X Rebirth Studio Boss Apologizes For Buggy Launch

[Andy Chalk]

X Rebirth Studio Boss Apologizes For Buggy Launch

Egosoft boss Bernd Lehahn says he's sorry for the buggy state of X Rebirth but promises that fixes and improvements are on the way.

If you're familiar with the X franchise then you probably won't be surprised to learn that the launch of X Rebirth has not gone particularly smoothly. The game is plagued by a number of bugs, including some rather serious crash bugs, language issues, AI problems and spotty performance on high-end PCs. The good news is that Egosoft isn't burying its head in the sand, as Lehahn posted a message on the X Rebirth Steam forums over the weekend apologizing for the mess and promising that things are being done.

He called the launch of X Rebirth a "huge success," with more than 10,000 people playing at any given time on Steam, plus more who are playing offline. "Great though it is to see that the game is so successful and that many people are having a lot of fun with it, it pains me to see every case where the game causes problems," he wrote. "Sorry folks, I can only apologize for that."

But the main point of the post is to lay out the studio's priorities over the next few weeks. Topping the list are language bugs and "true crash bugs," which the team will try to replicate on PCs built specifically for testing; also in the works are performance improvements for high-end PCs, which Lehahn said appear to be suffering the most.

"This may partly be because we made no special attempt to optimize for fast PCs. It even seems as though the most extreme high-end PCs barely have higher framerates than mid-range ones," he wrote. "We will be tackling this issue aggressively and will be stocking up on high end hardware for tests, to try out things like SLI and hex-core systems. Of course optimizations will also benefit other systems."

X Rebirth early adopters suffering from technical issues can find tips on avoiding crashes here [http://steamcommunity.com/app/2870/discussions/0/648811852275929537/].

Source: Steam Forums [http://steamcommunity.com/app/2870/discussions/0/648811852412228052/]


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[Ragsnstitches]

The bugs can be fixed, the really really shitty core design flaws are a lot harder to fix, and would require nearly a rewrite of the whole game.

But then again, we really shouldnt expect much from a game that has been proven to be made for consoles, then was quickly jury rigged to work on PC.

Luckily Steam has been giving out refunds on the game.

Where was that proven? From what I can see the game was made with no intention of being on consoles.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

An X game with a buggy launch?! Come on!

You're kidding...

Also are we calling people who buy on release "early adopters" now?

 

[Doubler]

It's not buggy so much as outright broken right now. I'm still enjoying the bits of the game that work correctly and I genuinely look forward to the day the bugs are fixed and some of the other issues get looked at (as I do honestly feel there's a good game buried in there somewhere), but this game's release was pretty abysmal.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Is it just me or would these apologies be unnecessary it more effort was put into Q&A prior to launch? I mean it's great that he's owning up and whatever, but I see this as a problem that could've been prevented.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Is it just me or would these apologies be unnecessary it more effort was put into Q&A prior to launch? I mean it's great that he's owning up and whatever, but I see this as a problem that could've been prevented.

One would think that with 7 years in development that they would have devoted atleast a few months to some basic QA.

Wait 7 YEARS??? It was in development 7 years and it still came out buggy as hell? That's got to be some kind of crime.

 

[oliver.begg]

Is it just me or would these apologies be unnecessary it more effort was put into Q&A prior to launch? I mean it's great that he's owning up and whatever, but I see this as a problem that could've been prevented.

One would think that with 7 years in development that they would have devoted atleast a few months to some basic QA.

Wait 7 YEARS??? It was in development 7 years and it still came out buggy as hell? That's got to be some kind of crime.

not really. its almost ceratin that they have had at least 2 versions that have been almost completely scraped

its also a almost comepltely new engine, with multicore support and a new graphics render system.

thats several years work alone

 

[Karadalis]

7 Years of development ladies and gentlemen..

The rumors are that this was indeed supposed to be for xbox 360 but got rejected.. so they took what they had and tried to port it over to PC

That would atleast explain why the only controls that function without problems are xbox 360 controllers... you cant even change some of the keybindings.. it just wont let you.

 

[Stryc9]

Lol. These guys are like the German Bethesda, every X game I've bought has required multiple patches before they were playable. This is why I'm waiting a while before buying this one. Plus I have other games to play before I get to this one...mmmmm new PC hopefully tomorrow, thanks for that FedEx.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Is it just me or would these apologies be unnecessary it more effort was put into Q&A prior to launch? I mean it's great that he's owning up and whatever, but I see this as a problem that could've been prevented.

One would think that with 7 years in development that they would have devoted atleast a few months to some basic QA.

