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[MCV] QA testers warn: Broken games fiasco of last year may repeat this Christmas

AAA Bugfest 2015™ - choose your candidate!


Results are only viewable after voting.
This is nonsense. If it were all about the bottom line, they wouldn't patch it at all, since developing and testing patches cost a lot of money. Deployment costs money, too, but that's cheaper.

The argument is that if you preorder, they'll have little incentive to patch, since they already have your money. But, on the other hand, if no one preorders the game, they'll also have little incentive to patch it, since it would be a waste of time and money to patch a game that people aren't even buying.

Now, if you preorder, they actually have incentive to make sure the release is good, since they can gauge the popularity of their game for potential sequels and stuff.

If nothing ever got patched people would stop buying the games, you can only push so far before customers start pushing back. If AC Unity had never been patched how many people would look forward to the next one? Or the one after that, etc. My point isn't that if you pre order there's no incentive to patch, my point is that when you pre order there's no incentive to fix the problems before launch, or to delay if necessary. Just throw it out there, get paid and fix it after the fact, IF AT ALL.

Mass Effect 2 (at least on PS3, don't know about other platforms), as an example, has a bug that can freeze your game during loading/auto saving. That bug was never fixed (at least I never found a record of it being fixed), never will be fixed. It just slipped through the cracks and never got patched out for whatever reason. Diablo 3 on console has a bug that makes your followers gear disappear that has yet to be fixed after being out for over a year. Something is always going to slip through the cracks, no game is perfect or ever will be, but these are REALLY bad bugs, the kind of thing that shouldn't make it to release.

As for pre orders as an incentive to fix these things before release... How is that? You've paid for it, the money might as well be in their hands. Why delay and risk losing that money when you can just fix it later maybe? The market hasn't shown much resistance, happens with loads of AAA games and sales are still profitable, millions of copies are still being sold and pre ordered. There's no incentive to fix it beforehand. If those pre orders aren't there they'll still fix problems with the game because it would still sell all those copies, no one is going to stop buying games at or around launch just because pre orders aren't a huge thing UNLESS they find out the game is broken trash while the other hot release that month actually works.
 

chemicals

Member
I hate to be so blunt, but damn why can't they finish games for launch day? Joe Blow playing a day one edition should have a very similar experience to someone who buys the game 8 months later. (Excluding DLC). I'm talking about these mandatory updates every time I boot up a game.

Look at Destiny. The new expansion changes the base game and takes options away from those who don't want to buy more game.

I realize I contradicted myself there. Just move along sir.
 
Too many to pick but the breakdown should be like this:

Broken online on launch for a few weeks to a month: Battlefield/Halo

Bugs/Glitches/Huge day one updates: AC, Fallout 4
 
this is where the people on message boards think they are the vein of the gaming community, when in fact you are the minority. preordering or not preordering isn't going to effect games from being buggy. there are far more people not preordering than those that are. people hear about buggy games and buy it regardless. They either don't care or hope it's patched later.
 

Skux

Member
Star Wars is going to be a disaster IMO. Server crashes and compatibility issues is going to piss a lot more people off than weird glitches in Fallout 4.
 
My first thought was Battlefront. Then Assassin's Creed. Then I saw Fallout 4 and that is just the obvious answer.
Battlefront is the one I'm most wary of. Doesn't seem like the kind of game that would be delayed if it ran into issues.

AC gameplay has been shown a decent amount and Fallout is anybody's guess. Open world jank is a fickle and somewhat unpredictable beast.
 
I can see Need for Speed being a mess with its always online nature.


Shocked it isnt higher on the poll but I guess most people have forgotten it exists.
 

Illucio

Banned
I've been Alpha testing a few games and I can say Battlefront is a complete mess and is broken. Considering that their deadline for the game is in a few weeks and they still haven't fixed the majority of the in game problems let alone the connection problem me and other testers were having, yes it's going to be a mess. And even a day 1 patch won't fix all of them, I don't know too much outside what I played, but the game is indeed rushed and it's all because of Episode 7 releasing this December.

And in retrospect I also tested black ops 3 which even though it had many problems, it was no where as bad as Battlefront.
 
I don't expect Fallout 4 to be broken at launch. Not as much polish like their past titles but that hasn't stopped anyone from enjoying their games. I expect Rainbow Six and Battlefront to have be the problem games this fall. Battlefront because and I've heard less than good things about Rainbow Six so far.
 

Sydle

Member
Yeah, I haven't pre-ordered anything since learning my lesson with MCC and I'm sure there will be another reason or two this fall to reinforce my wait-and-see purchase behavior. If Halo 5 is one of them I am done with 343.
 

poodaddy

Gold Member
Understandable. I too was a bit disappointed that it wasn't going to have a story, but to be honest I'm fine with that, considering that BF3 and BF4 had terrible campaigns.

I'm kind of worried for Mirror's Edge Catalyst because of that.

Yes they did, god they were awful. That being said I think Mirror's Edge has the chance to be something really special due to how strong the movement is and how much fun it will most likely be traversing the city scape. That being said I'm not holding my breath for the story....it just seems like EA couldn't give less than two shits about stories nowadays, and in all honestly it's probably profitable for them to approach games in that manner as the average gamer nowadays just tends to skip cutscenes anyway. I hate it, but it is what it is.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Definitely agree with Fallout 4. Bethesda Game Studios have never actually released an RPG that wasn't at least moderately buggy. They do tend to shoot for the stars, of course, but it's becoming less acceptable.

