You can say that the game was in development for 8 years.
It was in pre-production since maybe 2012 or even 2011. Pre-production is when you decide what you want to do and in what direction the project should go. You create your first concepts and make reasearch. Then those concepts get thrown away and new ones are made and before you notice, it's 2016 and you start working on the project.
It certainly was in development for 8 years but the real game building began in 2016. I think nobody questions it.
It was in pre-production since maybe 2012 or even 2011. Pre-production is when you decide what you want to do and in what direction the project should go. You create your first concepts and make reasearch. Then those concepts get thrown away and new ones are made and before you notice, it's 2016 and you start working on the project.
It certainly was in development for 8 years but the real game building began in 2016. I think nobody questions it.