The gaming industry demands innovation and fresh ideas, and developers are constantly under pressure to come up with new ideas and provide more value for the asking price. This also means that each new game is more difficult to create.
Game development is already difficult, and modern standards have made it so AAA games can take several years for a single release. Evidently, releases from many studios have been unable to meet the demand.
This often leads to unfinished games and broken promises from world-class studios. Such releases are usually followed by an apology from the developers, and these instances have become far too common.
Why it matters: Games released in a polished and complete state have become a rarity in recent years. Modern AAA games have become notorious for relying on post-launch patches and updates to fix broken releases.
A few words from the " The Lord of the Rings: Gollum™ " team pic.twitter.com/adPamy5EjO
— The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (@GollumGame) May 26, 2023
The latest apology comes from Daedalic Entertainment, the studio behind The Lord of The Rings: Gollum.
Having been released this week, Gollum has become the worst-reviewed title of 2023 due to a myriad of bugs, performance issues, and other problems. As always, the developer has promised to support the game and implement patches and fixes for the best experience.
However, Daedalic Entertainment is far from the only developer to have apologized in the last few months. These problems extend to even bigger developers, with Respawn Entertainment issuing a similar message last month.
A note from the Jedi Team on the PC version of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor pic.twitter.com/C3bp78VICr
— EA Star Wars (@EAStarWars) April 28, 2023
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was plagued with performance issues on PC, with some reviewers calling it nearly unplayable on the platform. Soon after launch, it received many negative reviews from Steam users.
Unfortunately, this was not a one-off example from a big studio. Less than a month before Star Wars, Naughty Dog had to apologize for The Last of Us Part 1 on PC, a game that would soon go on to become the developer’s worst-rated release.
The Last of Us Part I PC players: We know some of you have not experienced the Naughty Dog quality you expected. Our team is working hard to resolve issues currently preventing some of you from experiencing the game to ensure it reaches the quality level you expect and deserve.
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) March 31, 2023
A similar message could have been made for Redfall, which became yet another unpolished release in May from a developer with a history of great games. While Arkane Studios did not issue a message, gamers have become so used to the trend that they came up with one themselves.
The frequent apologies have led to memes and jokes about the situation.
hey @ every game studio in 2023, we saved you some time for your next release- just change it a little so it doesn't look like you copied pic.twitter.com/uXs45HT6P0
— Linus Tech Tips (@LinusTech) May 26, 2023
Going back even further than 2023, games like Cyberpunk 2077 have become examples of promises that were not fulfilled at launch. However, even at its worst, a game like Cybperunk displayed great potential.
This situation highlights a greater problem in the gaming industry. Developers are often forced to crunch and work long hours to meet tight deadlines. This is usually reflected in the finished product.
The recent pandemic only made things worse as studios delayed projects, and many developers are still suffering from the impact of lockdowns and restrictions from a few years ago.
Gamers also seek bigger games and expansive worlds to justify the new $70 price tag as the economic situation worsens. Likewise, visuals are expected to be top-notch for each new release while maintaining a timely development cycle.
There is no easy solution to the problem, but many gamers are starting to show disappointment at the state of AAA gaming.
Between live-service trends, broken releases, constant delays, and poor PC ports, perhaps developers and gamers have become too accustomed to this brutal cycle, resulting in post-launch updates needed to fix AAA games.
However, there is still plenty of fun to be had with modern games, even if the AAA industry is in a rocky position for now.
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