Crunch has always been an important workplace concern when it comes to video game development. But recent years have seen crunch become a more prominent and public issue with how negatively crunch has affected employees and developers involved. It has now been revealed that Horizon Forbidden West could have suffered the same fate, but it was fortunately avoided.
Of course, delays can be beneficial for a number of reasons and result in a product of better quality for players. But crunch itself refers to excessive time condensed into a short period to churn out the product instead, which can negatively affect employees and the game's quality. In an interview with NU.nl, Horizon Forbidden West's Game Director, Mathijs de Jonge, shed some light on this controversy and touched upon why crunch was avoided at Guerrilla Games.
The interview discusses general concepts and themes in Horizon Forbidden West, as well as Guerrilla's conscious decision not to portray Aloy in a sexualized manner. The interview then concludes with a question about how "companies are systematically working overtime." The director responds to this question by admitting that "Forbidden West might have been released at the end of last year, but then we might have had to work overtime." This demonstrates that de Jonge and Guerrilla had no prior intention to burden its developers with overtime and the negativity of crunch. They state how averse Guerrilla is to crunch, which is why the company was closed for two weeks at Christmas and "you couldn't even go there to work."
Further, de Jonge emphasizes that everyone "should also be able to relax and take a vacation" in order to "be with family and friends." This is not the first time that crunch has been criticized with people's well-beings being prioritized. Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price recently spoke on Marvel's Spider-Man having changed its Doctor Octopus boss fight to accommodate for crunch, which would have also needed a lot of structural work to achieve in such a short time.
This should surely be a balm to any fans worried about the quality that Horizon Forbidden West will showcase on either PS4 or PS5, as avoiding crunch can only benefit developers and players alike.
Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5.
Source: NU.nl