hard-work is often rewarded with rounds of mass lay-offs after a project is finished.
Barlog has been open about the challenges of game development in the past. PlayStation recently released an hour-long interview with Barlog where he explained the "Sony way" of video game development. Since God of War's Game of The Year win at the Game Awards back in 2018, Barlog has been much more of a public figure, with the developer now being synonymous with the game itself.
Barlog opening up about development is likely a big relief to other developers out there. While he admitted it wasn't always the case, optimization can be a difficult thing to nail down, especially when major aspects of a game are still being worked on. There's an unfortunate disconnect between developers and gamers when it comes to the actual process of creating a game, which can often lead to stories of death threats from upset fans who perceive a game as bad before it releases.
It's good to see Barlog open up about development, especially to defend other creators at risk of upsetting the masses. While Cyberpunk 2077 won't be as bad as The Witcher 3's, it's still an unfortunately long period for developers at CD Projekt Red to have to work much longer hours.