"There's an attitude in this industry that says in order to make a great game, it takes whatever time it takes and it takes whatever money it takes, and that that's okay," he claimed. "Well it's not okay--it's wrong. It's not okay in other entertainment businesses. In other businesses it's big trouble."
"When you have EA failing to bring Superman out with the movie, that's inexcusable. Moving games like Medal of Honor and Godfather out of the fourth quarter--that's the old way of thinking and you can't do that any more."

Ward's comments run contrary to those of Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, who famously quipped, "A delayed game is eventually good. A bad game is bad forever." Indeed, they arguably clash with a few incidents from LucasArts' recent history. Planet Moon Studios' shooter Armed & Dangerous (Xbox, PC), published by LucasArts, was tightly held to a Holiday 2003 release, but upon release was riddled with bugs. Many reviewers seemed to suggest that the game had a promising core but was dragged down by an overall lack of polish.

On the other hand, BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox, PC) was scheduled for release in fall 2002. It ended up being delayed until July 2003, much to the consternation of LucasArts executives. The game went on to become the company's greatest success story in recent memory, was one of the best reviewed games of the year, and was considered by many to be the best Star Wars game ever made. Obsidian's Knights of the Old Republic II (Xbox, PC) was tightly held to its schedule, and was released the next year. It saw strong reviews and sales, but did not achieve the same superlative praise as its predecessor.