10 Video Games That Were Outdated Before They Launched
Chasing a trend? It's already passed you by.
Of all the iterative industries to work in, game development has one of the longest turnarounds. Where your average high-end movie takes around two years from filming to being in theatres, and TV shows can be done in around nine months, the average time for game development is 3-5 years.
Yes, this applies far more to the likes of God of War, Spider-Man or The Last of Us - runaway success Fall Guys looks to have been turned around in less than a year - but the point stands: You're nearly always going to be dropping something in a world that's different to the one you're planning in.
Game mechanics, scriptwriting - trying to make something that feels "of the now" can be nigh-on impossible if you're trying to guess what the "now" will be in many years time, and that's where things can totally backfire.