Wait 7 YEARS??? It was in development 7 years and it still came out buggy as hell? That's got to be some kind of crime.

not really. its almost ceratin that they have had at least 2 versions that have been almost completely scraped

its also a almost comepltely new engine, with multicore support and a new graphics render system.

thats several years work alone

Still in 7 years there should've been plenty of time to do some Q&A. Of course that still begs the question as to why they or any other company would knowingly release a game in such an incredibly buggy state.

 

[RandV80]

Is it just me or would these apologies be unnecessary it more effort was put into Q&A prior to launch? I mean it's great that he's owning up and whatever, but I see this as a problem that could've been prevented.

One would think that with 7 years in development that they would have devoted atleast a few months to some basic QA.

Wait 7 YEARS??? It was in development 7 years and it still came out buggy as hell? That's got to be some kind of crime.

not really. its almost ceratin that they have had at least 2 versions that have been almost completely scraped

its also a almost comepltely new engine, with multicore support and a new graphics render system.

thats several years work alone

Still in 7 years there should've been plenty of time to do some Q&A. Of course that still begs the question as to why they or any other company would knowingly release a game in such an incredibly buggy state.

Revenue is important, and angry fans can be pacified if you get the game working quickly enough.

 

[Candidus]

The problem with X: Rebirth isn't its bugs.
The problem is game design decisions that break various much beloved X traditions and have nothing positive to show for doing so. And when they're not breaking great traditions they're just downright fucking hideous on their own.

Avoid. This. Game.
Seriously.

 

[major_chaos]

The problem is game design decisions that break various much beloved X traditions

Like gameplay that doesn't consist mostly of "autopilot->flythrough-> push J-> read book"?


OT: Rebirth is the first X game that has faster pacing than a particularly sluggish glacier so I was really dissapointed in how buggy it was at launch, but it wouldn't be the first game I came to love after a few patches (The Witcher 2, Sanctum 2, Magica, ect.) and I have confidence that most of what bugs me about the game will be fixed. Except the horrible acting and horrendously ugly NPC faces, those are just standard for Egosoft.

 

[Candidus]

The problem is game design decisions that break various much beloved X traditions

Like gameplay that doesn't consist mostly of "autopilot->flythrough-> push J-> read book"?


OT: Rebirth is the first X game that has faster pacing than a particularly sluggish glacier so I was really dissapointed in how buggy it was at launch, but it wouldn't be the first game I came to love after a few patches (The Witcher 2, Sanctum 2, Magica, ect.) and I have confidence that most of what bugs me about the game will be fixed. Except the horrible acting and horrendously ugly NPC faces, those are just standard for Egosoft.

Like being able to watch the universe do its thing around you in accelerated time. Like being able to choose from a vast number of ships*.
> * This decision is just unjustifiable. The interiors look like garbage, and there are only about 10 ship and station interiors in total. You don't trade dozens of ships for 10 shit interiors. Then there's the forcing of the Argon Skunk name on the players of a series that has previously been all about sandbox, autonomy and choice. Why? So their unwelcome co-pilot can annoy you with something other than "NO SHUT UP BETTY". Objectively terrible design choices with no redeeming factors. This is what they look like.

Ahem, anyway... Like trading that consists of actual exploration and study rather than spoon-fed price comparisons with a system-wide average that you don't even have to work out on your own! Rebirth practically squashes your cheeks, turns your head with its hands and shows you where 'and' what the gaps in the market are-- oh, and the market is a whole lot easier to grasp in the first place with about 1/100th of the products.

Like the massive reduction in scale-- do you know why people loved time acceleration? It wasn't to accelerate trade OR travel. Some of the best mods for X3TC and AP enabled wars between species that changed the shape of whole chains of systems, which cascaded into huge consequences for everything from trade, to a faction's vulnerability to Xenon and Kha'ak attack. It was almost roguelike, almost Mount and Blade in the way you could lose a whole faction totally unscripted. People loved time acceleration because it allowed events to unfold that they'd want to interact with!! That shit is all gone.

In my opinion, X Rebirth is X for ADHD suffering children who couldn't take the slow burn that the series has `always` been about.

 

[AdagioBoognish]

Wow. I didn't know games like this existed, I've got some playing to do. After a search though, think I might wait and see what Star Citizen is like. Maybe try X3 since I've been reading that was really good.

 

[Agayek]

Wow. I didn't know games like this existed, I've got some playing to do. After a search though, think I might wait and see what Star Citizen is like. Maybe try X3 since I've been reading that was really good.

Be warned, if you've never played an X game, X3 is obtuse as fuck. They don't really explain anything in-game and you kinda just have to flail away at things until you figure it out. As a newcomer to the series, you probably don't want to start there.

 

[Zakarath]

I'm still desperate enough for a space sim that I'll probably get it.
...But I might wait for a steam sale.