Back when Xbox 360 launched in 2005, one of the biggest topics of discussion was an ever increasing use of patches for console games. Prior to this console, only the PC had been subject for rigorous patching and, according to many game fans, resulted in less-than-polished versions of games released to the market. Essentially, to accommodate the larger and more expensive release windows, PC game developers could put an unfinished game on the market and subsequently patch it. Now the time had come for console games and its inevitable downfall from pure quality titles.
Today when I boot a newly bought game for my Xbox 360 I’m prompted on the first day for an update. It might not weigh more than a couple of megabytes, but it’s there and something in my game is changed (although that information is rarely highlighted). Just recently, I put on FIFA 11 and despite being half a year old and only on the shelf for about a month, it had received an update. Now, according to the doomsday prophecies of 2005, this should mean that the initial release was garbage and full of errors. But today, I feel more enjoyment from patching than I’d ever thought.
In this day and age where the internet has washed across everything in existence, the idea of a “static” object has begun to vanish. Products are released in early phases and slowly formed by their use. A recent example in the world of games is Minecraft, which has benefitted hugely from its organic development approach. We see Google constantly releasing new beta products, where any infant problems and quirks are overshadowed by the fact that you get access to new and exciting technology. And every time our smartphone is hit with a new shadow, we rush to try it out.
I’ve always enjoyed updates. I’ve always been one of those people that didn’t mind eventual problems that would follow from being a first-mover. As soon as I saw an update for windows, a new driver for my hardware or a new patch for a game, I instantly downloaded and installed it. And today, more than ever, I feel we have moved towards a patch generation of players. We love updates. And we cannot get enough.
Are we less tolerant of the content that is initially released? Probably not. Going out and buying a game for $50 or $60 still employs a high quality bar for most players, but we’ve almost come to expect a regular rollout of updates, depending on the popularity of the game. One, single release simply isn’t enough anymore. Both in terms of the often-debated Downloadable Content and the always free patches – mostly containing fixes and minor additions and enhancements, rarely any new content – many players have turned away from looking at post-release update with anger, being excited instead.
I had no clue what the FIFA 11 update the other day was for. But it didn’t really matter. More than anything, it showed that the game was still alive “out there” and work was being put into it. And maybe that’s enough. The centuries-old Diablo 2 recently received a long awaited patch – maybe the oldest patch in history of single-player games – and more than anything this patch is a signal of commitment and caring. Even if the changes were minor, it could still make me return to a game just to feel the impact.
While Downloadable Content has now become part of any serious post-release strategy for games, I still feel that patches can be neglected as a burden and a necessary evil for the developer, not providing anything valuable. But really, the signal value itself – we have made changes because we care – can create many deeply loyal fans that always will come back for more, patches and new releases alike. And that’s valuable!