Allow me to begin with my very best Andy Rooney impersonation: When I was growing up, there was no such thing as a "day one patch." I went to Video Station on Saturday with my parents -- if I was lucky -- and came home with a single rented game for the weekend. James Pond or Bubsy the Bobcat or Blast Corps or whatever. Maybe I'd have to blow out the cart, or erase the last renter's save file before playing whatever game I rented.
Let's imagine a similar scenario today: You go to a Redbox kiosk or GameFly mails you a disc for your Modern GameBox™. Upon inserting said disc, your GameBox turns on and begins installing the game. The wait begins. It's now several percentage points in and ready to start running. You hit the button. "An update is required to play this game." This is when you take a moment to swear under your breath. This is "the future"?
Now imagine your next step is finding out that multiplayer is broken, or that the game won't load, or that it barely runs. You've got our current situation.
Clearly some of that anecdote is me looking back with rose-tinted glasses. When games were broken in previous generations, they didn't get fixed. Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest never got patched to fix its poor localization or the illogical gameplay issues that resulted. Atari's infamously bad E.T. game wasn't updated to fix, well, everything. There's a clear positive to the concept of updating games over internet-connected game platforms. I grok that benefit.
On the flipside, an increasing number of games are being launched before they're ready. This was already a problem on the last generation of consoles, where the concept of "day one patches" was introduced to console gamers: a required update (via the internet) that launches alongside the game itself. Internet's out? Your game might not work. Underdone games are proving to be an even bigger problem in this generation. The three biggest franchises launching this holiday all have problems, ranging from problematic (frame rate drops, glitches) to rendering games outright unplayable (broken online multiplayer). Even if you've been watching the game industry closely, it was surprising to see Assassin's Creed Unity, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Halo: The Master Chief Collection all launch with major issues. That is not a normal occurrence.
These are multimillion dollar, worldwide franchises. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare publisher Activision recently bragged that its new game is, "the biggest entertainment launch of the year, besting not only all other video games, but also the biggest movies, music and books launched in 2014." There is merchandising (clothing, plushies, toys, etc.). There are "transmedia" properties (books, movies, etc.). These are the heavy hitters of the game industry in terms of mainstream, crossover success -- the games you see advertised on the side of buses, played in frat houses and referenced in prime time television shows. In so many words: These are the games that aren't allowed to launch broken.
Yet, somehow, they are.
Exhibit A -- Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Earlier this month, Microsoft released Halo: The Master Chief Collection . We first told you about Halo's latest adventure back in May -- "a Master Chief-focused HD remaster" of Halo 1, 2, 3 and 4, all for Xbox One. Microsoft further enticed fans with details at E3 2014: you would not only get all four games, with Halo 2 receiving a major overhaul, but also an all-encompassing online multiplayer mode. For the first time, several generations of Halo multiplayer would be collected in one place. Better yet, the Halo franchise has a track record of stable online games at launch. Even after Halo changed hands from Bungie Studios (its creator) to 343 Industries (its new overlord) in Halo 4, the work was up to fan standards and launched without any major hitches.
That's what made it such a shocking surprise when Halo: The Master Chief Collection launched on November 11th with nearly unplayable online multiplayer. The game's online component remains broken nearly two weeks later, and that's after scaling back the online options and issuing several patches. This is the closest to a direct apology that the developer and publisher have offered thus far: "We apologize that you're experiencing the current Matchmaking issues, and assure you that we're working around the clock to deliver fixes as soon as possible."
Smart Voip: James Potter
