> Gamedev is the most complex area of development no doubt

Are you actually implying that building a game is the hardest most complex task you could possibly imagine?

In several ways yes. I meant not only in terms of code but generally. In gamedev the complexity is for the most part harder to measure and estimate. It can escalate pretty fast, involves several areas etc, must take the psychological of the player in account, often in abstract ways, what players are looking for, what engages them etc. Pretty complex for me, specially in AAA games like this.

It might be. I'd bet the AAA gamedev industry has the worst code quality on average, due to a combination of routine crunch, large team sizes working on the same product, and an "if it works, ship it" mentality.

And the apparent state that, not only can they not get the thing made as proscribed in the amount of time - how do they make it robustly designed with mind for future use?

They're like a freshman finishing their paper the night before - hell no they didn't edit for clarity, much less added depth.