3 ms·

In the PC gaming world has also experienced a big drop in quality lately. A lot of games are released prematurely and feel like Betas, lacking polish and filled

In the PC gaming world has also experienced a big drop in quality lately. A lot of games are released prematurely and feel like Betas, lacking polish and filled with bugs. Online delivery of Games made things worse, there's no reason to wait to make things right when the game can be patched easily. I believe this will have a big impact on game sales in the near future if it hasn't already with many consequences for the industry.

PurpleRamen 8y ago
So, everything as usual. There always were many games maturing with the user. But yes, online-patching made things worse, but that happend 20 years ago.
taurath 8y ago
Because TBH when that last 10% of the game is going to take as much time as the first 90%, you can release the game at 90%, make up some money, and hopefully finish the game if its good, or at least recoup some of your investment. There are more good quality especially indy games coming out right now than probably ever before, but the envelope pushing games and especially those with new an interesting gameplay is lowering. Genres are starting to really find their limits, and a huge amount of games are just hyper specializations of one mechanic or another, and the rest are playgrounds for many many different mechanics (but most/all of them already invented). Games then need to lean on maximizing story, art style, or precision mechanics and production quality to set themselves apart. Online delivery has made "light" publishers possible which is only a good thing IMO. Games like undertale, minecraft, stardew valley, rez, etc would have been extremely difficult to get going initially without online delivery. VR can open up some new pathways for sure, but we'll see how that goes.
- crtasm 8y ago
  Is that some other game called Rez? I know the PS2 original got a port a couple years ago.
  - mcphage 8y ago
    I think that was a typo for Fez, which fits what they’re describing more accurately.
    - crtasm 8y ago
      Oh! Of course, great game and soundtrack.
user5994461 8y ago
It's all because Steam allows to distribute any games, which was not possible before.

PurpleRamen 8y ago

So, everything as usual. There always were many games maturing with the user. But yes, online-patching made things worse, but that happend 20 years ago.

taurath 8y ago

Because TBH when that last 10% of the game is going to take as much time as the first 90%, you can release the game at 90%, make up some money, and hopefully finish the game if its good, or at least recoup some of your investment. There are more good quality especially indy games coming out right now than probably ever before, but the envelope pushing games and especially those with new an interesting gameplay is lowering. Genres are starting to really find their limits, and a huge amount of games are just hyper specializations of one mechanic or another, and the rest are playgrounds for many many different mechanics (but most/all of them already invented). Games then need to lean on maximizing story, art style, or precision mechanics and production quality to set themselves apart. Online delivery has made "light" publishers possible which is only a good thing IMO. Games like undertale, minecraft, stardew valley, rez, etc would have been extremely difficult to get going initially without online delivery. VR can open up some new pathways for sure, but we'll see how that goes.

crtasm 8y ago
Is that some other game called Rez? I know the PS2 original got a port a couple years ago.
- mcphage 8y ago
  I think that was a typo for Fez, which fits what they’re describing more accurately.
  - crtasm 8y ago
    Oh! Of course, great game and soundtrack.

user5994461 8y ago

It's all because Steam allows to distribute any games, which was not possible before.