As others have pointed out, this is a good illustration of why you need accurate data during development. I bet that the data set used during development was dirty with duplicates and way too small. It was faster and more convenient to just code defensive garbage than to be the annoying one nagging to another team about the state of data. So this was written, probably along with a TODO comment, and then forgotten about, and ultimately shipped. I've done this same thing. Not with any real consequences, but still. It's what happens when time is of the essence.
How it remained undetected for so long is really weird though. Surely they must've had a massive amount of complaints about the loading times. I completely stopped playing because of them. How could they not have investigated the root cause, atleast once, in six years?
replies(1):