When people are requesting for hotfixes and game patches on game launch days, why couldn't we give devs 2 weeks of notice?

[delete12345]

When we're about to resign from our jobs, it is common sense to give a 2-weeks of notice to the HR manager of your company. Sometimes, 30-days of notice if it's a contracting role, so at least the person leaving would have some ample of time to prepare themselves switching jobs and so on.

And usually, it's customary to give someone a heads-up when booking for an appointing in advance.

So, when it comes to game patches and hotfixes, why is it the opposite, where we want game patches to be given out as soon as possible?

I wondered if there were any customary guidelines on how long to expect the game developers to address the issue and put out bugfixes for the game?

It's an interesting ponderment, one that I think bears some food for thought.

 

[JoeInky]

Because within those two weeks people will just go play something else if there are potentially gamebreaking bugs or major balance issues that need patching.

Most people just won't wait, they'll move on to the next shiny new thing and completely forget about the previous game, and if their first impressions were bad, they might not bother coming back at all.

 

[Lant_War]

Eh, considering many of these games cost $60 on release, you'd expect them to not have any game-breaking bug on release date (which is sadly not the norm anymore). But then again, you'd get even more crunch I guess.

 

[delete12345]

Because within those two weeks people will just go play something else if there are potentially gamebreaking bugs or major balance issues that need patching.

Click to shrink...

Yes, that is true, but this thread is about "launch day demanding game patches". We're literally demanding for game patches, like instantly and immediately, within a generous 3-days period. If we're doing this, shouldn't we tell the devs that, hey, we expected you to do a hotfix, but at least we can give you 2 weeks of notice in advance, if that's okay?

 

[1000% H]

Because we're paying money for a thing and not permanently leaving our place of work.

 

[Spaltazar]

many of the bugs that games ship with are known to the devs. or at least known to qa and they have submitted it and devs just did not have the time to get it done on launch day. they are already working on patches when the game is releasing

 

[Deleted member 9100]

Yes, that is true, but this thread is about "launch day demanding game patches". We're literally demanding for game patches, like instantly and immediately, within a generous 3-days period. If we're doing this, shouldn't we tell the devs that, hey, we expected you to do a hotfix, but at least we can give you 2 weeks of notice in advance, if that's okay?

Click to shrink...

These two things are not the same at all. In one case you're paying for a service/product. In another case you're being paid to perform a job.

If internet is down in your house/apt, would you be ok with the internet service provider taking two weeks to fix it?

And in almost every case there isn't an immediate fix. It's usually much longer than two weeks to fix. For example, control released over two weeks ago and performance is still bad on console.

 

[hey it's that dog]

I have no idea how you think this is analogous to a job situation, but if a game is broken on day one, consumers should ask for a fix and expect it ASAP.

 

[Ze_Shoopuf]

i mean Borderlands 3 really should not have been launched in the state that it's in.

you can't tell me the devs had no clue about this before they pushed the launch button.

so to pretend that these are glitches and bad UI decisions that magically poofed into existence on launch day is a bit myopic.

 

[Lashley]

Because we're paying money for a product and not leaving our jobs.

 

[JooJ]

What does leaving work have to do with wanting quality from a product you purchased?

 

[FF Seraphim]

This argument is bonkers. If you paid for something you want it to work. You go to a restaurant and order a meal and come out with something half cooked you get them to fix it then and there. Hell, you buy a new car and something is wrong you don't expect the dealer to take 2 weeks to fix the problem, you get it fixed as soon as possible. You paid for said product, it should work as advertised.

 

[Blayde]

because i just paid $60 for a game and i expect nothing more than minor bugs.

and to be honest lots of games are so short these days i will have already completed it within 2 weeks. so any fix would be pointless to me.

 

[radioactivez0r]

OP, the game as shipped is finalized like 60+ days before release, so they already have time to work on the bugs they couldn't get to prior to the gold image. That's why there are so many launch day updates. I'm not even sure what scenario you're asking about.

 

[delete12345]

What does leaving work has to do with wanting quality from a product you purchased?

Click to shrink...

It's the expectation of the timeframe one would need to be prepared for. Leaving work means someone who is staying at work needs time to prepare. Fixing a game means the person working on the fix needs time to prepare.

This is what I see as a common relationship with "time".

OP, the game as shipped is finalized like 60+ days before release, so they already have time to work on the bugs they couldn't get to prior to the gold image. That's why there are so many launch day updates. I'm not even sure what scenario you're asking about.

Click to shrink...

Scenarios where developers didn't expect this bug to occur, and it was a bug they didn't encounter during their QA phase.

I can understand that it is unreasonable for us expecting devs with a 2 weeks of notice when they already had a lot of days to prepare to fix a bug.

 

[Zero-ELEC]

When we're about to resign from our jobs, it is common sense to give a 2-weeks of notice to the HR manager of your company. Sometimes, 30-days of notice if it's a contracting role, so at least the person leaving would have some ample of time to prepare themselves switching jobs and so on.

And usually, it's customary to give someone a heads-up when booking for an appointing in advance.

