Are Patches Really Good for Gamers?

[XCalmLikeABombX]

Great, well thought out article. I agree that we may be seeing patches as a crutch, rather than a way to fix a few glitches that pop up. It does truely seem
that we as the gamers have become certain companies beta testers. It just seems like so much is being released, with so many glitches. I honestly do not see how this many errors get through at QA team.

[CoachDavid]

YES, YES, YES... I remember when bugs and glitches ended up being part of the game.... Remember the sack glitch in Super Tech...

I am a developer (not a game developer) so look at it from my point of view. Companies have marketing and sales people calling the shots, especially when it comes to release day features. So... if you take out patches you get the same games you are today, but you have to wait until next year to get the fix.
Also, it cost money to make patches. Someone has to write the code and test the code, and now you have the added complexity of the patch. On PC's its easy (most of the time), but think of consoles... whoooh.

I love patches.

[erichoya]

My longterm hope for sports title development would be along the lines of an MMO style cycle. You look at something like World of Warcraft and the way its incremental patches and occasional expansions enrich and develop the title in an almost organic growth pattern. In this way, patches help grow the title rather than being a salve to fix holes that rushed development cycles cause.

I just look at the way the user communities have supported and grown orphaned PC titles like nascar 2003 and mvp 2005 and can only imagine if there was a more focused regular development cycle on the major titles focusing on sustained incremental development rather than entirely new products every year.

(all credit due to the one of the 1up podcast crews who initially threw this idea out)

[areobee401]

Only one answer for this question.

YES

If something makes the game better then yes.

Should games have to be patched in the first 2-4 weeks of the ship date is a different question.

[Brandon13]

You first have to provide evidence that we're getting incomplete games because of the ability of developers to patch their games later down the road. And judging by the fact that console games in the pre patch era still had bugs and sometimes game ruining bugs, I'd say your premise that patches are bad for gamers is off.

[dbrandon]

I think it all depends on the team the made the game and how much they really care about the product that they release. Looks like the Madden team is finally participating in after the release discussions with us while the team that released Nascar 09 won't participate any for of post game discussion of any kind anywhere. The TW 09 team sure didn't listen to any feed back the TW 09 demo is a step back words as far as gameplay goes.

[savoie2006]

Patches are fine,but caution is also necessary for the developers when making a patch,as sometimes they can open a whole new can of worms.It's also important to note that most of the sports games are usually required by the league they represent to be released by a certain day.It puts that much more pressure on the developers of these games.Not to mention the fact that they have to try and correct any issues from the previous year(s) and put in features the fans want.Sports gamers are ruthless too,so I feel for those developers.

[Trick_]

Game killer for those without online or those who don't know what kind of patch they are getting and what they are getting it for. I don't know if there are many people who wouldn't know...but I know quite a few people who don't have internet. As for those of us who are fortunate to have online capability then its a saving grace. Ability to "upgrade" or further enhance your game is really nice. Additional content such as Rock Band or Mass Affect's extra planet as well as roster patches and being able to fix glitches are awesome. Only concern I have is that I fear companies would just release games on time just to get them out with the thought that they could fix the games. We are now at the point where we would buy games if they had D/L content...such as Guitar hero or rockband. I think in most genre's of games the DLC was much needed and will only grow stronger in supply and demand for it.