Until they ditch the "live service" model, this will continues. How many big title games today are really sold in a complete no BS state where DLC actually means extra contents? No much I guess.
That stems from the revenue model, and not by gamers.
I’d almost love if games were released and getting no updates after that. But only if the games are released in a complete state.
I hate the fact that you shouldn’t play some games as soon as they are released, because you’d be playing the inferior version.
That needs to change.
Eh, EA can certainly be a problem, but it's also an incredibly useful resource for devs operating in good faith, opening up the field for talent that would otherwise be priced out of making a game at all. Personally, I'm ok ignoring money grabs if it means the barrier of entry for resource starved talent is lowered.
Manor Lords is early access. At least one patch is to be expected. And of course the publisher is absolutely right. If my memory serves me well one dev developed the game all on his own so far and the challenge of meeting expectations after being a massive success is huge. Hiring more people to get developments going is likely necessary but expanding takes time. Some players have unrealistic expectations in general but even more so when it comes to small indie productions.
There used to be an unspoken contract with game developers and gamers:
Somewhere that evolved into shipping unfinished games, subscription based games, battlepasses, endless DLC, loot boxes, and forced online connections for single player games.
The game studios broke the contract. If they want endless money, that comes with endless work.
Because it is a much safer investment to send out a 50% costed demo to see if you can break into the market then trickle out updates to make up the rest of the cost
If your demo doesn’t land then you’ve saved half the cost of a full project that would fail anyway
That's why I'm really glad to see Hooded Horse and Greg Styczeń have this mindset, and that they're actually speaking out against the GaaS mentality. They're going back to the unspoken contract and saying the current status quo is stupid.
The headline is poorly chosen. They aren't saying that studios should be earning endless money without work. They're saying the GaaS model to try and earn endless money is putting devs on a treadmill, and that this shouldn't be the case.
I hope to see more like this going forward. I don't think gamers nor developers are a fan of GaaS trying to stay constantly relevant.
While I agree with this for bigger game companies the problem is people apply the attitude of deserving infinite content to smaller games as well even if they don't participate in all the things you talked about. For example with Manor Lord the only thing from what was listed that might apply is it being unfinished since it's in early access. And while that does come with an expectation of more content the speed people expect it at is wrong especially since this game is basically being made by one person.
And while that does come with an expectation of more content the speed people expect it at is wrong especially since this game is basically being made by one person.
I appreciate the solo developer, and that they are doing most everything else right, but he opened this can of worms because he sold early access. He could have chosen to wait until the game was finished to release it, but I imagine wanted the money up front from early access to help finance the development.
If you release unfinished, you open yourself up to your customers wanting it finished, and also wanting a say in how it gets developed. I'm not saying he doesn't have a right to sell via early access, but he brought this on himself.
The game is released, for a certain amount of money. If people don’t like what they get for their money, they simply should not buy it.
The problem does not lie with gamers. It lies with 'AAA' developers who publish unplayable cashgrabs that need years of bugfixing before reaching a playable state, thus leading to expectations of ongoing development. Not that Early Access has helped in that regard.
Oh I meant that, that's why I worded it that way.
If someone complains about buying a finished game and not getting more of it later, they're idiots and there's nothing you can do but ignore them.
Publishers that do ultra-early access/roadmaps/live services with promises of content/bug fixes/trust me we're making the rest of the game later, are clearly to blame for the mess too. They're the ones poisoning the well.
But plenty of games release in a final state and that's okay. They have to be firm about it though.
I think part of the problem is down to how a lot of games come out as "Early Access" which implies it's more bare bones and will get fleshed out over time.
If a game releases as EA then the expectation is you will get more content until release, if a game just comes out without EA then it's assumed it has all content and anything new is dlc/mtx/expansions.
I'm not gonna bother addressing Live Service games, wish they would go in the bin with most other MTX.
Spend years releasing unfinished and incomplete work.
Gamers expect work to be unfinished and incomplete.
🫵
I just want to buy a game that's actually finished. Early Access has ruined that first play experience.
Depends. Like Satisfactory, I'm extremely satisfied by their pace of development.
So, you could say you find their pacing Satisfactory?
Pun police: Stop right there, criminal scum! You have violated the law. Pay the court a fine or serve your sentence!
I swore off early access after Phoenix Point. It sucks to already be bored with a game before it has the major kinks worked out.
Dead Cells is kind of a counterpoint, though. I'm not sure if I got it as "early access" per se, but since I bought it, they made some major balance changes that completely changed the meta, and those changes got me playing way more enthusiastically than I was before.
Sorry, but I for one am not going to accept these companies blaming everything on gamers. I'm not into bootlicking. Gamers are annoying af for sure, but I'm not blaming systemic industry problems on gamers. That's complete horseshit.
Who are "these companies"? Game publishers and developers certainly aren't a monolith. To me, this publisher's complaint seems like an implicit critique of how big publishers have trained gamers to have expectations that are unrealistic for all but the most high-profile games.
Thank you for all the free updates ConcernedApe. I hope you're enjoying your time with your millions and if/when you release the Haunted Chocolatier I'll get that too. You're great and your game is great.
