Fallout 3 launched with so many bugs because Bethesda was "trying to do so much" with the RPG, lead designer says, and "people get tired" eventually: "There's a human element, too"

Bethesda games are notorious for launching with massive piles of bugs and glitches ranging from annoying to absolutely hilarious. For many players – myself included – the jank is part of the charm, and an acceptable cost for games that are so big and broad. As one of the original devs on Fallout 3 explains it, it’s also a reminder that even the best games are made by human people with human limits.

“We were trying to do so much,” lead designer Emil Pagliarulo says in Edge Magazine issue 419, “and we couldn’t really comprehend the complexity of the freedom we were trying to give the player, and how that can screw things up. There’s a human element, too. As it gets deeper into development, people get tired. They make mistakes. And then, when you go to fix bugs, you have to be so careful – you can change a line of text and it blows up some art somewhere.”