Player3Podcast

By: Luke Croft

 

Gears of War 3, every Madden released between 2005 and 2013, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and countless other games throughout my childhood and college years brought a similar amount of and cause for excitement. Nothing quite brings about the joy of cutting into the plastic wrap of a brand new game, studying every word of the in-case booklet like I was going to be tested on it, and knowing that as soon as I get home, I was going to be able to play the game I'd been anticipating for quite some time. 

 

Nowadays, it seems like the only thing left is the plastic wrap, and that isn't quite worth the heartbreak. Rather than waiting to crack open that case with bated breath, I now find myself holding it. 

 

It’s no secret that 2014 was a cluttered mess of releases, with what seemed like an overwhelming majority of new games having issues galore. Some games were marred by the unrealistic expectations that were placed on it either by the publishers, developers, or the consumers themselves (Destiny & Watch Dogs), while others suffered from performance issues that would have been laughable had they not been so glaring (AC: Unity). Still others had network issues that crippled the multiplayer experience (Halo: MCC). Then you have games like DriveClub, which failed to deliver on anything it promised after almost a year of delays! The public has since become a little leery of the release of new titles, and rightfully so. 

 

An example or two of these sorts of issues can simply be written off as outliers, but the multitude of incomplete titles we have seen in the last 12 months makes this more of a trend. While there is no doubt the developers of these titles feel a sense of disappointment when their games don’t perform to expectations, it is the consumer that takes the biggest hit. 

 

While I understand that much of the responsibility lies with the developers and publishers, this article will focus mainly on our responsibilities as consumers to help curb the trend that has popped up in the industry we have all grown to love. But for the sake of argument and thoroughness, I will quickly mention the ways that developers and publishers could combat this issue (outside of the simple answer of “don’t release broken games.”) 

 

1. Stop forcing release deadlines onto developers.

It’s a business. There is no denying that simple fact. Many view video games as a hobby. Some view it as an art form. But the fact of the matter is that games like Halo, Destiny, and FIFA can rake in tens of millions of dollars in their first release week, and that make video games big business.

 

And big business comes with deadlines and overhead, but oftentimes publishers pressure developers to launch a title in a particular window when the game may not be ready to hit the market. Take Halo:MCC, for instance.  The timing of the game made sense. November marked the 10th anniversary of Halo 2, and with Halo 5 Guardians coming more than likely in November of 2015, Microsoft Studios wanted to make sure that Halo:MCC didn’t encroach on Halo 5’s marketing window. 

 

However, it was known before its release that the Masterchief Collection had connectivity issues. The game was suffering these issues as it was being shown in various trade shows. And with all of these problems coming up clearly, the industry convinced itself it was just the prerelease build and that the game would run smoothly upon release. Much to the chagrin of 343i and Microsoft Studios, Halo:MCC was a bigger mess than anyone could have ever imagined. Problems with finding matches in every playlist, issues with playing as a party, and people being dropped randomly out of games. Several months after release, we are still suffering from these issues. 

 

Companies should learn that customer trust is far more valuable than the $60 they shell out for a broken game. The formula is quite simple, release a game that delivers, and customers will turn their $60 into $120 into $180 as you continue to release games worthy of day one purchases. 

 

2. Thoroughly test each game prior to its release. 

I will not pretend to know the ins and outs of the video game development process or what goes into testing a game, but some of the issues that have been present in recent games would seem to have been easy to catch had the game simply been placed into a console and allowed to run. Take for instance the frame-rate and other graphical issues present in AC: Unity. Upon my run through the story, I encountered my first extremely noticeable drop in frames when in Sainte Chappelle. The puzzle you must complete to enter the chambers took 5 tries because the game couldn’t handle the movement of the room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no doubt in my mind that AC: Unity underwent many tests and that these tests allowed the development team to fix a lot of issues, but either this issue failed to come up or they chose to ignore it. Regardless, Ubisoft’s release schedule forced them to send a game to market with bugs that could have been discovered and fixed with thorough testing. 

 

3. Lift review embargoes an adequate time prior to release.

This is one of the points that feels the shadiest to me. A scary trend that has developed in the last year has been the strict review embargoes publishers have placed on media outlets. Some publishers forbid the release of reviews, gameplay video, etc. until the game has been released. In the case of AC: Unity, Ubisoft embargoed reviews until hours after the game had released. 