So, when it comes to game patches and hotfixes, why is it the opposite, where we want game patches to be given out as soon as possible?

I wondered if there were any customary guidelines on how long to expect the game developers to address the issue and put out bugfixes for the game?

It's an interesting ponderment, one that I think bears some food for thought.

Click to shrink...

because money is being exchanged for a product

instead of a person leaving their place of employment without warning

this is the dumbest analogy

It's the expectation of the timeframe one would need to be prepared for. Leaving work means someone who is staying at work needs time to prepare. Fixing a game means the person working on the fix needs time to prepare.

This is what I see as a common relationship with "time".

Click to shrink...

well, maybe the "time" should have been taken before the product reached the people that bought it with their money

 

[Dyle]

You know that games go gold 6-8 weeks before release right?

 

[Crossing Eden]

Strange analogy. That'd also be a PR nightmare.

because i just paid $60 for a game and i expect nothing more than minor bugs.

and to be honest lots of games are so short these days i will have already completed it within 2 weeks. so any fix would be pointless to me.

Click to shrink...

?????
In the gen where open world games and GaaS are more commonplace than ever?

 

[Imitation]

Once you start charging money for a product it's ok for consumers to expect a functional product. If people are encountering major bugs on day one the company was just ok with launching the game in that manner. Requesting bug fixes doesn't seem like a big negative to me.

 

[Alucrid]

then it wouldn't be a hotfix

 

[psynergyadept]

Because we're paying for a product and when it doesn't work we would like a fix as soon as possible...

what a strange analogy.

 

[The Adder]

It's the expectation of the timeframe one would need to be prepared for. Leaving work means someone who is staying at work needs time to prepare. Fixing a game means the person working on the fix needs time to prepare.

This is what I see as a common relationship with "time".



Scenarios where developers didn't expect this bug to occur, and it was a bug they didn't encounter during their QA phase.

I can understand that it is unreasonable for us expecting devs with a 2 weeks of notice when they already had a lot of days to prepare to fix a bug.

Click to shrink...

Your employer doesn't give you two weeks notice before firing you.

As we are the ones shelling out money for this experience, we are analogous to the enployer, not the employee.

 

[Deleted member 10629]

Because I just bought a product and I expect it to work? Lol

If publishers dont want their social channels inundated with complaints then they should ship a functioning product.

 

[xxracerxx]

Your analogy is fucking ridiculous.

 

[gblues]

I mean, I never asked for this day 1 patches/hotfixes. I want the game to fucking work on day one. A publisher's content update schedule is Not My Fucking Problem--it's broke, fix it now.

 

[leng jai]

Analogy makes zero sense. There sure are some weird ass threads on here lately.

 

[Error 52]

Even by GAF/Era standards this thread is actually nonsense

They're not my fucking boss lmao, if I buy a game I want it to actually work

 

[MrWindUpBird]

Yes, that is true, but this thread is about "launch day demanding game patches". We're literally demanding for game patches, like instantly and immediately, within a generous 3-days period. If we're doing this, shouldn't we tell the devs that, hey, we expected you to do a hotfix, but at least we can give you 2 weeks of notice in advance, if that's okay?

Click to shrink...

Games gold what, a month before release? That gives them 30 days to put together the day one patch or whatever, well within your 2-week notice idea.

 

[YukiroCTX]

If this was a discussion about smaller, minor parts of the game which don't work given the complexity and size of games where not everything is able to be checked until released giving developers sufficient time to tackle I could understand but that is probably the worst analogy I've seen. I don't mind if a side quest is broken at a launch if there's other content to do or if I encounter one bug if hours of play but if the game has terrible performance, if I can't progress in the game, if the game fails to deliver on what it promised in a working state majority of the time, then yes, consumers have the right to make such demands and it doesn't help that some companies have some terrible refund systems in place like Sony.

 

[TheMadTitan]

Because if you're trying to sell me something and it doesn't work, I'm not going to give you two weeks to fix it, you're going to fix it as soon as possible or you're giving me my money back.

 

[Sieglinde]

But you already bought their game what do you expect them to do even if you "give them notice" lmao they'll release it when they want to or when it's finished anyway, no matter what people "demand".

This concept is too ridiculous.

 

[saenima]

I don't understand what one thing has to do with the other.

 

[Deleted member 27751]

That doesn't make sense at all and your correlation of resigning from a workplace versus a game being updated because of bugs or broken designs is not at all the same. One is you leaving the workplace because of reasons and the other is literally fixing something people have paid for that could potentially be damaging to their system or to the customer be a waste of money because it doesn't work. How are they even remotely the same?

 

[Mechaplum]

That's a pretty bad comparison OP...

Do you give the restaurant one week if they fuck up your steak?

 

[Eriol]

why we wouldnt do 2 weeks of notice to terrible analogies like this one?

 

[Mars People]

Release now fix later is a terrible practice that some developers are all too keen to get away with.

 

[Deleted member 679]

Man, this is nuts. You should give us a 2 weeks notice before this thread, OP.

 

[delete12345]

Alright, case closed. I'm convinced now. Thanks to all who participated in this thread.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

The thread has been locked as per the OP's request