10 Images That Encapsulate Gaming's Biggest Problems

3. Early Hardware, Software Buy-In Punishes Loyal Fans/Customers

Such is the nature of buying a new piece of technology day one, inevitably the lesser 'loyal' consumer of whichever brand you've enamoured yourself with will get a product that lasts longer than the one you shelled out more money for - case in point being any games console. Understandably there's only so much QA testing that can be done in the pre-release, as the real test of how well something is going to perform is when it's out 'in the field' as it were, measured over the course of multiple years where hundreds of thousands of people apply their own methods on how to use them. It relates directly to the fact that hardware manufacturers can use this feedback to develop newer, better versions of the initial console, but it does nothing to help those who coughed up the cash as soon as they could, as their version is now hopelessly outdated or in need of an upgrade within a few months. The same thing happens with software too, as leaving aside the various console 'firmware upgrades' that are the norm now - fixing stability issues and adding features that should have been in at launch - even buying a game day one can leave you with a buggy, crippled mess until the developers fix it. All signs point to moving away from the passionate, 'cut me I bleed pixels'-nature of hardcore gamers supporting the industry and more into a pessimistic view, backed up by the cold hard facts that if you don't get stuck in straight away, you're actually better off - both from a console and software standpoint.