Eternal doom According to executive producer Marty Stratton, it wouldn't be the same game without delay.
Speaking to VG247, Stratton explained that id Software's team had been working long hours before causing the delay, and pushing back Doom Eternal allowed the team to elevate the game to the level of quality they deserve.
"I said it was the best game we've ever done. I don't think I would say if we didn't have extra time," Stratton said.
"The game is complete, we didn't add anything, but (delay) allows us to do more to fix more errors.
"It allows us to do a lot of polishing and hardening of the back-end system, and we test it all over the place where people are brought in from the outside. We made some other versions and added a few additions to the game, just balancing the type stuff, And patched some holes. "
Developer austerity has been a big topic of discussion in the past few years, and harsh criticisms of many AAA developers are aimed at fostering the expected overtime culture at the expense of employee benefits.
Stratton said that while the ID Studio leadership is trying to encourage developers to spend time, many people choose to be late and some degree of austerity is necessary.
"Most of last year, we worked very hard. It went in stages." Stratton explained.
"We will have one group of people crunch to properly fit into another group of people. When they are done, they may need to crunch a little bit.
"We do try and respect people's time and life very much. We have very dedicated people who, in many cases, just choose to work. Well, because we want the game to be perfect. We want it to live up to our expectations and Consumer expectations.
He continued: "We work very hard and we will invest more time to do this. Sometimes when we just get extra time, we still do it because we want it to get better.
"(Delay) consumes a little pressure and stress, but it's almost one of the things we will work harder to make it as tight as possible."
Like its predecessor, Doom Eternal will also land on the Nintendo Switch. However, when the remaining versions are delayed, the Switch port will be postponed to an unspecified date.
Although there is still no definite release window, Stratton hinted that we might see it soon.
"We're not talking about the release date, so I can't specify. But it's not outrageous." He laughed. "We're working on it. The emergency button is working hard. I don't think people will be disappointed."
For more information on Doom Eternal, check out our hands-on preview here.