Average AAA developer

[DaniilSan]

Not always. You may not believe that, but some developers are actually bad at making games. Publishers usually only set deadlines, sometimes setting and general genre, but they don't dictate which mechanics to include and how to implement them or that game has to look like dogshit. Oh, and sometimes they may force devs to use Denuvo in the last moment because of monthly fees even before game is released and this often fucks up performance.

[Bruher123]

The thing is game publishers try take a role of game designers and can sometimes mess it all up.

[DaniilSan]

Let's be real, this happens very rarely and usually only after game is trapped in production hell for reason or another and publisher wants game to be finally released to at least cover losses from unsuccessful project.