Why so many broken games?
It’s finally Monday, on the eve of the release of your most anticipated game of the year. You haven’t been this excited for a game release in years! All new graphics, amazing game modes, and DID YOU SEE THAT TRAILER BRO!?!? OMG THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!
After waiting for what seems like forever you finally got your hands on this piece of digital entertainment glory.
Launch day update? Cool, no problem, that just gives you time to make your snack run and kiss your significant other good bye for the next few days. Next few days because you took time off from work/skipping classes for this one.
Ok, update done? Glad they took the time to put out those last minute bugs and glitches from the beta tests. Then it begins. “server error”, “network error”, “I suck at preparing for major video game launch error”. The game (or major part of it) doesn’t work or crashes. Your irritated and spend hours trying to play the parts of the game that might work sometimes if you do the quick fix you saw on the developers help page.
Not only is the game broken but even after multiple patches and updates weeks maybe months go by and it’s still not fixed. You pre ordered the game, maybe even got the mega ultra Stan fan collection limited edition, and wasted a week of vacation time not to actually enjoy the game.
Patience Makes Perfect
This has happened way more frequently lately than it should and more than it has in past generations of gaming. Now that companies have the ability to update and patch post launch it seems to me that they are taking that luxury too far. In the gaming ice age of cartridges if the game was broken at release that was it. It was just broke and the companies got bad reviews and that was it poor sales. Developers took way more care to ensure that the finished product was as good as they could get it.
Technology has advanced leaps and bounds and gaming is pushing the limits of our imagination. It truly is a golden age of gaming. I’m no game developer so I won’t even begin to act like I know all that goes into making and delivering a quality video game. However from a long time consumer perspective, I’m getting fed up with lower quality game releases with increasing pre-release hype and preorder incentives for the game not to work when I get it. Why should I give you my hard earned $60+ bucks for a false promise of entertainment later?
This has been eating at me for a while and I’ve felt crazy so I asked some of my WeGotLeagues family their opinions on the topic of games being released broken.
I asked them the following 3 questions:
1. How do you feel about games being broken on release and taking weeks/months of patches/updates to meet the pre release hype?
2. What’s your biggest game release disappointment?
3. Would you have been ok with waiting 6 months to a year for it to be perfect or near perfect at launch?
@DelyDFS
1) I feel like a lot of companies have scaled back on beta testing on titles and are releasing games just to hit a hard deadline. We’ll buy these games and notice numerous flaws in them within the first couple of days, then a month later we’re hit with a game update that’s over a gig big. Just makes you wonder, ‘what are they doing?’
2) I’m strictly a sports gamer, so I’m gonna have to go with the NBA titles. NBA 2K15 didn’t come with an actual online league and that’s really holding back for the gamers that wanna play a league for seasons and seasons. The NBA Live series might need to just hang it up. EA Sports didn’t release it right before the NBA season, but when they finally did, the game didn’t live up to any hype (or lack thereof).
3) As a sports gamer, I can’t accept waiting 6 months after that particular sport’s season has started. Now I will say this, I would have waited for them to perfect the UFC title that came out and fizzled out.
1. If a game is rushed, I can’t really expect it not to be broken on release/need lots of time for patches to correct their mistakes. However, it does turn me off from the game and definitely ruins the pre-release hype. It’s kind of like, you know, buying food and expecting it to be amazing, and it turns out to look NOTHING like the advertised version, and not tasting good.
2. I can’t think of any past ones off top, so I’ll name a recent one: Destiny. I returned it a little over a month after I got it.
3. Absolutely. I want devs to take their time with games. If they need weeks or months to perfect a game, work out all the kinks, etc., by all means, go for it. I’m patient, and I know good artistry takes time. Game developing is an art. I know I’d be pissed if the game that I was so excited for turned out to be a dud due to a rushed release, and it could’ve been avoided by simply releasing it later on. That’s why I’m not stressing over Batman being pushed back, or not hearing any Kingdom Hearts 3 news. We’ll get it when we get it. Let them take their time and create a masterpiece. Don’t be greedy!
@Juiceman513
1. It does irritate me when I put a game in on release date and then have to download patch before I can play. It’s like companies say “fuck it, they’ll buy it anyway. We can fix it later”. I understand sometimes they have deadlines to meet to get the product out, but sometimes it’s just ridiculous.
2. Oh, man let’s just go with the three most recent ones. Two of em alone are Ubisoft games smh. “Watch_Dogs” and “Tetris”. TETRIS. HOW DO YOU RUIN TETRIS, UBISOFT?! Laggy Tetronimo drops, I mean seriously?
Watch_Dogs was just so incredibly hyped up and ended up being mediocre at best. So many pushbacks just to deliver a lackluster story with glitch graphics. I literally had to FORCE myself to complete the game because it was so boring.
Third on my list is “EA Sports UFC”. When UFC was announced I literally abandoned my savings plan to buy a PS4 in time.. then the game dropped… and was a JOKE! Fighters can eat 87 punches to the face, but one body jab will drop you. Name one person who can eat 3 clean Superman punches to the temple and keep walking!
3. As much as I HATE pushbacks on games, I would much rather wait to get a perfect effort than a game that was half-assed just to meet a deadline
@ThatDope
1. Games being broken is possibly the most frustrating thing about modern gaming. I’d rather wait for a game and continue to build hype than get a game that barely works and isn’t fun to play early.
2. Halo Master Chief Collection. My Halo team was ready to go only to find out that the matchmaking system was soo broken that we couldn’t even play together. It was pitiful.
3. Yes. I understand the marketing aspect and the money but seriously, what’s the point of having the game if I can’t even play. I’d rather have waited and been able to play it on launch day. Not months later after massive patches.
So outside of yearly major sports releases like Madden, NBA 2k, MLB The Show & NHL 2k, we all are perfectly fine with waiting for a working game that delivers the hype. I wish that the industry understood that. Even though we complain about delays deep down we just hope and pray that on launch day we can bask in the glory of the game we had been waiting on for so long.
What do you think? Have a big game release disappointment you want to share? Tell me in the comments below.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned to WeGotLeagues for the best in competitive gaming and gaming news.
