Helldivers 2 and Palworld devs wish players understood that 'easy' additions and updates are sometimes really hard: 'That's half a year's work. That takes six months'

Helldivers 2 illuminids.

I don't envy game developers sometimes, nor do I envy the assumptions they have to hear time and time again from their players. Assumptions like, 'Why didn't they add a theft/crime system?' or 'Why don't they just do this, it's so simple?' and, most infuriatingly, 'These devs are so lazy'. As a critic, I might absolutely dunk on the end product—but I'm never in doubt that folks worked hard, even when it's a stinker.

That same frustration comes clear in some responses to a recent mega-interview by GamesRadar's Austin Wood—which is well worth a read. It's an assemblage of dozens of developers across the industry, who're keen to dispel myths about how they make their games.