Really? That's interesting.
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Warner Brothers suspends [new] purchases for PC version of Batman Arkham Knight
- Thread starter Mad Season
- Start date
Really? That's interesting.
Oh ok, lol. Looking at High Voltages past game ports, although the Saints Row games were ok it could have been better.
perfectsil
Member
I'm one of the people that got the game for "free" by buying a new Nvidia card, this game and Witcher 3 for "free" is a major reason I made the purchase, I wish there's some way we can get compensated for it, another game I hope.
Pai Pai Master
Banned
Between the GTX970 debacle and this game I really wish I would have waited to upgrade my GPU.
Crimsonclaw111
Member
Blessed QLOC.
Doesn't QLoc have a great reputation and experience with good PC Ports? I don't know why they rather assign unknown companies to port AAA games instead of more established companies.
Keys aren't purchased; they're provided for free as the only "cost" involved with distributing them is the time it takes somebody to send an e-mail. This is why pricing, sale participation and availability are all dictated by the publisher -- the retailer doesn't own the stock and the publisher only makes money when keys are sold to consumers.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Is there an ETA for a patch? I haven't even booted this game up yet.
Doesn't QLoc have a great reputation and experience with good PC Ports? I don't know why they rather assign unknown companies to port AAA games instead of more established companies.
It appears that QLOC is already fixing MKX:
A day later the branch was renamed, but I'd hazard a guess and say that somebody didn't accidentally type "qloc" rather than "qa1".
No, however work is underway.
razgriz417
Member
Seeing as they've pulled the game, my guess is that it'll be a while
moltonasty
Member
I'm guessing a re-launch this fall. I doubt this will be a quick fix
I don't think FF14 1.0 was broken. It just sucked.
Cloudius12
Member
Doesn't QLoc have a great reputation and experience with good PC Ports? I don't know why they rather assign unknown companies to port AAA games instead of more established companies.
Well, they released Ultra Street Fighter IV in such broken state in terms of netcode, menu lag, etc. Took them almost a year to fix everything.
Haha yeah it worked perfectly. The game was just no fun.
Even still... that's even a greater feat then because I honestly can't remember the last time a Japanese game released broken then.
It's been a long time since I've played 1.0. All I really remember is them copying / pasting sections of the map into other areas and how bad it was to level up and how little content there was.
That aside, I still want to play Batman Arkham Knight but definitely will not buy any western game day 1 unless my friends (or GAF/twitter) states the game is not broken upon release.
Pai Pai Master
Banned
It was very broken. But it also plain sucked.
Just_myles
Member
These things need to happen. Good on WB for responding so quickly. Feel bad for the producer/project manager of the PC version. Somebody is going to get it.
Well, I never thought that a game as popular as Batman, made on the most spread out game engine in the industry can be so fucked up. IMO, the fault is strictly with RS and WB on this one since either they didn't do any QA at all on the final product, or they did and elected to release the game in this state.
This will take some time to fix and it's not just a simple patch job I think. As some have already said, it'll probably be better to re-release the game in fall, along with some graphical improvements as well as some DLC for free as consolation
This will take some time to fix and it's not just a simple patch job I think. As some have already said, it'll probably be better to re-release the game in fall, along with some graphical improvements as well as some DLC for free as consolation
Schweinehund
Member
I don't think anyone is trying to say they're blameless. Rather that there's no evidence to support it was their fault yet.
paolo11
Member
I'm thinking of that as well. This might release on Fall or before end of the year.
Well, they did program it.
I mean, even if WB/RS set out unrealistic schedule/budget for the port, they did accept the contract to do it.
The "I want to blame the developer too" mentality does not help us.
Why? Because MANY things can get wrong over the coarse of a development.
However, one thing is sure: the publisher DOES have final say in when to release a product, usually.
Somewhere down at Warner, they thought that Arkham Knight's PC version was okay to launch. They could have pulled a ubisoft and do a small delay of that version, but no.
And over and over, this will happen if the consequence does not realize on Warner themselves - fully. So.
Why? Because MANY things can get wrong over the coarse of a development.
However, one thing is sure: the publisher DOES have final say in when to release a product, usually.
