sgy0003 said:
Remember those days where you either rented/bought the game, pop it in the console, and just play the game?
I do. I also remember games back then having bugs that would
never be patched. That never
could be patched.
I also remember how much simpler, smaller, and vastly less complex those old games were as compared to many games today. Times change. Software becomes exponentially more complex. Bugs and errors occur. It's nearly impossible to account for
every single issue that may pop up in the more complex software packages, especially under real-world conditions.
As such, day-one patches are absolutely justifiable.
Or would you rather the developer never patch the game at all?
Look at what's happening now days. You get hyped for the game, you pre-order or buy on launch for whatever you do to get your hands on the game, you insert the disc or let the digital game install, and then......bullshit. A goddamn day one patch. And as your hype starts to crumble down, you now realize the patch can take anywhere from 5 min to 2 hours to download. Hell, if the game is digital, It takes even longer to download.
I'm not aware of any day-one patch that took 2 hours to download, even on slow connections. Most of the day-one patches I've come across were minimal patches designed to address minor launch issues. I've not come across any massive, day-one content patches that amounted to gigs and gigs of data.
Besides, many games will allow you to play without the patch.
I mean, i get the devs trying to iron out any bugs, glitches, and issues, but if there is going to a problem, why not fix it and delay the game? The best/only excuse I've seen so far is "Yeah, it's too late to delay the game now." And you guys didn't think of patching the game earlier because....?
You know there's a lot more to a game's launch window than just, "Oh, it's done. Let's ship.", right? And it takes time to code a patch. They didn't "patch it earlier" because the patch literally wasn't written yet.
I get the fact that most of the game now days use online feature and that requires patching, but goddamn, stop making us gamers wait even longer!
So you want them to put the game's launch on hold until everything's "ironed out"....but you also want them to stop making you wait for the game?
You see the contradiction in that, don't you? I mean, it's kind of hard to miss.
Look, I get it. It's easy to complain about this sort of thing because, at face value, it seems nonsensical. But when you understand the complexities of game design and releasing a software package (especially in retail), it's easier (even logical) to justify day-one patches.
:/