Patch society: What’s wrong with updating games after release?

Game updates are a wonderful thing. They fix software glitches. Balance online play. Breath new life into aging games. And even fix consoles.
Obviously that makes players happy. Developers too. “The biggest advantage of game updates is that we don’t have to be quite so paranoid about unknown bugs cropping up,” says Brian Greenstone, president of Pangea Software. “In the old console days, you were screwed if a bug popped up because you only got one chance to get it right. Now, while a bug may be embarrassing, it’s fixable.”
So it’s high fives all around for updatable games, right? Not so fast, say both developers and avid gamers. While downloadable content, firmware upgrades, and patches have significant strengths, they’re not without their weaknesses.
Consider the recent launches of Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed, or Modern Warfare 2 (and it’s glitchy map pack, launched two days ago to groans all around). All fun games. But they didn’t launch that way. In some way or another, they all shipped with half-baked code that was later fixed—a growing trend that’s affecting an increasing number of new releases, due to a more relaxed testing environment.
“Developers can slack a little since they know they’ll always have an update option,” admits Greenstone. In other words, welcome to the “ship it now, fix it later” era. Or think twice before you early adopt. All because of patches.
Five years ago, it didn’t take long to play a game. Pop in a disc, hit start, and you’re in. A few loading screens here and there, yes. But nowadays, many games must be periodically updated before playing, which adds more waiting time.
“It seems like every third time we turn on a game, even ones we already own, we need to update or install something,” my wife observes, “Often while guests impatiently look on. Why won’t these games just let us play?”
As an avid gamer, I want to make excuses and defend the annoyance—such as recognizing that games are more complex now—but I shouldn’t have to. With all the available processing power, the experience from boot to gameplay should be much faster. But it’s not. Although not entirely the fault of updates, patches sure don’t streamline the “get me to game play as fast as possible” process.
When they’re not making games sloppier or slower, post-release game updates are sometimes keeping developers from making new games. “It used to be that once a console game shipped, the developer never had to think about it again, but now they may be forced to maintain it,” says Greenstone.
That’s a good thing if the add-on content is like ‘Call of Duty: Nazi vs Zombies.’ Not so good if it’s another ho-hum map pack, weapon, or car—which most downloads are. Again, downloadable content is welcomed by gamers—but only for in-demand games. And never if it prolongs the release of the next great game.
There is a trade-off, though, says Steve Gibson, vice president of Gearbox Software. “If gamers like a game and the studio behind it is strong, players can get their hands on more stuff from that universe without having to wait years for a full sequel,” he says. “This of course in turn raises the bar for sequels a bit.”
The problem, however, is that downloadable content is generally expected for many HD games, even if it’s not warranted or desired by consumers. That by itself further complicates the development process, and the more complicated it gets, the more decisions a publisher has to make before deciding when and how to invest in new projects.
Sadly, when in excess, downloadable content may dissuade a publisher from cultivating new ideas, while milking existing ones to death, says Greenstone. Understandable given the high cost of development. But short-sighted, nonetheless.
What’s more, downloadable content isn’t always made with the intent of improving games, but rather inflating them with more value, adds Gibson. “It’s being leveraged by some publishers to combat the perceived lost sales caused by used games.” Ironically, consumers won’t see the value unless the content is compelling; something it won’t be if primarily a business maneuver, he adds.
Worse still, Gibson says downloadable content has given publishers a myopic view of the total player audience. “Just recently, Microsoft made it clear that nearly half of all Xbox machines aren’t even online,” he says. “Let’s try not to hose those guys who have their console in a room without an internet connection.”
That said, post-release updates are a net gain for gaming. Despite their side effects, they’re here to stay. And with a little time, “this young idea” will be perfected, concludes Gibson.
“There is experimentation in all kinds of directions and mistakes are being made,” he says. “But with the help of gamers, the industry will figure it out. A few years from now, these updates are going to be universally accepted and enjoyed by gamers.”