What happens between a video game being finished, and when it is released?

Question

So you'll watch videos on development, see demo gameplay, and watch interviews with the development crew who will allude to the fact that at some time a few weeks before release, a game will be either finished or in the polishing stage.

My question to anyone that might know is: What happens in that final time period from the project being finished to release? Are they distributing the game to manufacturers to start mass production? Are they just letting the hype build? Are they bound by specific time goals where they HAVE to wait after they finish?

Answer 1

All three. The games have to be mass-produced, because, lets just include Halo 5 in this example. Lets say that the release date is November 15th, and the game is completed by November 1st. In those two weeks, the game is mass produced, because they're obviously not going to sell twenty copies of Halo 5, they're going to sell a few million. An amount of copies has to be delivered to every game store throughout the US, and other countries, for example, Canada. Such stores can include GameStop, or any other stores that would usually sell videogames. Yes, the hype does also build up. Release dates are usually never changed, unless the game has to be postponed. And example is Destiny, which was supposed to be released this Fall, but was moved to Spring. Hope this helped

Answer 2

It is like 5% distribution to retailers. They wait so long just to make everyone excited and want to get the game on Day 1 at any cost.

Answer 3

Yes, yes, and yes.