When Done Doesn't Mean Done

It's finally here! "Super Smash Bros for Wii U."

     This game is largely the reason I purchased the Wii U and it has delivered all of my expectations. Already it has become the dominant grabber of attention in my apartment among me and my roommates.

     The game has something for everyone. One roommate just enjoys playing to play. The other has become obsessed with unlocking equipment for his customized character. As for me, I'm enjoying the online modes. There's even a spectator mode that allows you to bet in-game gold on random matches.

     But the most amazing thing about the game is simply that it works.

     You might not think that a great achievement, but after the last couple weeks of game releases, it's become apparent that buying a game that is ready to play when you take it home is becoming a rare experience.

     Ubisoft's "Assassin's Creed: Unity" released with a whole laundry list of performance issues. Their online forums now contain a sticky thread listing the known issues and assuring customers in bright red letters that they are "working on it."

     Meanwhile, 343 Industries made a public apology to their customers after releasing "Halo: The Master Chief Collection" with a matchmaking system that was fundamentally broken.

     And while Big Red Button Entertainment's "Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric" is technically playable, within a day of its launch gamers discovered an exploit allowing them to bypass most of the game. Although, considering the game's lackluster reception, that could almost be considered a feature.

     Even patches haven't been immune to failure. A patch for the PS4 version of "Alien: Isolation" had to be recalled when it broke the game.

     Nintendo isn't immune either. When releasing new content for "Mario Kart 8," the game update created an error that broke the ability to upload replays online. (For me, at least).

     Keep in mind, all of this happened within the span of a single week, and while so many issues in such a short span of time isn't typical, it is indicative of just how far removed modern game developers have become from the definition of "finished product."

     The Internet has given game developers the ability to fix games after launch and it's become apparent that this power is being abused. What was once merely a way to update video games with new content has become a crutch that developers use to get away with releasing unfinished games. Many of today's new releases feel much more like a "paid beta" than a product that's ready for shipping.

     Somewhere along the line game publishers have abandoned the notion that when their customer drops $60 on a game, likely scheduling their free time around playing it as soon as humanly possible, that customer deserves a working product.

     To be fair, it's not as though this is a case of lazy developers just not caring about their work. The issue is that big budget games have big budget marketing campaigns and release schedules that publishers demand be met, whether the game is ready to go or not. They've weighed the pros and cons and come to the conclusion that missing their launch window will cost them more money than releasing a broken game. "Good enough" has become… good enough.

     The problem is, while some aspects of the games industry has shifted from being a "product" to being a "service," the bulk of the industry still expects a finished product when it hits the shelves.

     Are game reviewers supposed to revisit a new game every few weeks to update their reviews?

     Should consumers just accept the fact that launch day updates are going to be an inevitable thing now? Is it unreasonable to expect better?

     Just because game developers can use their early adopting customers to crowdsource bug reports, does it mean that they should? One would hope that the free market would correct this problem, and judging from Ubisoft's plummeting stock prices, it's starting to.

     Which brings us to one last question. How many game developers will need to go out of business before their publishers decide that it's not OK to release unfinished games?

     Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and will be smashing his way through the holidays.