So are we to understand no major developer/publisher has bothered to follow this best practice, considering every major release in the past 15 years was plagued with problems on launch day if not weeks into release?
Which is why not only will I be surprised if there was another stress test, I will be completely flabbergasted.
Not saying you are not correct about considering it a best practice. Just that I can’t remember a single time when a major developer let people try the latest version before the actual release. The CB was an obsolete version, the stress test was an obsolete version but now, presumably 10 days from release they are going to let you test the latest version for acceptance testing when it will be too late to change anything? I mean, if it’s really coming on the ~18th, and will last 2-3 days, how many working days will that leave until release? 5 at most? They will barely finish analyzing the data they collected in that short a time period.
(I’m just here to lower everyone’s expectations so when nothing comes on the 18th you don’t feel so bad. If we actually get a beta feel free to dump on me as I’ll be too busy playing it to notice anyway.)
I think it’s just going to have more functional features rather than graphical or animation. Maybe they might have some more stuff but I still think it will be a very old one just to test if the servers still handle the load with all the people, and that PC’s can still handle the game. It would be terrible at launch if they implemented everything and then found out that most of the PC’s can’t even run it or the servers can’t handle it! It would be like a type of cyberpunk controversy!
I think they saw a lot of people who had access to the stress test complaining about withdrawal.
Waiting a month though, you can get passed the withdrawal, you can move on, find another game, and forget about this one…
But if they give you free access and then cut that access just a few days before release, you will be in withdrawal mode again. You’ll be more tempted to buy it asap, especially if they include other civs, or all the civs.
If there is another beta, I think this would be a major factor.
So are we to understand no major developer/publisher has bothered to follow this best practice, considering every major release in the past 15 years was plagued with problems on launch day if not weeks into release?
I don’t work in game development, but in a more ‘boring’ type of software development . What major game publishers have done during the last 15 years I don’t know. Most RTS games I played were released longer than 15 years ago, among which the game featured in your picture, commander.
However, you say that every major release during those last 15 years was plagued with issues after release day. Apparently you know this for a fact. If I were a game publisher, I would try to avoid that.
But of course, you are right that it is better to not expect another beta test in order to not get disappointed.
Edit:
In addition, I can imagine that in this day and age when every nutjob can start a trend on Twitter, it is even more important to avoid problems after release in order to avoid bad publicity. Just a though.
I do hope there give us one more open beta though. I would like to see the french civ, and at least the first campaign. I am curious, how they show documentary style narrative.
If they discover that most people can’t run the game and that the servers can’t handle the load, 5 working days from release, then the game isn’t getting released on schedule. Ain’t nobody wants that.
Exactly my point. Remember what CDPR did with Cyberpunk? They didn’t let anyone, not even reviewers, anywhere near console versions so nobody could report on the horror before release. If MS suspects PCs are going to explode because of the latest patch then that’s just another reason NOT to have a beta.
Peace through power, brother! Those were happier days when we expected to receive functioning products on day 1 since most people didn’t find it normal to download a patch half the size of the game on release day like they do now.
More to the point, even if I grant you that they would want to test a new version to avoid a decline in trust on release day, there is no way that 5 days will allow them to fix anything they discover. So it wouldn’t even achieve that, the only thing it will achieve is bad press before release (assuming a major issue is discovered).
Unfortunately in this day and age one influencer on Twitch shilling the game and giving away free stuff given to him by the publisher will drown out 10,000 nutjobs trying to start a trend on twitter.
!AGE4WARD !AGE4WARD !AGE4WARD !AGE4WARD
This is the only argument I can get behind. Give us that crack, Relic, give us that crack!
Steam always does that, it calculates the download date depending on your settings.
It has nothing to do with the devs, as you can download it right away as soon as it pops up.
It is possible they unlocked the replay feature and are using the stress test version for the countdown streams, as it is the most stable version they had to select good showmatches from.
. What major game publishers have done during the last 15 years I don’t know. Most RTS games I played were released longer than 15 years ago, among which the game featured in your picture, commander.