I haven't had home internet for a couple weeks now and am stunned by how polished MGSV is. Aside from that Quiet bug, which you can avoid, it's been super solid right off the disc.

I'm actually expecting that Halo 5 will be rock solid. It's a less ambitious project than MCC and they were blasted last year after that disaster. I think it will be just fine.
 
I am betting on Battlefront being a bugfest because it is developed by DICE and because they stopped development on everything else when BF4 was a total mess.

Also doesn't change the fact that they are using the same buggy engine that was the cause of BF4's fiasco.
 

joecanada

Member
I've been Alpha testing a few games and I can say Battlefront is a complete mess and is broken. Considering that their deadline for the game is in a few weeks and they still haven't fixed the majority of the in game problems let alone the connection problem me and other testers were having, yes it's going to be a mess. And even a day 1 patch won't fix all of them, I don't know too much outside what I played, but the game is indeed rushed and it's all because of Episode 7 releasing this December.

And in retrospect I also tested black ops 3 which he though it had many MANY problems, it was no where as bad as Battlefront.

goddamn son! Lol no way I would ever buy another battlefield without letting the nice day one people test it out again... BF4 was a pretty accomplished game about 6 months after launch
 
It's almost unfair to include Fallout 4. Until Bethesda Game Studios shows otherwise, it's basically a given that it will be a mess. The only question is to what degree. Halo 5 could be an absolute glitch heap and still be less buggy than the average BGS game at launch.
 

JDSN

Banned
I was already laughing at the people desperate to pre order Fallout 4. As ive said several times, zero sympathy for Gafers that do this, they should know better.
 

KingBroly

Banned
I've been Alpha testing a few games and I can say Battlefront is a complete mess and is broken. Considering that their deadline for the game is in a few weeks and they still haven't fixed the majority of the in game problems let alone the connection problem me and other testers were having, yes it's going to be a mess. And even a day 1 patch won't fix all of them, I don't know too much outside what I played, but the game is indeed rushed and it's all because of Episode 7 releasing this December.

And in retrospect I also tested black ops 3 which he though it had many MANY problems, it was no where as bad as Battlefront.

Juicy and depressing.
 

Petrae

Member
I've been Alpha testing a few games and I can say Battlefront is a complete mess and is broken. Considering that their deadline for the game is in a few weeks and they still haven't fixed the majority of the in game problems let alone the connection problem me and other testers were having, yes it's going to be a mess. And even a day 1 patch won't fix all of them, I don't know too much outside what I played, but the game is indeed rushed and it's all because of Episode 7 releasing this December.

And in retrospect I also tested black ops 3 which he though it had many MANY problems, it was no where as bad as Battlefront.

...and I said "HOLY SHIT!"

Feeling good about my poll choice right now.
 

bakeray

Member
My bet is on Fallout 4 and Battlefront. Fallout simply because Bethesda games typically are, Battlefront because the announcement to coming out seems to be way too short, and Battlefield 4 was also a clusterfuck.
 

bakeray

Member
Yeah you would think that but mcc was broken as well
I'm pretty sure MCC was the only Halo game that wasn't publicly beta tested(Halo 4 may have also not been tested, can't remember).

I was utterly disgusted by MCC, and was swearing off Halo 5 because of it until I saw the latest videos, if this ships broken, I'm honestly probably done with consoles period.
 

Fbh

Member
If I had to gues:

Fallout will have the most number of glitches/bugs, but at least half of them will be kinda funny like in most Bethesda games

Battlefront won't fully work for at least a month after release

The new AC will have less issues than Unity, but it's still going to have issues
 
I've been Alpha testing a few games and I can say Battlefront is a complete mess and is broken. Considering that their deadline for the game is in a few weeks and they still haven't fixed the majority of the in game problems let alone the connection problem me and other testers were having, yes it's going to be a mess. And even a day 1 patch won't fix all of them, I don't know too much outside what I played, but the game is indeed rushed and it's all because of Episode 7 releasing this December.

And in retrospect I also tested black ops 3 which he though it had many MANY problems, it was no where as bad as Battlefront.
...aren't you breaching your NDA by telling us this?
 
I've been Alpha testing a few games and I can say Battlefront is a complete mess and is broken. Considering that their deadline for the game is in a few weeks and they still haven't fixed the majority of the in game problems let alone the connection problem me and other testers were having, yes it's going to be a mess. And even a day 1 patch won't fix all of them, I don't know too much outside what I played, but the game is indeed rushed and it's all because of Episode 7 releasing this December.

And in retrospect I also tested black ops 3 which he though it had many MANY problems, it was no where as bad as Battlefront.
Huh. I wish this sounded more far fetched.
 

Krakn3Dfx

Member
It's sad that Fallout 4 is winning by a country mile.

But I voted for it, too. Damn you Bethesda,
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.
 

bone_and_sinew

breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
Good thing I'm not buying anything this holiday except for Bloodborne DLC. It's this kind of shit that drove me to buying a Wii U. Say what you want about that platform but at least the games work on day 1.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Fallout 4 is a given, but it's a Bethesda open world RPG so that's easy mode.

Pretty convinced Battlefront will be a mess. I'm still baffled at the state Battlefield 4 launched in, and I imagine this is under greater pressure to be out on time.
 
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