Game developers and publishers not caring about quality control.

[M'aiq The Truther V. 1.7]

It seems that as more time passes game developers and publishers would rather push out an "acceptable product" in a smaller time period rather than make a great game to their full potential. This eventually becomes the norm for consumers, especially newer ones in which they eventually stop complaining, and even start appreciating the sub-par product they are buying because they are gullible or they have no where else to turn to. Game developers no longer view their games as a niche work of art, but rather a cash cow that appeals to the gullible masses, and publishers could care less.

 

[ZigzagPX4]

"Gullible and no one to turn to" is not really the case, people just don't care and aren't thinking about the long term effects of paying for a company that sells shitty cash cows. They don't see they're supporting without intention.

Then again, I'm guilty of all the above, having paid for two Ubisoft games as of recent late, so this post is probably the most hypocritical thing I've done this year.

 

[M'aiq The Truther V. 1.7]

"Gullible and no one to turn to" is not really the case, people just don't care and aren't thinking about the long term effects of paying for a company that sells shitty cash cows. They don't see they're supporting without intention.

Then again, I'm guilty of all the above, having paid for two Ubisoft games as of recent late, so this post is probably the most hypocritical thing I've done this year.

Yeah that probably makes more sense and I am guilty of the above too because these games are half assed, but fun.

 

[PossibleCabbage]

No matter how much game developers value quality control, it's always going to get the short end of the development stick because it's necessarily the thing that comes at the end. Game development is basically a triage between "stuff we absolutely need to do in order to actually ship", "things we would like to do but can't", and "wishlist items that we will do if there is time" and the bulk of game development is in trying to get as much as into that third category as possible.

As much as we fault consumers for buying games even though we should know they're buggy, game developers have it right that "it doesn't actually boot" is a thing that will keep people from buying the game but "sometimes the game crashes or you fall through the world or something" is not. People will choose not to buy your game because "there's not enough game there" (c.f. the kerfuffle last year about "The Order: 1886" being like 4 hours long) but they won't eschew your game completely because sometimes the textures pop or the audio skips.

I mean especially in AAA it's not even an artistic integrity thing, it's "your boss says the game has to go gold by September come hell or high water and everybody on the team cares more about keeping their jobs than art". So if you're really concerned that games ship broken, just don't buy them before they're fixed. Game development for some reason resolves around sales made in the first two weeks, which only seems possible if people will buy something without really knowing about it. So just don't be that person.

 

[Spacemunkey]

"Gullible and no one to turn to" is not really the case, people just don't care and aren't thinking about the long term effects of paying for a company that sells shitty cash cows. They don't see they're supporting without intention.

This is only part of it though. As a PC gamer I have the option to play great games from just about any generation, console gamers cannot. When you are limited to such a small number of games, as console players are, you're far more willing to latch on to those annualized franchises even if they are mediocre, and these corporations would be crazy to leave money on the table like that. If FO4's complete consolization and the opening of BGS Montreal are any kind of indicator Bethesda has realized this and we will see a far shorter turn around on their 2 flagship IP's.

 

[ZigzagPX4]

Video games are still marketed and treated by business plans as toys rather than movies based on how a lot of people from the last generation viewed them, so accordingly the quality control isn't very high, and neither is the variety.

I think that after enough time it'll rise in terms of cultural priority. Then it'll be better treated a medium as a whole. Hopefully.