 

This trend is thoroughly anti-consumer. Knowledge is power when spending money, and companies know that. Publishers embargo reviews for a multitude of reasons, but the glaring reason is to deny consumers that knowledge. Thief had a release day embargo because it was an underwhelming product released with hype due to its release in the midst of a slim title library. Watch Dogs had a release day embargo because it didn’t quite deliver on the expectations placed on it by a two year hype train. AC: Unity had an embargo because it had frame-rate, graphical, and connectivity issues compounded by content being hidden behind a companion app. 

 

Embargoes are bad news for consumers and the closer they get to release day, the more skeptical we as consumers should be. 

 

4. Stop forcing the consumer to pay for content that has yet to release. 

The advent of used game sales has forced the industry to adapt in a multitude of ways. No doubt, the sales that a company loses by way of the used game sales are significant, and companies have attempted many creative means to curb the trend; from online passes to exclusive content. However now, rather than pursuing a day one sale, publishers are pursuing a two-month before release sale. “Preorder and receive this exclusive mission.” “Preorder and receive $1,000,000 in in-game currency.” The phrase has become all too familiar to us, but companies know that nothing gets us running to our local gamestop or our respective online store than an exclusive offer for buying a game that hasn’t even gone gold yet. 

 

Most recently, Techland learned this lesson when consumers raised their concerns over the “Be the Zombie” mode being opened only to those who preordered. The appropriate response to the used game sales issue isn’t to force consumers to purchase a game that hasn’t been proven worthy of purchase. It is in trusting that you have made a product with the longevity to remain on gamers shelves long past their release date. It is about trusting your product to stand up under the weight of reviews. It is about clearly communicating the direction of your product as to appeal to those who will most enjoy it and spread the word of how good it is. The industry needs to understand that there will always be gamers in every genre willing to take a risk on a product that is fresh to the market, and their word is a way more powerful marketing tool than any preorder promotion. The reward for being an earlier adopter should be that you got your hands on an amazing product before other people had the chance. 

 

We all have a general idea of how the industry needs to respond, but the responsibility falls on us to respond. As long as we the consumers continue to feed the trend, it will never go away. So here is how we need to respond as cash paying gamers. 

 

1. Be forgiving of games that get delayed.

We’ve all jested at the amount of delays that we have seen in this console generation. Name any game that has released in the last 12 months and we can probably point to an article announcing its delay. From Destiny to Driveclub to Evolve, delays have become commonplace in the gaming industry. However, across forums “delay” has become the latest 4 letter words. In a society infatuated with instant satisfaction, it is important for us to remember that a delay is just as difficult for the developer and publisher to swallow as it is for the consumer. 

 

Take for instance the delay of Driveclub, the Playstation exclusive racing game that was originally supposed to launch with the console in November of 2013. The window was perfect. The only other next-gen racer coming out in that timeframe was the Xbox exclusive Forza Motorsports 5. The hype of a more powerful piece of hardware running a superior racing experience meant that Driveclub basically sold itself to fans of the genre and Playstation owners who wanted to have a showpiece to boast about the power of PS4. For Sony to recognize that this game needed more time meant that they were going to be moved out of the sweet spot and closer to the releases of Forza Horizons 2, Project Cars, and The Crew. Not a fantastic place to try to compete (not to mention it released as a broken mess of a game anyway, but that’s beside the point.) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A company that also took a hit from a delay was Battlefield: Hardline. It’s no secret that the release of Battlefield 4 was underwhelming, and the beta for Hardline maybe even more so. EA and Visceral looked at all of the information that they had and determined that if they wanted to deliver a product worth owning, they needed to break out of their regular cycle of releases and take the time rework the famous FPS franchise. 

 

And we as consumers should celebrate that fact. Delays mean that companies are willing to take the bad press and stigma of the announcement to hopefully deliver a better product to the people who will be spending their money on it. While they may be annoying, they are ultimately beneficial for us. 

 

2. Understand the limitations of testing. 

This current generation of consoles is still very new. 14 months out in the wild is a relatively short amount of time, and developers are still trying to maximize the consoles’ powers while taking more and more ambitious approaches to world-size, connectivity, etc. 

