The idea was to copy slices model from memory safe languages, naturally being C++ with C's influence regarding performance trumps safety, string_view couldn't be made to be as safe as the idea they were copying from.
Another example is span, while C#'s Span and Microsoft's gsl::span do bounds checking, ISO C++17 span naturally leaves it to the developer's responsibility.
I think culture plays a huge factor in the way we develop software in general, not just games. Things like how acceptable we see overpromising features in software, or cutting corners or delivering unfinished products, etc.
Take the contrast between AAA Japanese games and western games for example. Japanese games are often less ambitious and the scope is smaller but the final product is generally way more polished. The shitshow that is currently going on with Cyberpunk (or back in the day with the mentioned No Man's Sky) would be unthinkable in a FromSoftware or Nintendo game for example. The people at these studios probably go through a good amount of crap as well, but the end product is just so remarkably different. I remember playing Persona 5 on PS3 and the experience was just great. There were obvious visual differences with the PS4 version, but I think the game was just as enjoyable from day one.
In the end, some companies have a minimum standard for quality and adhere to it, while others just straight up lie and deceive and have this toxic "anything goes" culture. It's unfortunate that we as consumers still reward the latter kind.
https://alexgaynor.net/2019/apr/21/modern-c++-wont-save-us/