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One thing I tell people all of the time is just how different the reality of how things work in the gaming industry is from what a player’s perception is.
I’m going to try and use my channel in the coming months to clear up some of these perceptions and educate.
I’m going to try and use my channel in the coming months to clear up some of these perceptions and educate.
For today’s topic, I want to cover the question of: “why don’t companies tell us exactly when things are available or exactly when they’ll be fixed?”
The answer is fairly simple but complex if you don’t understand how legalities and company commitments work.
The answer is fairly simple but complex if you don’t understand how legalities and company commitments work.
For one, oftentimes companies aren’t in full control of an update. Updates require certification from first party platforms and to pass “checks” that assure the update isn’t game-breaking. In some cases, games can not pass cert (certification), causing delays in release.
Other times, there can be situations where a fix you think will make a certain patch, only to be pulled due to another priority or more testing needed. Often, these patches are a multiple weeks-long process, hence why sometimes it feels like it takes forever as a player.
So going back to why certain topics aren’t communicated re: timings - the simple element is that things change. Constantly...Sometimes up until the last minute. Certification. Getting legal approval. Approval on the actual Comms - there’s so many steps that can alter timings.
The minute you communicate something and you have to shift, it causes two issues - 1. You’ve lied to players, which is never good. 2. You could potentially have legal and/or financial issues if you’re a publicly-traded company due to misguidance of over-committing.
So there are many times when you have an ETA, but any of the above can shift that. The question might then be “well just keep us updated then” and it’s not that simple. Not everyone will see a tweet, not everyone will see an update so a constant shift can cause mass chaos.
I think all companies are trying to get better here, but it’s always a fine balance. Even things such as defining specific times can be difficult because if you say “X will drop at 7am” and for whatever reason it doesn’t, there are a lot of really bad things that can happen.
For the point above, look at this thread (which I saw this morning) as a prime example of some of those bad things.
So lastly, it’s easy to say “just release it”, but so, so much is out of the control of both the developer and the communicator at times. https://twitter.com/raveofravendale/status/1334512755882266629
So lastly, it’s easy to say “just release it”, but so, so much is out of the control of both the developer and the communicator at times. https://twitter.com/raveofravendale/status/1334512755882266629
Hopefully this thread helps gives a little bit of insight into that question. If there’s other topics within the industry you’d like me to talk more about, let me know and I’ll try to cover some!
