8 Video Games That Faced Development Hell (And Turned Out AMAZING)

4. Final Fantasy XV

final fantasy XV
Square Enix

Final Fantasy XV was a game over 10 years in the making.

One of three FF titles announced all the way back in 2006, Final Fantasy Versus XIII was going to take the franchise into a radical new direction, aiming for a darker, more serious tone and completing moving away from the staple gameplay mechanics of the mainline series.

Even as this spin-off though, the project encountered one set-back after another, but everyone at Square Enix believed in the project, so much so that as early as 2007 the publisher considered transforming it into a mainline, numbered sequel. That didn't officially happen until around 2012 though, when the team began looking towards their next-generation offerings. At this point the game was overhauled completely, swapping engines and even the creative lead.

Being rebranded as Final Fantasy XV only brought about more complications though, as the scale of the production ballooned. From here, every idea was thrown at the wall, including potentially turning the game into a musical. Thankfully, by the time it was officially re-announced in 2013, what XV was going to be had finally taken shape, and it released three years later.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.