So Cyberpunk 2077

[Imaculata]

Most AAA games today require thousands upon thousands of people-hours of playtesting to find all the potentially broken system interactions, which simply cannot be completely done pre-launch.

This is true. Most triple AAA videogame companies outsource a chunk of the QA testing, while also doing a ton of internal QA testing themselves. Towards the final crunch, coders and artists may be asked to jump in and test as well, and even then it can be hard to find and fix everything before the deadline. I have been in that position myself, where me, one of the artists, and a coder were testing deep into the night. It was around midnight when we all went home. It wasn't a horrible experience though, since everyone was passionate about what they were making. Being so close to completion of a game you've worked on for years is very exciting. I can only imagine the disappointment the team at CDPR is feeling right now, after all that hard work.

Of course that doesn't excuse the poor PS4 and Xbox versions of the game, but that is on upper management, not the development team.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

This is true. Most triple AAA videogame companies outsource a chunk of the QA testing, while also doing a ton of internal QA testing themselves. Towards the final crunch, coders and artists may be asked to jump in and test as well, and even then it can be hard to find and fix everything before the deadline. I have been in that position myself, where me, one of the artists, and a coder were testing deep into the night. It was around midnight when we all went home. It wasn't a horrible experience though, since everyone was passionate about what they were making. Being so close to completion of a game you've worked on for years is very exciting. I can only imagine the disappointment the team at CDPR is feeling right now, after all that hard work.

Of course that doesn't excuse the poor PS4 and Xbox versions of the game, but that is on upper management, not the development team.

Yeah the console situation is just bad. Jeeeez.

 

[MGibster]

I personally won't be purchasing AAA games until things like mandatory crunch time and other worker abuses end, but I disagree on this. The purchasers aren't part of why games are released with bugs. It happens because the game has to come out at some point or it becomes a loss, and AQ testers are costly.

I don't necessarily mind a few bugs. Even after a few years, Witcher 3 still has bugs. But when the bugs are so bad your company's value plummets and people are demanding refunds it's indicative of a problem.

 

[Gradine]

CDPR's storefront Good Old Games stepped in it today when they said they were going to post for sale the Taiwanese game Devotion, and then almost immediately retracted it, presumably due to pressure from the Chinese government.

 

[billd91]

The market won't bear price increases, and QA testers get paid. It's not a real choice, because there aren't multiple viable options.

Most AAA games today require thousands upon thousands of people-hours of playtesting to find all the potentially broken system interactions, which simply cannot be completely done pre-launch.

Not to mention, there is nothing wrong with how things are. This isn't 1992. You aren't buying a disk that is the state of the game as it will always be unless you purchase a second copy in the form of a game of the year or special edition version.

The bugs tend to be worked out within a week of launch. Whining about that is...unreasonable.

EDIT: okay, there is plenty wrong with the video game industry. this just isn't an example.

No, this is very much an example of what's wrong with the game industry. QAers are badly exploited. There are horror stories galore. AAA producers have been saddling early buyers with buggy product for years, even to the point Motley Fool was warning investors about EA back in 2014 because of their QA issues and buggy releases.

Examples:

Inside Rockstar Games' Culture Of Crunch

In the final year of development on Red Dead Redemption 2, the upcoming Western game, the top directors decided to add black bars to the top and bottom of every non-interactive cutscene in hopes of making those scenes feel more cinematic, like an old-school cowboy film. Everyone agreed it was...

kotaku.com

What It’s Really Like to Be a QA Tester - EGM

QA is one of the most vital jobs in game development. For many workers, it’s also the worst.

egmnow.com

Quality Assured: What It’s Really Like To Test Games For A Living

There’s an old commercial for Westwood College that’s become something of a running joke in the video game world. Two young men sit at a couch, hammering away at PlayStation controllers. A woman walks in. “Hey guys, finish testing that game yet?” she asks. “I’ve got another one I need designed.”

kotaku.com

Why are so many video games broken at launch?

