This is fictional dialogue from a conversation I had in my head...possibly...
FoxDorsey:
Oh man! I can't wait until (insert upcoming title) comes out! It may be only a couple of months away, but after seeing the gameplay at (insert convention here) and seeing all the new images and bonuses I get from (insert video game website), I am going to waste crazy amounts of time into this game!
Double 0 Ryzer:
You telling me like I am not convinced to purchase this game. This might be the best (insert genre) game this whole year has to offer! Just can't wait!
The Next Day...
Double 0 Ryzer:
Did you hear about (insert upcoming title)?! It's all over Twitter, FaceBook, and every video game website!
FoxDorsey:
What? Something else phenomenal that will be inserted into the game? A upcoming demo for it? Beta? Stop having me guess!
Double 0 Ryzer:
(insert upcoming title) has been delayed! Not until the end of the year, but until next year! What is going on?!
FoxDorsey:
What?! I can't believe this?! I was only a couple off moth away from coming out! Why would (insert developer) just magically delay the game?! All the programmers that were working on the game said that it was complete?! They have been doing gameplay video after gameplay video for it AND multiple screenshots of the game. This is troubling times in the video game world...
(End Scene)
FoxDorsey:
Oh man! I can't wait until (insert upcoming title) comes out! It may be only a couple of months away, but after seeing the gameplay at (insert convention here) and seeing all the new images and bonuses I get from (insert video game website), I am going to waste crazy amounts of time into this game!
Double 0 Ryzer:
You telling me like I am not convinced to purchase this game. This might be the best (insert genre) game this whole year has to offer! Just can't wait!
The Next Day...
Double 0 Ryzer:
Did you hear about (insert upcoming title)?! It's all over Twitter, FaceBook, and every video game website!
FoxDorsey:
What? Something else phenomenal that will be inserted into the game? A upcoming demo for it? Beta? Stop having me guess!
Double 0 Ryzer:
(insert upcoming title) has been delayed! Not until the end of the year, but until next year! What is going on?!
FoxDorsey:
What?! I can't believe this?! I was only a couple off moth away from coming out! Why would (insert developer) just magically delay the game?! All the programmers that were working on the game said that it was complete?! They have been doing gameplay video after gameplay video for it AND multiple screenshots of the game. This is troubling times in the video game world...
(End Scene)
Does this sound familiar? Is this something that has happened more than once in the past 6 months? I know it has and am getting tired of this. Even though that patience is a Virtue and that the finished product is sometimes better than what was expected, why must my metal be shattered when I hear of another game being delayed?!
UbiSoft and Rockstar are the most recent developers who have had the best track record for delaying a game. Said game doesn't always come out a good as it should for being delayed. Then again, how do we, as gamers and not developers, know how the game was before the delay. Do realize though that sometimes developers delay a game because of a different game coming out that wows and over-exceeds what most already thought of the game.
Take for example Sleeping Dogs and GTA V. My personal opinion about GTA V being delayed the first time was because of Sleeping Dogs mechanics compared to previous GTAs at the time. Sleeping Dogs mechanics with the driving and the hand-to-hand combat was spectacular, and I still think that Sleeping Dogs have the better of the hand to hand combat system and driving mechanic. Also the rendering from heavily city to bountiful tree mountain environment gave Rockstar ideas for their game's layout and transition, or just what I think was part of the delay for GTA V.
But when a game that gets a lot of hype becomes another delayed game, what happens to the hype? It goes away because of the even longer wait. Most gamers go from knowing a lot about the game to not wanting to know about it. Like Watch Dogs, future bundles with a system goes away. The extra in-game content that was being tied with the game also goes away, well possibly. So what to most gamers do? They turn to the next game that is coming out or the next possible big title. Why for? Maybe to tide them over until the game that they want to come out to come out, but it if hasn't been understood, gamers spend their money somewhere else. Will they come back to the game when the "hopefully" new release date comes? If GTA V isn't a great example then I don't know what is, but why make us wait?
