Holiday 2014 saw some of the most incomplete versions of games, with lots of AAA titles coming riddled with bugs and glitches. Since then, it’s been happening with far more frequency than we’d like to see. And it’s probably far from over.
According to some of the leading game testing firms, it seems we just might be headed down that road again. Pole to Win Localization Director Chris Rowley told MCV:
“The run up to this Christmas will be no different to the last one.”
He elaborated as to why this is the case:
“Console games are expensive to develop, so missing a street date is not an acceptable situation to a publisher. Day One patches have become the norm over the last few years to try and address this, but the reality is that it often takes several patches where a title is significantly behind schedule.”
Not this again
It’s easy to blame it on corporate greed, and sometimes it is greed that paves the way for the games being released broken or unfinished. Too many companies want to take the Call of Duty route and have yearly installments. What they fail to realize is that what may work for a game like Call of Duty, which is an FPS with a huge emphasis on multiplayer, does not work for a story-driven action/adventure game (looking at you, Ubisoft).
Sure, these things do eventually get patched in and fixed over the next few weeks, but that still doesn’t make it right for the people who pay full retail price for the game. Paying the full price means we should be getting the finished product. And, of course, that we’re actually able to play it on Day 1.
But I guess in a way we can’t really point fingers and blame them, because launch delays make us just as unhappy as it makes the publishers, and the companies know it. If they wish to keep the fanbase happy, they need to deliver on the dates they promised.
I know I speak for most, if not all, of us that we’d rather have the game in the best condition it could be a few months later than having an obviously unfinished game on release day.
Here’s hoping the warnings are not proven right.
