10 Baffling Changes Video Games Made AFTER Release

One of the most fascinating facets of video games compared to other art forms it that they're potentially fluid and ever-changing, with developers able to deliver patches which fix bugs and add content for as long as they feel compelled to support said game.

But it also stands to reason that some developers don't know when to stop tinkering - or rather, can't read the room and appreciate when a change might not go down well with their loyal, paying fanbase.

And that's absolutely the case with these 10 video games, each of which made outrageously peculiar changes to video games after release. 

Despite few among the fandom asking for these "fixes," the developers went ahead and did it anyway, often for nebulous reasons which don't seem to really make sense.

Whether mere hours after launch or straight-up years later, these changes all confirmed that while gaming's ability to improve and iterate is a wonderful thing, it can also be a force for bad when those in charge make ill-judged creative decisions.

Sometimes changes feel important and necessary, and occasionally - as in these 10 examples - they couldn't feel any less vital...

On the day of Shadow of the Tomb Raider's release, developer Eidos-Montréal dropped a day-one patch which, in addition to fixing various bugs and so forth, actually made a major change to the game's ending.

Those who were able to play a physical copy of the game ahead of release or played through it without downloading the patch were able to watch the different, original post-credits scene which teed up a distinct direction for Lara Croft's next adventure.

The original credits scene saw Lara sat in Croft Manor as she received a letter sent by Jacqueline Natla - the antagonist of the original Tomb Raider, implying that the next game in the reboot franchise would likely be a reimagining of the original game.

Except, the day-one patch removed the reference to Natla entirely, leaving the nature of Lara's future tomb-raiding very much up in the air.

Now, you can say that there's a clear point to this if the developers ditched the idea of going back to the first Tomb Raider, but given that Crystal Dynamics announced earlier this year that the next Tomb Raider will unify all three existing timelines, the Natla reference absolutely makes sense as a lead-in to the original game.