Somewhere down at Warner, they thought that Arkham Knight's PC version was okay to launch. They could have pulled a ubisoft and do a small delay of that version, but no.
And over and over, this will happen if the consequence does not realize on Warner themselves - fully. So.
There could have been many things. For example:
a) Rocksteady updating (changing) the scope and/or features of the game relatively late
b) Iron Galaxy being late by a build or two internally, probably by a major one
c) Warner skipping fully on the optimization pass
d) Iron Galaxy developers being talentless hacks
e) The combination of the above, in any order and precedence.
I somehow doubt d), but I have absolutely no information on the matter, however I see the other options at least that plausible. I hold no love for Occam's Razor, so.
SerTapTap
Member
It's software. Shit goes wrong and if the person paying for it isn't willing to give the additional time and money needed they're the ones ultimately at fault. You could give the best devs in the world too little time and shit would be broken. If only ig were at fault wb would be delaying the game and getting someone more competent to finish it.
Somewhat off topic here, but I was actually refunded immediately when I sent a support ticket to GMG. Steam acting funny with the game - it shows up in my library but fails to kick off when I tried to play it (maybe just a bug with Steam).
Now to go buy a PS4 version. I won't feel guilty.
Now to go buy a PS4 version. I won't feel guilty.
Bright-Light
Member
I don't think anyone really sees them as blameless. Only that the publisher is definitely at fault because they are the ones in control. We don't know what blame lies as the devs feet because we can't know what time/money/support they were given.
Have you never been at worked and been told to do something that you thought "no chance I'm gonna pull that off"?
Oh it's absolutely WB's fault to release the game as is. As they just admitted by suspending its sales.
But if the best developer accepted to do the port with too little time... well then it isn't the best developer.
Doesn't QLoc have a great reputation and experience with good PC Ports? I don't know why they rather assign unknown companies to port AAA games instead of more established companies.
Yea QLOC do fantastic work.
Also in terms of the blame game. Talk to anyone who's ever worked in game Q&A and they will all tell you the same thing: The publisher (Warner Bros) was completely aware of every single issue the game had and decided to ship anyway. This is 100% WB's fault.
I did not write the "behind a few builds" or "delayed in getting the finalized features" part out of joke or madness. Even if you are the best, and you get a constant delay compared to the other version as far as assets and features are concerned, you WILL have a delay, it is inevitable.
And when the release dates do not reflect that? Shit happens. Still speculating, but stuff like this could not have come up when the contract was made, btw.
And when the release dates do not reflect that? Shit happens. Still speculating, but stuff like this could not have come up when the contract was made, btw.
No. There's a lot of bad pc ports for japanese games.
Biggest one: Deadly premonition. They shouldn't even be aloud to sell the game. It doesn't even launch by default unless you have a certain physx version (older than what you have). It runs horrible, and sometimes worse than the laughable ps3 version which ran at like 10-15 fps.
Iirc the problem was loading took forever and they patched that within like 24hrs. It's been a while so that might not be 100%. They're very good at what they do though.
Stuff like this should be cleared up in the contracts. Or at least whose responsibility it is if this or that sub-product is delivered late.
(I work in the automotive industry, where it's a much bigger clusterfuck than just publisher/developer/subcontractor. Delays and such things are things you just have to plan into the contract, at least their repercution)
But as I said, I agree, the final blame is on WB for putting this out. But unless proven the contrary, Iron Galaxy does have at least partly blame to take. Heck, I could even imagine they dumped their prices to get the contract, and then were left with not enough to do a better job.
Interesting. Fair enough... guess out of the Japanese games or games I play from the companies I've liked, I personally haven't noticed any. Just me though, I guess.
Explain to me why a publisher would tell a developer to lock your game to 30FPS, and set graphical settings of a year 2004 game.
Thing is the PC version actually looked good a year ago (when it was by Rocksteady?)
Skip to 2 min (Rocksteady producer says it's the PC build)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78qVd6gpVvE
^ sadly 720p only but it run better than what we got.
also I guessit was actually developed under Rocksteady themselves till at least mid 2014 (since they only showed the PC version in 2014). will be just sadness if Iron Galaxy got a mostly finished code from Rocksteady and still screwed it up.