 

The last thing we need to do is request that developers become less ambitious in game development. The thing that makes game releases so exciting is the prospect of a new feature being a game-changer, and even though it is big business, gaming is still an art, and part of art is trial and error. 

 

No amount of testing can insure a perfect release. These systems are complex, worlds are vast, and connectivity is pushing new bounds. Not only are the games themselves massive, but they are functioning on a console that is extremely connected itself. Because of this fact, testing isn’t complete until the game is released an functioning in the ecosystem of the entire console. 

 

3. Take a wait and see approach, and take into consideration reviews of games when websites put them out. 

The best way to combat review embargoes is to wait until the embargo is lifted to make your decision. Remember, knowledge is power. Don’t allow a publisher to deny you the right to that knowledge. I’m not saying to let reviews be the end all be all in your decision making process. I’m also not saying to let a number score sway your perception of a game. Read the words that make up the review. Does the article talk about an essential part of the game being broken? Is there something fundamentally wrong with the way the game works? Read enough reviews, and you will have a good idea of what’s missing. 

 

You may disagree with the opinion about the storyline. You may not see eye to eye with the reviewer on the different modes that are available. But it isn’t a matter of opinion that Halo:MCC released with a broken matchmaking system. Dig around and make an informed decision before shelling out your cash. 

 

And this isn’t a “wait two month and see” approach. Again, people are always going to take the risk on a new title the day of release, and the media will always have the ability to get the word out to you as quickly as possible. Just wait a couple days. Heck, you can wait until you get off work the day of release to go pick it up because someone will already be insanely deep into the online mode or story mode of a game. 

 

4. Stop paying for games that are not yet complete. 

You’ve just spent $75 bucks at your local gamestop, as you are preparing to swipe your credit card, the worker on the other side of the counter asks you that scripted question, “Is there anything coming out that interests you?” They have a list of all the upcoming releases for the next 18 months, and you have the ability to preorder games that don’t even have a firm release date. I’ve seen guys drop sixty bucks on The Division. We aren’t even sure The Division is going to release in the next 12 months!

 

Stop! There is absolutely no reason to drop money on a product that will see the changing of a season before your money turns into an actual product. No piece of armor that will be rendered obsolete once you play for a couple of hours will help justify the purchase of a game before it can be handed over the counter to you after the store takes your money. 

 

When we pay for a game that has yet to release, we are removing every ounce of accountability the developers and publishers have. Yeah, $60 may not make a huge difference, but when a large number of us resolve to keep our wallets in our pockets before a game proves itself worthy of our hard earned cash, that $60 compounds exponentially and the industry will respond. Fill up your forums, tweet your opinions, and sulk in disappointment, but unless companies know that your money stays put until they deliver they will continue to push games out to market incomplete. 

 

Show 343i that the release of Halo:MCC in the state it was released in is unacceptable by not running out to Gamestop to preorder Halo 5. Let Battlefield prove to you that Hardline is going to run better than its previous releases upon launch. Force Ubisoft to produce a game that doesn’t need a huge patch to fix something as game breaking as frame rate. 

 

5. Reward the games that are doing it right. 

Not every game has been a horrific mess, and it isn’t big industry exclusive and big industry doesn’t always mean bad. Some of the best games of 2014 were created by big studios; Dragon Age: Inquisition, GTA V, Child of Light, Shadow of Mordor, Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizons 2, and on and on and on. Your wallet can vote negatively, but it can also vote positively. Are you a huge open word fan that was disappointed by AC: Unity, reward Shadow of Mordor for creating an immersive and extremely rewarding product. 

 

And don’t buy these great games used. Sure, Halo:MCC comes out and bombs, run out and scoop it up used, but if you read about how great Dragon Age: Inquisition is and want to pick it up, spend the extra five bucks and get the joy of tearing through that plastic wrap while also showing the company you appreciate a well-crafted game. 

 

The key word in all of this is patience. Patience and knowledge are our two best tools as consumers to communicate to the industry that we love and devote millions of dollars to annually that our money isn’t as easy to part with as they’ve grown accustom to. Take the pledge with us that for at least the next 12 months we will hold developers and publishers accountable by not preordering. #NoPreordering. That’s where this all starts.