The development of X-Men Origins: Wolverine went crunch-free thanks to the film's delays

The poor reception of the recent Marvel’s Wolverine remake prompted players to recall the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine — and an unexpectedly strong PS3 tie-in that many still praise. One of the reasons that game turned out well, its developer says, was simply that the team had far more time than is typical.

Allison Salmon, who worked on X-Men Origins: Wolverine, revealed that repeated delays to the movie’s release spared the studio from crunch.

We had tons of time... we never really had to crunch on this game because the movie got delayed.

The film’s schedule slid several times. It was originally planned for 2007 but Fox pushed the premiere back because the studio’s sound stages were being used for Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, which also starred Hugh Jackman. A later delay affected the Mexico release amid a swine flu outbreak. The movie finally opened on May 1, 2009.

Although the film received mixed to lukewarm reviews, the PS3 game gradually earned a reputation as a rare licensed success: more than an expensive commercial for the movie, it stood on its own as a full-fledged action title. Salmon says the extended schedule allowed the team to experiment — even after she returned from maternity leave — and try technical improvements that they otherwise might not have had time for.

We still had time to just have fun and turn the Unreal Engine into a deferred renderer, which we ultimately didn’t even use.

At the time, that relatively relaxed development was unusual: in 2009 the games industry more commonly accepted crunch as standard practice for major releases.