system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: how can a PC game be developed for years? don't the constantly emerging new hardware capabilities far outrun what the game (engine) started out with?
gpt
There is a lot to a game besides it's interaction with hardware, essentially everything about game design is independent of hardware, save for things like user interface or graphics.

But you can write an entire game which outputs with blocky models and low resolution textures in a boring 3D world, but then relatively easily replace all those with better models/textures/lighting later in development without a huge cost.  Add to that the fact that most development machines are very powerful and you have a situation where it's not hard to develop with the expectation that hardware will be able to do more in 2-3 years.