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Explaining Scope Creep in Game Dev
Discover what scope creep is in the video game industry, why it happens, and how it leads to delays, crunch, and unfinished games.
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What is it?
Scope creep, often called feature creep, is a common project management issue in game development where a game's features and requirements expand beyond its original vision during development. It happens when new ideas are continuously added without adjusting the budget, timeline, or resources. A simple idea for a new weapon might spiral into a whole new crafting system, or a request for one more level could turn into an entire new world map. This uncontrolled expansion makes the project's 'scope' grow, often with detrimental effects on the final product and the team creating it.
Why is it trending?
Scope creep is a timeless problem, but it becomes a hot topic when high-profile games face significant delays, troubled launches, or outright cancellation. As games become more complex and player expectations rise, the temptation to add 'just one more feature' to compete is immense. Public discussions about development hell, crunch culture, and games like 'Cyberpunk 2077' at launch often trace their root causes back to unmanaged scope creep, keeping the term relevant in industry conversations and post-mortems.
How does it affect people?
It impacts everyone involved. For developers, scope creep is a primary cause of 'crunch'—long periods of intense, often unpaid overtime—leading to burnout and high industry turnover. For studios and publishers, it means blown budgets and missed release dates, damaging financial stability. For gamers, the result can be a delayed game, a buggy and unfinished product at launch, or a title that feels bloated and unfocused because too many disparate ideas were crammed in without a cohesive plan.