Editing Development hell (section)

{{Short description|Term for media projects stuck in development}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
'''Development hell''', also known as '''development purgatory''' or '''development limbo''', is [[Media industry|media]] and [[Software industry|software]] industry [[jargon]] for a project, concept, or idea that remains in a stage of early development for a long time because of legal, technical, or artistic challenges.<ref name="Doyle_Page_55">{{cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Barbara Freedman |title=Make Your Movie: What You Need to Know About the Business and Politics of Filmmaking |date=2012 |publisher=Focal Press |location=Waltham, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-240-82155-9 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cPzhXug9X4oC&pg=PA55 |access-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-date=March 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327101555/https://books.google.com/books?id=cPzhXug9X4oC&pg=PA55 |url-status=live }}</ref> A work may move between many sets of artistic leadership, crews, scripts, [[game engine]]s, or studios. (The related terms '''production hell''' and '''production limbo''' refer to situations in which a film has begun production but has remained unfinished for a long time without progressing to [[post-production]].)

Some projects enter development hell because they were initially designed with ambitious goals, the difficulty of meeting those goals was underestimated, and attempts to meet those goals have repeatedly failed.

The term is also applied more generally to describe any project that has unexpectedly stalled in the planning or design phase, has failed to meet its originally expected date of completion, and is languishing in those phases for what is seen as an unreasonably long time.{{fact|date=March 2025}}

Many projects that enter development hell are gradually abandoned by the involved parties and are never produced.{{fact|date=March 2025}}