The article says that comment came from a CEO of another game company, not players. Tim Bender, the CEO of the publisher for The Manor Lord, said "Players are happy, the developer is happy, and we as publisher are thrilled beyond belief." I don't understand where the post title that says he cited gamer expectations came from.
Game Publishers: complains about how users expect endless content
Also Game Publishers: Mostly pushes for live service games and Free-to-Play
surprisedpikachu.gif
Alternatively
Game Publishers: Release unfinished game that gets horrid backlash until they work overtime to patch it to a slightly more playable hell, get caught in an update loop, game inadvertantly becomes live service.
Sometimes, it works out (No Man's Sky)
is Manor Lords live service? seems like they're arguing against the notion that every game must be live service.
A good game will stand on its own merits. It will be complete and self-contained at launch. And any DLC released later will have been planned from the very start.
Endless updates is just another word for cosmetic micro-transactions and an excuse to make you keep the game online all the time.
Meanwhile Terraria: "So we are releasing this last final update, but you can expect bugfixes for the next two years, and a last last final, followed by finally last last final updates in the following two quarters"
Meanwhile Stardew: "here's a sequel's worth of new stuff. Oh, and here's another sequel's worth of new stuff. Enjoy!"
Why only devs though? No worker should be exploited like that, no matter the occupation!
Before you throw stones be advised that this team is like 5 people at most, the game just blew up and some gamers are giving it the Valheim treatment wanting faster and faster updates.
Such a childish take expecting AAA speed from tiny homebrew dev teams imo. Obviously progress is going to come slower in most instances, they don't have a tiny island nation's worth of man power to throw. That and, I'm sorry, if my homebrew passion project blows up stupid big when I go for early access for seed money / water testing, I promise you I will be taking time off to celebrate the accomplishment.
This shit is a grind. Lots of dedication over a long period of time. Go on, hit that resort life for a minute, you earned it. Come back and finish up when you get some r&r. 🤙
Obviously still expecting progress down the line, but if I'm supporting early access I know what I'm getting into. Indie scene is where the love is, but it's ma & pa shit. Plus there's thousands of other ways to waste my time, I'll check back in later if I'm bored with the game's current build.
Waiting sucks, but chill. Save outrage for where it really matters, like genuinely shitty devs. Juuust my pocket change. 🙌
The dev seems to have a good publisher that's on their side, which is nice to see. I find it bizarre that this rebuttal comes in response to the CEO of Hinterland Studios, the devs of Long Dark, which was in early access itself for ages. Dunno if they think they're above it all now, but you'd think they would at least be sympathetic of devs facing that kind of shit. Probably just CEO saying CEO shit. Hopefully the Manor Lords dev doesn't let it get to them much, or at all.
I don't want a fucking endless game I want a finished game for the price I pay at release that doesn't require $3000 gpu to render the most obnoxiously detailed graphics of a game that has the fucking depth of mine sweeper.
Riiiight... it's the users of the product that is forcing the producers to work under toxic conditions, and totally not their money-grubbing capitalist bosses.
Riiiight.
Especially with this game, where the dev and publisher have actively worked to manage expectations before early access. That it’s not at all complete yet. There were so many people super hyped, comparing it to total war and what not. So they made it clear this game is on another scale.
If it had been the other way around, if they had hyped up the game like crazy and made huge promises about the post EA launch content, then yeah, it would be a failure.
And I suppose in practice it also would’ve been a “failure” if they hadn’t managed expectations, due to the hype and the general expectation from post launch content these days… (sigh)
But what we got is exactly what was promised, so what on earth is that Hinterland guy talking about.
I don't know if this recaps the situation accurately, to be honest.
Sounds like the publisher is complaining about some article that's trying to use the game as a reference on why early access can be a bad thing.
I don't see how the gamers are an issue though. They will expect what you tell them to expect, this is something for the publisher to manage, and I don't even think this is a problem for Manor Lords.
All of it just seems like news sites trying to come up with their clicks.
Very reasonable, I hope the dev sticks to his guns and keeps a manageable pace. I feel that it's right to expect content updates coming in if the game is marked early access, but so long as you don't pull a Valheim, people shouldn't be mad at you
I guess I'm OOTL - what happened with Valheim?
Don't take early access money if you don't plan to be giving frequent updates. It's the nature of the beast.
People don't expect constant updates from pokemon because when you buy it, it's "a complete game". They may drop patches and add content but it's not expected the way it is from a game supposedly in active development like an early access game is.
Nah screw that.. don't buy early access games if you don't think it's worth it in it's current state.
I felt this way about Back 4 Blood. The game came out, it was genuinely fun and had a good amount of content, and they added DLC that expanded the game while also not ruining things for anyone who hasn’t installed it.
But there was an unending cry from gamers that it was getting “abandoned”. You can still gather 4 players, or fewer with bots, and have a good time. It’s a different appeal from Left 4 Dead with the card system, and that was fine to me.
I don't care about extra content, it is a welcome addition for games with long-term support like Stardew Valley. If the dev and publisher have a lot of money I do expect long-term bug fixing.
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