The importance of getting it right the first time (Gaming)

by Claude Errera , Monday, August 08, 2016, 16:12 (3029 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Again, you're glossing over the fact that neither the developers nor the publisher initiated these pre-release reviews. Dealers *illegally* sold early copies, and some people chose to do review/preview coverage based on an un-finished version of the game. The developers were actively telling everyone "what you're seeing is not final, the game won't be final until launch day".

I'm not glossing over it at all. I'm not even trying to defend the retailers. I am saying that you can completely eliminate the chance of players not playing the version of the game you want them to by not even giving them that option. If you put your complete trust in the people selling your games, then you are foolish. All it takes is one copy in this day and age with the internet.

Which is exactly why your attitude is absurd.

It takes time to get real copies to retailers. It takes time to print those copies, put them in packaging, ship them. It takes time for retailers to put them on shelves.

Publishers don't have 100% control over all aspects of that chain - and couldn't, unless they also become retailers, and run their own factories, etc etc etc. (If you're saying that they need to do all of these things in order to make a reasonable game that they can be proud of, you're not even arguing in the same LANGUAGE as I am, so there's no point in continuing this conversation.)

At SOME point, a point that comes AFTER they supply a product to the next link in the chain and BEFORE the consumer is supposed to be able to get his hands on the product, someone along the way can steal a copy, and sell it. (Or just play it. Whatever.) Unless the game is an always-on game that REQUIRES a connection to the internet to play (I don't know enough about NMS to know if it falls into this category, but it's sort of irrelevant, since your argument isn't about NMS, it's about games in general), there is NO WAY for the developer to stop people from playing/discussing that leaked game.

What you're suggesting, however, is that developers go back 20 years, when technology didn't allow them to fix small things after the manufacturing process started - to say "we're going to call this game completely done, no matter what, and this is the release version, no matter what" when they send the game off to the manufacturer, to start the disc creation/packaging process. And that's just dumb.