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Is it ever too late to update a game?

W

wwm0nkey

Member
So with No Man's Sky being updated to what most people originally wanted and MMC getting updates in 2018, I have seen a lot of comments of "too little too late". Now I 100% understand being upset at these games as one launched missing a lot of features and the other was a buggy mess.

With that being said, No Mans Sky is on it's way to having all the features people wanted, including multiplayer support. Halo: MCC was a mess at launch and it still does have a fair share of bugs (but still nowhere near as bad as launch) and will be getting updated this spring to fix bugs and add in Xbox One enhancements, sadly this took 2 years.

I personally disliked No Mans Sky at launch and MCC made me pretty sad, yet I love the new NMS updates that have been coming out and I am excited about the MCC update even though I have been waiting years for an update, but even then they were already old games, what difference does another 2 year gap really make? If anything it helps preserve these games even more while updating them for 4K (and hopefully HDR) while also potentially help revive the community.

So do you guys think it's ever "too little too late" when it comes to updating a game?
 
N

NotTheGuyYouKill

Member
Yeah, if the stuff promised comes a year later when most of the demographic already has a poor impression of the product or they've moved onto newer stuff.

Make sure everything you promised is ready to go when you release instead of patching for the next two years. Push the date back if necessary if it's a large amount of features like in NMS.
 
H

horkrux

Member
It can be too late for you personally, because you have already moved on etc. and would have appreciated the update while you were still playing.
But in general, it can never be too late.
 
K

Kouriozan

Member
Yep it can be, for example I platinum-ed FF XV the month it came out, almost one year later they added a bunch of stuff but I have no desire to play this game again.
 
T

TripleBee

Member
Always better to fix it then not to. Obviously sales wise, the sooner the better.

If tomorrow a Vampire Bloodlines patch hit that fixed everything - I wouldn't be like " Too little, too late >:| "
 
W

wwm0nkey

Member
Kouriozan said:
Yep it can be, for example I platinum-ed FF XV the month it came out, almost one year later they added a bunch of stuff but I have no desire to play this game again.
Click to expand...
Yeah I can understand that due it adding story bits that were cut or to fill in plot holes

TripleBee said:
Always better to fix it then not to. Obviously sales wise, the sooner the better.

If tomorrow a Vampire Bloodlines patch hit that fixed everything - I wouldn't be like " Too little, too late >:| "
Click to expand...
That is basically my stance on it.
 
K

Kolibri

Member
It can be too late for multiplayer games that have crashed and burned already.

Like Lawbreakers for example. No update could save that shit.
 
C

ChazGW7

Member
Hell no, especially not MCC which is essentially a legacy collection intended to be played for years to come. Bring on the updates.
 
L

lazygecko

Member
Didn't buy Starcraft 2 because of the region locks. They eased up those restrictions much, much later. But I was really beyond caring at that point.
 
C

crazyprac

Member
It's nice to fix a broken product but it shouldn't be broken in the first place. Also if you showcase your game having certain features but is absent at retail without letting the public know in advance, that is also misleading. Publishers don't let me pay in increments. Why should we let them deliver incomplete/broken products that MAYBE will be fixed down the road?

I forgot to add, that yes it's never too late to fix a game but as a consumer it discourages me from buying their games at launch and to just wait for a goty edition or when everything is fixed and by then it will be discounted.
 
K

Keinning

Member
unless its a game that got discontinued, there is always the possibility of someone buying them later, so no, it's never too late. FFXV is a better game now than it was when it launched, and i'm sure a good number of people will reap the improvements even when a vocal minority kept screaming "stop updating this! move on to something else!"

hell, even great games like witcher III can benefit a lot from updates, even when they come later (speaking about the UI improvements here). as long as there is will to improve a product, it will always be welcome. it's baffling to me that people can be bothered by this
 
Yautja_Warrior

Yautja_Warrior

Member
As long as there are a good number of people still playing, I don't think it's ever too late. DriveClub, No Mans Sky, SFV, Diablo 3 and many other games have been improved in big ways with post launch content.

GT Sport will be another game that fits into this situation. It's a solid foundation now but there is plenty they can add to make it even better.
 
N

NealMcCauley

Member
I got an update last Christmas for Max Payne 3 on my PS3. Had to google what it was for and R* did some small online patches. It was kinda amusing over how unexpected it was.
 
Avallon

Avallon

Member
In the case of No Man's Sky, it's way too late for me to care.