Not only did Watch Dogs make us wait, but #DriveClub, the PS4 free exclusive for PS Plus Members for the 1st week of the PS4 launch, delayed until early 2014; The Crew, which was a multi-platform racer, delayed until Q2 2014, heck...Bayonetta 2, I just don't want to talk about anymore because that was suppose to come out earlier this year, has been delayed until...I have no idea. Then to find out that they were "updating graphics" or "adding new elements" to the games, makes it sound like they were going to ship out barely decent games to begin with, if not that then they were trying to make a buck off me by getting the game out ASAP! What if we didn't have online doing so well that you can just "send out a patch" to fix what you might have rushed through?!
I don't see the problem about not putting a date out on a game that isn't 70% done. I am sure that the developers always and will come up against a lot of setbacks, but to setback the people that fill your pockets is the part of this that makes no sense to me. I'd rather hear about the progress of a game than to know of the street date of a game, but then to find out that the game was delayed farther than was expected. Most of the time it is a disappointment to hear. But this is the industry and I can only grin and bear it. Developers of the world hear my cry, just when the games are ready, tell us. If not just give us sublet updates through the trailers and gameplay footage. Cause if we were late with paying you, you would be pissed...
What make you mad about games that are suddenly delayed with a Launch Date attached to it or just games being delayed in the first place? Comment below and check out our Facebook page here!
UbiSoft and Rockstar are the most recent developers who have had the best track record for delaying a game. Said game doesn't always come out a good as it should for being delayed. Then again, how do we, as gamers and not developers, know how the game was before the delay. Do realize though that sometimes developers delay a game because of a different game coming out that wows and over-exceeds what most already thought of the game.
Take for example Sleeping Dogs and GTA V. My personal opinion about GTA V being delayed the first time was because of Sleeping Dogs mechanics compared to previous GTAs at the time. Sleeping Dogs mechanics with the driving and the hand-to-hand combat was spectacular, and I still think that Sleeping Dogs have the better of the hand to hand combat system and driving mechanic. Also the rendering from heavily city to bountiful tree mountain environment gave Rockstar ideas for their game's layout and transition, or just what I think was part of the delay for GTA V.
But when a game that gets a lot of hype becomes another delayed game, what happens to the hype? It goes away because of the even longer wait. Most gamers go from knowing a lot about the game to not wanting to know about it. Like Watch Dogs, future bundles with a system goes away. The extra in-game content that was being tied with the game also goes away, well possibly. So what to most gamers do? They turn to the next game that is coming out or the next possible big title. Why for? Maybe to tide them over until the game that they want to come out to come out, but it if hasn't been understood, gamers spend their money somewhere else. Will they come back to the game when the "hopefully" new release date comes? If GTA V isn't a great example then I don't know what is, but why make us wait?
Not only did Watch Dogs make us wait, but #DriveClub, the PS4 free exclusive for PS Plus Members for the 1st week of the PS4 launch, delayed until early 2014; The Crew, which was a multi-platform racer, delayed until Q2 2014, heck...Bayonetta 2, I just don't want to talk about anymore because that was suppose to come out earlier this year, has been delayed until...I have no idea. Then to find out that they were "updating graphics" or "adding new elements" to the games, makes it sound like they were going to ship out barely decent games to begin with, if not that then they were trying to make a buck off me by getting the game out ASAP! What if we didn't have online doing so well that you can just "send out a patch" to fix what you might have rushed through?!
I don't see the problem about not putting a date out on a game that isn't 70% done. I am sure that the developers always and will come up against a lot of setbacks, but to setback the people that fill your pockets is the part of this that makes no sense to me. I'd rather hear about the progress of a game than to know of the street date of a game, but then to find out that the game was delayed farther than was expected. Most of the time it is a disappointment to hear. But this is the industry and I can only grin and bear it. Developers of the world hear my cry, just when the games are ready, tell us. If not just give us sublet updates through the trailers and gameplay footage. Cause if we were late with paying you, you would be pissed...
What make you mad about games that are suddenly delayed with a Launch Date attached to it or just games being delayed in the first place? Comment below and check out our Facebook page here!