Blasphemy I tell you! I know you’re probably thinking to yourself, this is going to be another “Gamers are the real reason why unfinished games continue to be released.” Although this may be partially true, gamers are the true victims here and the big publishers are getting away with it. There are absolutely no reparations for this type of negligence, other than for the gaming community to rally up and speak with their wallets. But shouldn’t this be a crime? Where do you see this happening in any other medium? Let’s take a closer look at this ridiculous trend that has gotten more popular as time goes on.
Everyone knows the gimmick by now because it has become such a common crime that it is expected at this point. Launching a highly anticipated AAA title that is clearly not optimized and, in some cases, not playable. More recently, the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor launch on PC was riddled with performance issues on PC. Even with low graphic settings, the game still struggled to hit a solid 60 fps with modern specs. This lack of optimization was a huge disappointment among PC players. Sure, EA got to work on fixing the issues ASAP and has released patches that have addressed many of the issues, but it still launched at a nearly unplayable state.
The Cyberpunk 2077 fiasco was a huge shock to the gaming community, simply because of CD Projekt Red’s reputation of solid and well-made games. However, the actual issues with the game were nothing new to the gaming community. We have all seen terrible optimization, consistent crashes, graphical issues, and game-breaking bugs from numerous titles released over the past few years. What do gamers receive? An empty apology on Twitter.
Cyberpunk was such a low blow to the gaming community because these inexcusable issues came from such a well-respected developer. They were considered “a developer for the people” and there were high expectations for this game. Unfortunately, they decided to publish their own game and release it in such a horrible state that even Sony had to pull it from the PlayStation Store. Reviewers weren’t even allowed to showcase their own gameplay in the review. A once revered developer has been forever tainted with distrust amongst the gaming community. A real shame.
Another, more recent example, The Callisto Protocol. This game had unbearable performance issues and game-breaking bugs for the PC version when it launched. Thankfully the PlayStation 5 version ran well with some minor hiccups but nothing compared to the mess on PC. This would be an example of a title that did not have a review embargo until launch day. Almost as if there was little confidence in the title's critical reception. However, these publishers will surely pressure players into pre-ordering the game to gain access to exclusive content. Why? Because they want to lock you in before you find out the game is broken and decide to buy it on sale with all the patches.
Sure, these issues can be fixed with a patch or two or three but at what cost? At the cost of the consumer’s respect, time, and money. You can argue that publishers will sometimes accept refunds for their horribly unfinished titles, but the fact is that they know exactly what the quality of the game is before it’s released! One could attempt to request a refund from Sony or Microsoft but they only allow a limited number of refunds per account within a designated time. Steam is a bit more flexible with the refund stance but even that has its limits. It is tough to tell if your game will have a game-breaking bug within the first 2 hours. So the question is, why do these publishers release an unfinished and poorly optimized game to the public and risk their reputation? Because it works.
Gamers have proven to these publishers that we will consistently purchase these games at launch. Sure, sometimes reviews can help spotlight a bad egg from time to time but more often than not the publisher will hold off review embargos until launch day. This is especially so if the game is full of issues and of course the publisher is fully aware, having little faith in the game's critical reception. It is all a game that the publishers know too well how to win, taking full advantage of gamers and their pockets.
One could argue that pre-ordering a game is the worst thing you can do because it enables this behavior from the publishers, but it isn’t the entire solution. I think impacting public outreach as soon as possible is the best course of action. Having review embargoes with a set industry standard prior to launch would be most effective. Also, what are the major platforms doing? PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam should create a penalty system every time a publisher releases a broken game on their platform. Think of it like an eBay feedback system. When a publisher releases a game in a horrible state, not only will the game receive terrible reviews but the publisher will receive a low-quality score. This score will remain on the publisher's profile and will penalize them based on user feedback and quality assurance. The penalties could limit the number of games launched on the platform or even revoke their rights to sell. All of this might seem a bit outlandish but it is one step closer to forcing a quality product and full transparency with the consumer.
Ultimately, this is an ongoing battle that causes nothing but headaches for everyone involved. Players are upset for obvious reasons, developers have to work overtime to fix the game ASAP, and publishers have to mitigate damage. This tiresome game has run its course and gamers are demanding a change now.