I'm sure others feel the same way.

So, in a sense, yes, it's too late.
 
W

watership

Member
Never a bad thing. Especially considering many publishers and devs tend to abandon games after a year unless there is paid DLC to sell.
 
M

Marcel

Member
Modern Sonic developers must have one of the luckiest breaks of all time. They release games ranging from mediocre to legendary crap, rarely get fixes for their problems and the fans eat up whatever the next mess is.
 
T

TripleBee

Member
Also I'll say in the case of Hello Games,

Even if the updates are coming too late for me to really get back into No Man's Sky, it does soothe over some of my stronger feeling about the game.

If they announced a new game after NMS, I would have been very uninterested.

After all the updates and work, if they announce a new game a year from now, they at least won't have me actively ignoring it - as they've shown they actually care about trying to get their games to a good place, even if they don't start there.
 
J

Jangowuzhere

Banned
Yes, when it comes to multiplayer games especially.

Even if all the problems with the original release are fixed, that's not a guarantee that people will come back to play it.
 
N

Nheco

Member
I think could be too late to make any difference in the game reception and/or sales, however, never is to late to show respect with your customers.
 
K

Keinning

Member
Jangowuzhere said:
Even if all the problems with the original release are fixed, that's not a guarantee that people will come back to play it.
Click to expand...

It doesn't necessarily need to bring who left back. If other people are still playing it and it fixes the problem for them, then it was already a good thing. A late sign of goodwill that should have been there since the start, sure, but still a good thing nonetheless. Way better than a developer sweeping the broken game under the rug and trying with something else a few years later.
 
W

watership

Member
Marcel said:
Modern Sonic developers must have one of the luckiest breaks of all time. They release games ranging from mediocre to legendary crap, rarely get fixes for their problems and the fans eat up whatever the next mess is.
Click to expand...

They are a special breed of gamer, those Sonic fans. Off topic, and deserving of it's own thread. I don't mean on Neogaf, I mean on psychology forums.
 
S

Servbot24

Banned
Too late if the goal is to improve sales? Sure.

Too late if the goal is to improve the game? No, it's never a bad time to put some more love into your game.
 
A

Animagne

Member
It can never be too late for a single player game. If a single player game is good, it can always gain longevity.

I think Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines is a great example of that. It had a horrible launch, because it released at the same time as Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3 was a day later and Halo 2 the week before. And it was really broken. Still it became a cult classic, because it had a great world.

If No Man's Sky fulfilled all of their "promised features", it would already have a leg up over games like VtMB, because a lot of people already own it. Last update already piqued a significant amount of interest. It peaked on steam with ~20k concurrent players. It's only 10% of launch (which was way too high for such a game and caused by hype getting out of control), but it's still almost 20 times the average concurrent numbers. It has fallen back to around 1k since then, but it shows that updates can still cause people to come back.
 
B

Black Mantis

Member
No. For me, now that I've been all digital for almost a decade and can return to a game easily whenever I want, it's a good gesture no matter how long it takes.
 
I

Izayoi

Banned
FFXI (the one released in 2002, 15 years ago) just got an update recently and apparently is updated frequently.

Pretty impressive, if you ask me - and it bodes well for the future of FFXIV as well.
 
VincentMatts

VincentMatts

Member
No because you can re-launch the game at the same time as long as new stuff is also added in it. Its never too late if you do it right.
 
Okami Haundo

Okami Haundo

Member
I feel like most use "too late" in relation to online multiplayer updates and not much else. As someone who regularly revisits older games, I never feel that it's "too late" to patch a single player game.
 
L

LewieP

Member
There is a financial incentive when the reputation of the developer/property is at stake.

Blizzard have a track record for extremely long support for their games, and that results in people having confidence to buy their games.
 
E

eyeball_kid

Member
NotTheGuyYouKill said:
Yeah, if the stuff promised comes a year later when most of the demographic already has a poor impression of the product or they've moved onto newer stuff.

Make sure everything you promised is ready to go when you release instead of patching for the next two years. Push the date back if necessary if it's a large amount of features like in NMS.
Click to expand...

It wasn’t possible for Hello Games to push back the date: Murray said that they ran out of money. I’d guess budgetary issues are a big reason why most games end up launching in a poor state.

But on the topic, NMS has had good sales numbers in every big update they’ve released, so for them I think it was worthwhile. Other games that don’t draw such curiosity may not see a good return for their efforts in updating down the road.
 
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