I Have Never Seen a Game Fail Because the Artists Were Too Slow

Game production’s biggest waste is not artists working too slowly but leadership changing direction after teams have invested months in a plan. Rework consumes an estimated 30-50% of software-development effort, and rewriting code can cost about 2.5 times as much as creating it initially; in games, reversals also discard dependent animation, levels, effects, tools, and pipeline work. The example of Skull and Bones - whose premise reportedly changed at least four times, with three creative directors and a team that grew to around 400 - shows how prolonged uncertainty can burn years and hundreds of millions of dollars. Such decisions also erode trust, drive away experienced staff, and teach teams to pad estimates because commitments may be overturned.

The argument challenges the promise that AI-generated assets will solve escalating budgets. Faster execution helps when a project’s direction is stable, but with an unstable brief it can put more unfinished work in motion, increasing the amount discarded when plans change. Rework costs grow with how deeply work has been integrated and how long a bad decision goes uncorrected. Late production exposes further predictable costs: early content may need an expensive quality pass once the team improves, while tutorials and onboarding are repeatedly rebuilt as underlying systems shift. Producers should therefore track rework, the time it takes to make decisions, and how long decisions remain valid before prioritizing tool speed.