10 Video Game Traditions That Are Dead And Buried
1. Video Games Finished At Launch
It seems like a bit of a cheap-shot but there’s no more important subject to end on that the biggest games used to launch as total packages.
Now, studios are so married to release windows that they’ll shuffle games out of the door as un-optimized messes and gamers will sink hard-earned cash on a title despite the fact that they may need to wait weeks or months until it’s in its best state.
This one goes out to the games industry because, as frustrating as it can be for consumers, the behind the scenes situation is even tougher. Previously you’d hear all about wrap parties for games, with developers celebrating their hard work going to print. These days, it seems that there’s no time to celebrate as most teams’ work is never done.
With home consoles catching up to PC gaming in terms of being an “always online” state, almost all publishers lean on the fact they can launch patches to fix anything that didn’t get done during the hellacious crunch. Whilst these started small, with merely KB updates, now games have patches within their first weeks of double-figure GB - perhaps multiple times.
When a game goes green, the studio don't relax. Developers don’t pause, they merely get to work on the next round of bug fixes and updates. The game on the disc might be “done” but it’s not actually finished.