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DArtagnan
Guest
I remember sitting in a meeting of the Southern California Software Association sometime around 1991, back when most PC software companies were small and their VPs of marketing and development used to attend. One of them pissed off half the group when he stood up and called out a few people by name, challenging them to stop the practice of shipping software before it was ready. We're talking really pissed as in standing up and having to be restrained.
That guy spoke up at that meeting and called out those particular people as an act of what I assume he considered leadership. It helped me shape my own informed opinions about the industry and its players. I came away from that thinking it's up to the industry's leaders to lead and lead well.
Yeah, that's a nice story.
I can be as idealistic as the next guy, and you're definitely right it would be nice if a product was ready before it shipped. Actually, it would be nice if a product was bug-free before it shipped.
There's only one way this can come true - and let me give you the secret:
Separate the art from the business.
Sadly, there aren't too many stars in the sky that form signs to indicate this will happen any time soon.
That's sad, but it's reality.
Reality is where a pragmatic person such as myself must contend to call home. It's not always pleasant, but it's not going away so I might as well accept it.
Making games costs money, and time is one of the most deciding factors when determining this cost.
For this reason, and pretty much for this reason alone, products are constantly shipped before they're ready.
Now, this could be because all publishers are greedy and they don't care about the quality of their releases. However, you could think of human nature and consider if most people wouldn't prefer to please people AND get some profit at the same time.
There are those who care mostly about the profit, and these guys eventually end up working on AAA mass market games - if they get the chance.
However, and this is where we get down to The Witcher:
Some people don't mind limiting their audience for the sake of art, and some people don't mind improving their game and offering those improvements for free. Can you guess who I'm talking about?
Do you SERIOUSLY think that the developers were totally free to work on this game indefinitely? Don't you understand the VERY simple reality that time costs money, and that they HAD to release at some point?
The Witcher had problems with loading times - true - but they were more or less fixed even BEFORE the EE entered the picture.
Standing up in a crowd and saying that products should be finished before being shipped, is like saying everyone should have true love in their life. It's very true, but it's also not very original. It doesn't just happen because we want it to be so, and making a profit from non-mass market top quality titles isn't QUITE as trivial as you dreamers like to think.