This isn't going to be one of my long, detailed OP's with pictures, GIFs, etc. I just want to vent about the current state of affairs with regard to Switch ports, although the situation certainly applies to games on other modern platforms as well. I'm focusing specifically on Switch releases here, however, because that's where I find it to be an epidemic.
Okay, I get that the ability to patch games via the Internet on consoles has resulted in fewer resources being put into pre-release quality assurance testing in games. Before console games could be patched, developers/publishers had no choice but to thoroughly playtest their games lest they release a forever-broken failure into the market. Now, we all know the drill.
Consumers are just becoming free bug testers for these games. Hell, better than free. They pay full price as an early adopter just to offer up basic bug reporting to the developers.
I know I'm ranting, and I don't mean to demonize all developers who've struggled with buggy releases. Hell, I'd love to hear from a developer who could offer some insight from their side of the equation in this thread. But damn if this new normal isn't annoying as hell. Sometimes I honestly feel like "patch culture" has done more harm than good for console gaming.
Okay, I get that the ability to patch games via the Internet on consoles has resulted in fewer resources being put into pre-release quality assurance testing in games. Before console games could be patched, developers/publishers had no choice but to thoroughly playtest their games lest they release a forever-broken failure into the market. Now, we all know the drill.
- Game releases, sometimes with an enormous day-one patch or additional large download required to get the game's full content
- The game performs like utter shit on Switch, so people immediately start posting, "Waiting for a performance patch." You know, as if the fucking general performance of the game is just an afterthought that can be easily patched weeks/months after release.
- Performance aside, people start reporting bugs. Oftentimes these aren't really obscure bugs that only crop up in edge-case scenarios. They're usually completely obvious bugs that the majority of players will encounter and notice within the first minutes or hours of the game. Once again, people just say, "Game is buggy, waiting for a patch to hopefully fix these issues."
Consumers are just becoming free bug testers for these games. Hell, better than free. They pay full price as an early adopter just to offer up basic bug reporting to the developers.
I know I'm ranting, and I don't mean to demonize all developers who've struggled with buggy releases. Hell, I'd love to hear from a developer who could offer some insight from their side of the equation in this thread. But damn if this new normal isn't annoying as hell. Sometimes I honestly feel like "patch culture" has done more harm than good for console gaming.