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...

www.engadget.com

Buggy games deserve much harsher treatment

Recently, my smartphone started acting up. I think the battery is on the way out; it does bizarre things, like shutting…

www.gamesindustry.biz

The fact that this isn't 1992 shouldn't really matter. But the game companies are counting on the ability to deliver day one patches to shore up their games' playability and the company's reputation (not to mention profit margins and stock prices). And a better QA process that includes more time/less crunch and more stakeholders as QAers rather than contractors as well as consumers willing to demand better rather than pony up the cash for the preorder

 

[doctorbadwolf]

No, this is very much an example of what's wrong with the game industry. QAers are badly exploited. There are horror stories galore. AAA producers have been saddling early buyers with buggy product for years, even to the point Motley Fool was warning investors about EA back in 2014 because of their QA issues and buggy releases.

Examples:

Inside Rockstar Games' Culture Of Crunch

In the final year of development on Red Dead Redemption 2, the upcoming Western game, the top directors decided to add black bars to the top and bottom of every non-interactive cutscene in hopes of making those scenes feel more cinematic, like an old-school cowboy film. Everyone agreed it was...

kotaku.com

What It’s Really Like to Be a QA Tester - EGM

QA is one of the most vital jobs in game development. For many workers, it’s also the worst.

egmnow.com

Quality Assured: What It’s Really Like To Test Games For A Living

There’s an old commercial for Westwood College that’s become something of a running joke in the video game world. Two young men sit at a couch, hammering away at PlayStation controllers. A woman walks in. “Hey guys, finish testing that game yet?” she asks. “I’ve got another one I need designed.”

kotaku.com

Why are so many video games broken at launch?

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...

www.engadget.com

Buggy games deserve much harsher treatment

Recently, my smartphone started acting up. I think the battery is on the way out; it does bizarre things, like shutting…

www.gamesindustry.biz

The fact that this isn't 1992 shouldn't really matter. But the game companies are counting on the ability to deliver day one patches to shore up their games' playability and the company's reputation (not to mention profit margins and stock prices). And a better QA process that includes more time/less crunch and more stakeholders as QAers rather than contractors as well as consumers willing to demand better rather than pony up the cash for the preorder

You're conflating two separate issues. Ending the poor conditions for QA testers wouldn't create a situation wherein games are released in comparable time frames with fewer bugs at the same cost to the consumer. AAA games as we expect them today would either stop being a thing, get much more expensive, or become rarer because only a few studios can afford to take twice as long to make a game.

The QA process cannot reliably find all the potential catastrophic system interactions (what cause bugs) that exist in a game as complex and enormous as most AAA games, in a financially viable amount of time. That is not a result of the abuses of the game industry, which I need no lesson on, thanks.

 

[Deset Gled]

The market won't bear price increases, and QA testers get paid. It's not a real choice, because there aren't multiple viable options.

Most AAA games today require thousands upon thousands of people-hours of playtesting to find all the potentially broken system interactions, which simply cannot be completely done pre-launch.

Not to mention, there is nothing wrong with how things are. This isn't 1992. You aren't buying a disk that is the state of the game as it will always be unless you purchase a second copy in the form of a game of the year or special edition version.

The bugs tend to be worked out within a week of launch. Whining about that is...unreasonable.

EDIT: okay, there is plenty wrong with the video game industry. this just isn't an example.

From the POV of the individual consumer, I understand and relate to what you are saying.

For the major game publishers who claim these things, this reminds me of Erik Cartman explaining Crack Baby Basketball: "I don't make the rules, I just think them up and write them down."

 

[trappedslider]

MAKE YOUR OWN THREAD ABOUT THE GENERAL STATE OF THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY

So, there's a bike in the game that's modeled on Kaneda's bike in Akira and it's named Motoko Kusanagi as in the Major from GitS. ^_^ There's also a data shard called Cyberpunk 2020 Rulebook,but it's just a paragraph taken from the game.

 

[Umbran]

MAKE YOUR OWN THREAD ABOUT THE GENERAL STATE OF THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY

Mod Note:

I'm sorry, but topic drift happens. Shouting at people about it isn't appropriate.

 

[MGibster]

Johnny Silverhand is an naughty word.