 By January , Pearsall confirmed that the game had reached beta , and that most of the team 's energy was being spent " tuning , polishing , and fixing bugs " . He noted in early February that Thief II had been produced almost entirely on schedule . The company slipped behind near the end of the project and entered crunch time to make up the loss . On February 24 , Thief II producer Michael McHale announced that the game had reached " feature freeze " , and that the team was in " super crunch mode " . Numerous game testers from Eidos joined the project . However , McHale said that the team was energized and that " spirits [ were ] high " . Certain employees slept in the office and avoided bathing so that the game could reach its March deadline . LeBlanc later stated his belief that the game was rushed , and that its quality suffered as a result . Nevertheless , the team met their goal , and the game was released on March 23 , 2000 . Eidos expedited the company 's payment for completing the game . 
