Why are there still Release Dates?

[Exterminas]

Looking at my Steam Library just now, a curious thing occured to me.

I prepurchased and preloaded "Dishonored" yet I can't play the game, since as for 15 hours it is not yet the international release day. I am not complaining, mind you, but the fact, that all the files neccesary to play the game are on my PC, yet I can't do so, seems rather wierd.

I had a smiliar experience during the Beta for Guild Wars 2. All the files to play were there, the builds were more and more polished and all that was missing for me to play was someone to flip a switch and turn the servers on.

In an age where digital distribution is becoming the main source of games for many gamers, the institution of a release date seems strangely dated to me.
Why not blurr the lines between Beta-Testing, Prepurchases and the finished product? This has worked for lots of succesful games. Minecraft and Day-Z have each earned huge amounts of followers despite being playable far in advance to their release dates.

Making unfinished games available to fans early on could potentially solve lots of current problems in the industry. It would allow Devs to get an early feedback without having to sink tons of time and money into a product that might just tank upon release day.

The basic idea of a release day seems to stem back from the ancient times when you actually had to car Disks around the world for people to buy in little, smelly plastic boxes. But today, when I could just download the lastest developement build in less than two hours, it seems dated to me.


Do you think the concept of a release day is going to fade in the future? If not, why not?

 

[SajuukKhar]

As long as retail games exist, so shall the digital be tied to retail's idiotic shipment dates.

 

[Bertylicious]

I do not know for certain but I suspect it has to do with fair trading laws. My expectation is that when mainstream media, by which I mean TV, is largely received over the internet rather than traditional broadcast, these rules will begin to change.

It's also worth noting that different countries have to comply with different censorship and tax regulations. I seem to vaugly recall a legend about how all the infantry in the original Command and Conquer had to represented as robots in Germany before they'd allow it to be published. Somebody else has started a thread about the difference in costs in Australia as opposed to other countries. One imagines that these are also factors, though I cannot understand why it would cause a game to be released several days early.

 

[wabbbit]

Release dates are important as they are a "set-in-stone" date for the product to be "acceptable" by. Distribution does push this date back a little sometimes but getting rid of them all together would be a terrible thing.
Note that quite a few games get delayed by things like certification rather than distribution issues.

The problem with not having a defined release date would mean that devs are able to keep pushing back on a "complete and bug free product" for infinite amounts of time.

Same in any software industry, not just gaming.


Although it would be nice if when your accepted onto the beta, you get continuous rollouts until the release date - as you won't be expecting a finished product.
The issue here is that people play beta's/unfinished games and think "this is broken, this is shit, I'm not playing this"

 

[sinsfire]

I think it might have more to do with reliable revenue sources and calculated earnings. While digital pre-release for games still in beta works for independant games, it would make it difficult for a larger company, like EA, to calculate proper earnings.

For AAA titles it may also burn out some players. Something to the effect of "I have been playing this game for months, now its really being released and I don't really feel like spending anymore time with it, so I'm not going to buy it or I can now cancel my pre-order that got me into the beta."

 

[Jandau]

Release dates are important as they are a "set-in-stone" date for the product to be "acceptable" by. Distribution does push this date back a little sometimes but getting rid of them all together would be a terrible thing.
Note that quite a few games get delayed by things like certification rather than distribution issues.

The problem with not having a defined release date would mean that devs are able to keep pushing back on a "complete and bug free product" for infinite amounts of time.

Same in any software industry, not just gaming.


Although it would be nice if when your accepted onto the beta, you get continuous rollouts until the release date - as you won't be expecting a finished product.
The issue here is that people play beta's/unfinished games and think "this is broken, this is shit, I'm not playing this"

I think the question isn't about release dates in general, but rather delayed releases for some regions. In case of Dishonored, the game was released in the US already, but Europeans need to wait an extra few days, which is quite frankly ridiculous when it comes to digital distribution.

As for the actual reason, it's simple - physical retailers still have a fair bit of influence and they pressure publishers into making sure that their games get a delayed release on digital distribution platforms. The reason for that is that physical retailers ARE affected by the logistical problems. So they pressure publishers who in turn pressure digital distribution. Basically, you're getting your digitally distributed games later because Gamestop are dicks...

 

[BrotherRool]

Plus it creates huge hype. Having everyone play a big game on the same day? Having all the twitter posts of 'Can't wait till X-Com is released in 4 days, 3 hours'. Plus by denying you something you want it builds anticipation in yourself and can give you a bigger thrill. Magicians never do a trick straight off, they tell you about it, hype it up, almost do it and then stop again and let the tension build more and then do it.


Basically almost everything about a release date is great for building up buzz. It automatically forces loads and loads of people into similar thought patterns at similar times, whic is an absolute breeding ground for virality.


Look at Skyrim, we had such a huge OMH Skyrim is about to be released it's going to be the best things ever I can't wait to get it when are you going to get it ahhh i just can't wait why can't it come out now omygosh i've just been playing skyrim for 14 hours straight how about you...

It was a craze, and then after that in the coming weeks and months things settled down, people stopped talking about it and there was a swing towards, yeah it was good but it didn't blow me away. Oblivion was better. Morrowind was better than that.


The more the release dates weren't synced, the less tension there would be beforehand and the quicker some people would hit the end of the hype cycle and begin spreading negative comments to people who hadn't bought the game yet.


I imagine it's a nicer goal too, it's neater to have a day which everything comes out instead of it coming out higgledy piggeldy. As it I can't see why anyone would really want to not have release dates, unless you don't actually have the time/budget to finish the game and you need to build up a support base whilst you're making it ala Minecraft.

The other good thing about Minecraft style projects is 1)The expectation is lowered so people won't be influenced by negative experience, 2)The sense of progression on a small project like that is huge, so it helps build hype.


None of these things apply to Dishonoured. It gains nothing from a staggered release day, and if people had been playing a beta version they wouldn't be feeling like every day the game was getting better, instead they would complete the game whislt it was buggy and slightly ugly and generally have a less awesome experience which would lower other peoples expectations too

 

[Smooth Operator]

Always love the imaginative stories people come up with.

But actually it is a simple matter of extortion by retailers, anyone that sells games cheaper/sooner in one place will have his stuff banned everywhere else, that is why they haveto play ball and keep shit locked up.
However as soon as retailers are out of the picture the same tug of war will go on with digital distributors so this shit is here to stay.

 

[Frankster]

Ill be honest, ive been SERIOUSLY tempted to try and tinker with steam a bit to make it think im in the USA and get around release dates so i can play xcom :/
But well figured that me mucking it up and then having my steam account banned with all my games on it discarded might be a bit steep of a price to pay for 2 days early playtime.

Yeh this whole having multiple release dates is kinda retarded , only the retail chains would get any benefit from this that i can see.

Just 1 more hour to go...Although i dont like that 4 hours before release time it got a 2gb update ¬¬ With my crappy internet speed this means im probably gonna have to wait a bit more to dl the update after the game is released FUUUUUUUUUU-

 

[ResonanceSD]

Are you serious? XD, I just got an email from my importer saying that "the PC version of the freedom edition for AC3 has been delayed"

 

[devotedsniper]

It's so the developers have a date to work to, the better question is Why don't we have 1 international release date for digital releases and the stores can stick to their stupid NA gets all the games a week in advance while the EU has to wait.