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[Draugoth]

GamesIndustry.biz spoke to head of global publishing Pete Hines ahead of launch at last week's Gamescom 2023, where the subject of Bethesda and its history with bugs inevitably came up. But while the company has become known (fondly, in the case of many fans) for the quirky errors in its open-world RPGs, Hines suggests its less important that the team's efforts to give players more freedom.

"We embrace chaos. We could make a safer, less buggy, less risky game if we wanted to. But what we try to lean into is player freedom. Yes, there's going to be some little things here and there where your companion might stand a little too close to you sometimes, yet the freedom you get, and the things that happen because of that, we absolutely love and embrace.

Of course there are bugs. But does it take away from your experience? Or do you have a consistent, fun game that you just can't stop playing and experimenting with?

 

[Pelta88]

How about embracing development that gets rid of bugs during the actual dev cycle?

 

[Zuzu]

It depends on the nature of the bug. Benign bugs like some characters clipping through objects or facial features disappearing during conversations are no big deal usually. But more problematic bugs such as those that break quests and make them not completable harm the experience of the game.

 

[Mr Hyde]

As long as it's not game breaking, save corrupting ,freezing or crashing, I'm okay with the occasional bugs. Can even be funny sometimes when a character loses its head, or a creature launching into the air like a rocket when you kill it.

 

[StueyDuck]

hahaha wasn't the narrative like 2 days ago that the game is basically not buggy at all.

seems like the microsoft PR marketing only paid up until reviews hit.

either way i'm still excited to get my hands on the game, worried about that PC performance now though.

 

[dotnotbot]

Fuck off Pete. No HDR support in 2023 is unacceptable. Finish your game before release.

 

[Skifi28]

When you can't get rid of bugs, they're a feature.

 

[dreamstation]

If it was any other developer people would be mad. But for some reason people embrace Bethesda and their bugs.

 

[Guilty_AI]

But more problematic bugs such as those that break quests and make them not completable harm the experience of the game.

Tbf these sorts of bugs will always be more common in RPGs with a lot of interactive elements.

 

[Mr Moose]

Why not publish this a week ago when the interview happened? *shakes fist* damn you, gamesindustry.biz!

 

[feynoob]

Man, can these people shut up for once?
It's always drama with them.

 

[feynoob]

Why not publish this a week ago when the interview happened? *shakes fist* damn you, gamesindustry.biz!

Drama clicks.
They want to farm those views.

 

[Punished Miku]

Man, can these people shut up for once?
It's always drama with them.

This is from his Gamescom interview. Just watch that. It's a normal PR guy doing this thing. He's asked about bugs. He acknowledges they have bugs, but tries to put a positive spin on it. His job.

You can clip out 100 different lines from his relatively uneventful 5 min conversation and chop it up into 100 articles.

 

[Hayabusabruh]

Can you imagine a chef saying something like this when you're food isn't cooked right?

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

How about embracing development that gets rid of bugs during the actual dev cycle?

If being acquired by Microsoft and cutting out half of their userbase can't do that, nothing will.

 

[Fake]

You guys embrace more than chaos thats for sure.

 

[L*][*N*K]

How about embracing development that gets rid of bugs during the actual dev cycle?

How about you don’t play games at launch and wait a few years, I mean go play Fallout 4 now the game runs like a dream

 

[GHG]

Can you imagine a chef saying something like this when you're food isn't cooked right?

"We embrace the chaos, of your arse"

 

[TheRedRiders]

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[German Hops]

 

[FireFly]

How about embracing development that gets rid of bugs during the actual dev cycle?

Reviewers are saying this is Bethesda's least buggy game (though not exactly a high bar). But all software products ship with bugs and RPGs of this scope will inevitably suffer more. The key metric is how many of the bugs are progress blockers.

 

[Tsaki]

"It's supposed to be this way"
I hate this embracing-the-meme culture.

 

[Badlucktroll]

It looks a tid washed out on my oled. Any way to fix?

 

[MrA]

Why do they have to say something stupid?
Why not just are games are huge, players are going to do things we didn't in qa

 

[feynoob]

Why do they have to say something stupid?
Why not just are games are huge, players are going to do things we didn't in qa

Their games has always been the buggiest games, every time they launch. It's they are called bugthesda.
At least this game bugs happens late game.

 

[bbeach123]

Did they spent a year to test bug on the xbox and forgot pc or what .

 

[Cyberpunkd]

How about embracing development that gets rid of bugs during the actual dev cycle?

Not chaos enough.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

"It's supposed to be this way"
I hate this embracing-the-meme culture.

Hope you are enjoying your cinematic 30FPS coupled with artistic choice of no local Co-op.

 

[killatopak]

It's expected from their games but wtf was the delay for if it just results in the same thing?

 

[MadPanda]

How about embracing development that gets rid of bugs during the actual dev cycle?

For a game they make, where every item is tracked any many other systems are in place that's impossible. Stop pretending to be smarter than everyone else. What Hines said is true. They could make a linear game where you're restricted and without bugs. No thanks, there are plenty of such games Already.

 

[darth.shrimp]

Chaos, you say?

 

[Killer8]

 

[Beer Baelly]

 

[GymWolf]

How about putting a fov slider and a brightness slider in your 2023 game first?

 

[Pelta88]

For a game they make, where every item is tracked any many other systems are in place that's impossible. Stop pretending to be smarter than everyone else. What Hines said is true. They could make a linear game where you're restricted and without bugs. No thanks, there are plenty of such games Already.

Advocating for less buggy games means I'm pretending to be smarter than everyone else? Me trying to work out the mental gymnastics before I had a look at MadPanda 's post history.

 

[Wildebeest]

We embrace not overhauling our 20-year-old game engine.

 

[8BiTw0LF]

 

[MadPanda]

Advocating for less buggy games means I'm pretending to be smarter than everyone else? Me trying to work out the mental gymnastics before I had a look at MadPanda 's post history.

From what I read in reviews, and heard from Karak at ACG this is their least buggy game so what are you talking about?

And what about my history, want to point something out or?

 

[Virex]

How about embracing development that gets rid of bugs during the actual dev cycle?

We Don't Do That Here -Betheshda

 

[Virex]

What are these women protesting about?

 

[German Hops]

What are these women protesting about?

Fat acceptance.

 

[lh032]

Resetera cameo!!!???

 

[Flutta]

We embrace chaos = we have a mod community to fix our games for FREE.

 

[Interfectum]

I get what he's saying but... yeah don't say it like that in the era of social media.

 

[Flutta]

LMAO THOSE EYES…. WTF

People will have a field day making Starfield gifs

 

[Topher]

lol....just now my game froze when I clicked quit game. Embracing chaos....

 

[feynoob]

lol....just now my game froze when I clicked quit game. Embracing chaos....

Bethesda is back.

 

[Virex]

LMAO THOSE EYES…. WTF

People will have a field day making Starfield gifs

 

[Wildebeest]

Redfall is no different for us. Okay, we didn't get the start we wanted, but it's still a fun game… and we're going to keep working on it. We're going to do 60fps. We're going to get it to be a good game because we know, as a first-party studio, Game Pass lives forever. There will be people ten years from now who are going to join Game Pass, and Redfall will be there.

10 year lifetime support for Redfall confirmed. Arkane Austin going to be hard at work polishing that gem forever because Pete Hines thinks it is fun.