Why do developers make games with bad controls?

[x7q3]

There's something I've sometimes thought to myself... why do developers make games with bad controls?

I can understand if the graphics, sound, etc, aren't the best. After all, there could be a number of reasons for this. But to me, there's absolutely no excuse for poor controls.

What do I mean by poor controls? I basically mean when the controls are arranged in such a way, as to interfere with your ability to play the game. Controls should be easy to use, and you should basically not have to think about them while playing.

I've played some games where, the controls were so poor, it made me wonder if the developer ever played the game themselves. Because if they have, they would've known in the first place it isn't good. Which then begs the question of why they released the game that way. Like I said, graphics, sound, etc, could have particular reasons for being poor. For example, maybe the developer didn't have the money to afford the best voice actors, or they couldn't get/produce decent sound effects for some reason.

But controls are something else. The developer obviously has total power over what buttons the most common actions will be assigned to. And if they're arranged in such a way as to make the game hard to play, that makes no sense. To me, bad controls are a sign the developer doesn't care about the game (and they certainly aren't playing it). Why do developers make games with bad controls?

[Derb]

L3 to run in any FPS game is imo the worst implementation of control.

There is literally no reason to press L3 in order to make your character move faster.

As for the bad controls in general. I dunno. Ubisoft makes odd choices in their games. Press R1/RB for main attack in AC Instead of face buttons. Hold RT down to run/climb.

[heyadol]

I think in some cases bad controls is an opinion. I couldn't play the Resident Evil series until they ditched the awful tank controls (up/down = forward/reverse, left/right = rotate in place left/right), but none of my friends had any complaints.

[Talal86]

can you mention some example? I can't think of modern games with bad controls?

L3 to run makes sense to me, it just feels natural, but I do hate it now for personal 'thumb' reasons, started after I played a lot of The Division..

[Derb]

Any game that requires L3 to run is a good example.

If you don’t wanna run, just don’t fully tilt the analog stick. Easy implementation & I actually tried it with software. It’s one of those game feels that’s like once you’ve had a taste, you don’t wanna go back to pressing a button to run.

[GRD43L]

Probably because whoever controls the $$$ in that company wanted it that way and overruled everyone else by yelling.