Skip to 2 min (Rocksteady producer says it's the PC build)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78qVd6gpVvE
^ sadly 720p only but it run better than what we got.
also I guessit was actually developed under Rocksteady themselves till at least mid 2014 (since they only showed the PC version in 2014). will be just sadness if Iron Galaxy got a mostly finished code from Rocksteady and still screwed it up.
Bright-Light
Member
When time ran out and it was time to launch the game, whether it was ready or not.
That series of tweets is great stuff. Really good perspective for people who've ended up on the dick side of this raw deal.
The thing I always try to remember when I start blaming people is what I would want to do in that situation, If I was a publisher, I'd probably want to get the game out as quick as possible. But if I was a developer, I'd do everything I could to put together the best product possible while keeping my job.
I don't want people working on development losing their jobs over unrealistic deadlines, I want people running the publisher losing their money when forcing a product to market that isn't ready. Best way to make that happen? In this case, apparently Steam refunds. This is the sort of shit we have to see before publishers will pay more attention to the ramifications of not meeting their quality expectations.
For people that wanted to play the PC version when they were told they could, at the level of quality they were told they'd expect, this is the worst possible outcome. For the future of big game development though, this whole thing bodes really well, systems are being put in place where consumers can actually vote with their wallet once we have all the facts and it actually has an impact.
It's a pity it had to happen with an otherwise great game from a team with an otherwise great record but the higher the profile, the faster and wider reaching the effects will be felt.
The thing I always try to remember when I start blaming people is what I would want to do in that situation, If I was a publisher, I'd probably want to get the game out as quick as possible. But if I was a developer, I'd do everything I could to put together the best product possible while keeping my job.
I don't want people working on development losing their jobs over unrealistic deadlines, I want people running the publisher losing their money when forcing a product to market that isn't ready. Best way to make that happen? In this case, apparently Steam refunds. This is the sort of shit we have to see before publishers will pay more attention to the ramifications of not meeting their quality expectations.
For people that wanted to play the PC version when they were told they could, at the level of quality they were told they'd expect, this is the worst possible outcome. For the future of big game development though, this whole thing bodes really well, systems are being put in place where consumers can actually vote with their wallet once we have all the facts and it actually has an impact.
It's a pity it had to happen with an otherwise great game from a team with an otherwise great record but the higher the profile, the faster and wider reaching the effects will be felt.
That's not how it would work. Here's how it would work:
Developer: "Hey, we haven't managed to get the performance to where we want it, or add all the graphical options we want. Can we have more time/money?"
Publisher: "No."
Maybe the developer underperformed, or maybe the project was doomed from the start by time/budget contraints, but ultimately the buck stops with the publisher in terms of whether they deem the work they've been delivered as suitable for release.
That video looks pretty decent if it is PC? Im seeing PS4 button prompts tho. They did OD on PS4 demos too so im not convinced
Nastrodamous
Member
You do know you can hook up a controller to a pc right?
Even so, it's not very common for a PC port to display Playstation button prompts. XBox stuff usually appears regardless of what's plugged in.
That said, Arkham Knight on PC actually shows a Playstation controller diagram when you check the options menu so who knows.
LOL at that first Youtube comment. If he only knew....
I find it super weird that I've managed to put 10 hours in to this game by using RTSS to lock it at 30, on my 970 @ 1080p with all settings on 'max' (well, as high as they go) with little issues.
But now, all of a sudden without anything changing, I'm experiencing the memory leak thing (I imagine), and my frame rate keeps going from 30fps to 3fps (so it's a literal slide show for 10 seconds or so).
I've changed no settings. I've changed no hardware. It's just suddenly decided "You know what, everyone else is having a problem - you can too"
But now, all of a sudden without anything changing, I'm experiencing the memory leak thing (I imagine), and my frame rate keeps going from 30fps to 3fps (so it's a literal slide show for 10 seconds or so).
I've changed no settings. I've changed no hardware. It's just suddenly decided "You know what, everyone else is having a problem - you can too"