Not necessarily, according to Remedy Business Director Matias Myllyrinne. The suit told the Finnish press this month that “there have been no negative incidents during development,” and that “we haven’t set a release date because our working convention is that we have a relentless quest for quality, and we will not release anything, including a date, before we can be sure the game is good enough.”

You'd think Microsoft would be pissed, but Myllyrinne quashed that with: “The quality is also an essential criteria for Microsoft."

Maybe things are all right after all, then? Or maybe Remedy are absolutely bricking it about the unrelenting tidal wave of hype surrounding the game, and keep having to shift back their shipping date because the game’s not hitting the mark. “The game must be a hit,” Myllyrinne adds, “because only good games become hits. Luckily, we have a history of hits with games like Max Payne.” Which presumably means he’s pretty confident.

One thing’s for sure: sooner or later Remedy will have to show what five years of development time and a rumoured $15 million worth of costs have produced… even if it is in a disappointingly stage-managed style.