User blog comment:Blood Reaper/Skyrim Update 1.3/@comment-4645980-20111210201957/@comment-1934275-20111212005518

@ anon above, 2 things: Firstly, they do spend a large amount of time and effort on play testing these games but, unlike linear first person shooters, there are so many more situations in which glitches and bugs can occur. Secondly, from the receiving end, you sound as though you would have rather waited another year before Skyrim was released. I don't know about many other gamers, but I think we would readily accept a few harmless glitches (i.e. the backwards-flying dragons) in exchange for an earlier release date. Besides, knowing the marketing teams, Bethesda was probably obligated by those higher up on the corporate ladder to release Skyrim on 11.11.11. Assuming that this was the case (and that Bethesda needed to release ahead of schedule) I can honestly say that, for using a new engine on an open world game, things could have been way worse.