Designer: Publishers Are Responsible For Buggy Games
See Full ImageWhen we encounter a bug or a glitch in a game, we immediately blame the developer. They're the ones who actually made the game, right? Logical.
But Wasteland creator and inXile CEO Brian Fargo says that's a mistake. He says developers are treated terribly by game publishers these days and if a buggy game makes it to store shelves, it's the fault of the publisher. Speaking to Ripten, Fargo said that between devs and pubs, "there is more tension than you can believe." He called the way developers are treated by publishers "abysmal."
He added that designers won't speak out against this poor treatment because if they do, they might not get another contract. As for the issue with bugs, Fargo cited developer Obsidian and Fallout: New Vegas.
"Look at the most recent one with those poor guys at Obsidian. They did Fallout: New Vegas, the ship date got moved up and, who does the QA on a project? The publisher is always in charge of QA. When a project goes out buggy, it's not the developer. The developer never says, 'I refuse to fix the bug,' or, 'I don’t know how.' They never do that. It’s the publisher that does the QA, so if a product goes out buggy, it's not the developer’s fault.
So, [Fallout: New Vegas] goes out buggy and they didn’t do the QA, their ship date got moved up and they missed their Metacritic rating by one point. Did they get a bonus? No. Do you think that's fair?"
Fargo did say that not all publishers were guilty of mistreating developers, but the "terrible stories" floating around out there are worrisome. For the record, Fargo turned to Kickstarter for his latest project, Wasteland 2; they managed to hit their goal of $900,000 in only two days so obviously, that has worked out very well.
Tags: game publishers, game developers, game industry, inxile
3/29/2012 10:14:04 AM Ben Dutka
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Comments (46 posts)
frostface
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 11:04:36 AM
Reply
5 up, 5 down
frostface
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 12:00:45 PM
3 up, 1 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 12:04:25 PM
1 up, 0 down
Beamboom
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 12:05:44 PM
3 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 12:08:25 PM
2 up, 2 down
frostface
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 12:09:27 PM
Last edited by frostface on 3/29/2012 12:11:02 PM
0 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 12:17:49 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 2:45:46 PM
2 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 4:10:08 PM
0 up, 0 down
xenris
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 11:12:03 AM
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Publishers rush games out in order to please shareholders. Its all corporate influence and THAT is what is killing the industry.
I really hope this kickstarter thing picks up and some really inventive developers start making new unique and fun games, that try something new. Instead of the safe FPS shooter formula.
He hits the nail on the head. Developers are treated like crap.
18 up, 1 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 12:08:52 PM
...
....
'rolling eyes'
2 up, 15 down
xenris
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 1:16:01 PM
Keep being ignorant Ben, your good at it.
12 up, 2 down
xenris
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 1:25:56 PM
You can keep rolling your eyes, but it only makes you look silly. I'm done arguing with you, as you haven't once countered any points you just personally attack me and don't further the conversation.
13 up, 1 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 3:42:32 PM
But please, by all means, call me ignorant again so I can just get rid of your INSANE stupidity. Really, go march in the streets and leave the intelligent people to discuss things that you quite clearly know absolutely zilch about.
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 3/29/2012 3:43:51 PM
2 up, 17 down
xenris
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 5:43:36 PM
Just because you don't believe something doesn't mean that its not the truth.
For the record I never used the word evil, except for saying that I never said the word evil. I feel like you can't read or you get so enraged by my posts that you just respond with your tired counter point that I'm a crybaby, spoiled, entitled or insane.
I know zilch about it? I know how publicly traded companies work, and I know how shareholders hold influence. Publishers are usually publicly traded companies except for Valve and a small number of others.
Publishers HAVE to make profit to keep their shareholders happy, if they make the same amount of profit as last quarterly its considered a failure. This is why DLC is getting out of hand.
12 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 6:52:26 PM
1 up, 13 down
Nlayer
Saturday, March 31, 2012 @ 12:31:06 AM
2 up, 0 down
SmokeyPSD
Saturday, March 31, 2012 @ 2:06:07 PM
Is this a strictly pro-capitalism gaming website? That was a joke.
0 up, 0 down
bigrailer19
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 11:13:41 AM
Reply
Last edited by bigrailer19 on 3/29/2012 11:15:22 AM
5 up, 1 down
Beamboom
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 1:52:17 PM
Cause of course I remember there was problems in New Vegas, but I also remember that I didn't really CARE. I just saved frequently, and always before entering something. And as long as I did that I didn't care much if I had to reset the PS3 now and then.
0 up, 0 down
bigrailer19
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 2:03:47 PM
Anyways I too am not a graphics wh*** - i love great looking games and seeing what developers can do - but I can appreciate a game regardless. It's not to say I didn't like New Vegas (even Fallout 3 has issues and I loved it) I just couldn't play it long enough with out something happening. I could mention other games in the same circumstance but you get the point.
0 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 2:48:24 PM
3 up, 0 down
bigrailer19
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 4:54:10 PM
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maxpontiac
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 11:53:47 AM
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Both the developer AND the publisher have their name on the product afterall.
10 up, 1 down
Jawknee
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 12:26:03 PM
Last edited by Jawknee on 3/29/2012 12:26:35 PM
1 up, 1 down
PC_Max
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 12:17:15 PM
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Yes, its survival, but its about integrity and being professional. They are worried they won't get the next contract if they say something? Then look for finance elsewhere. IF you don't, you perpetuate the existing problem and noting changes, or at least it changes very, very slowly.
I appreciate all the work and hours they put in to the design and coding, but you have to take the criticism as well. The players paid for the game with expectations.
I wish them luck and hopefully find/create better publishers.
Keep Playing!
0 up, 1 down
JackDillinger89
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 12:30:56 PM
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0 up, 2 down
Jawknee
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 12:55:16 PM
Don't confuse MGO with Skyrim.
1 up, 1 down
slugga_status
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 2:28:47 PM
1 up, 0 down
bigrailer19
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 4:56:22 PM
2 up, 0 down
maxpontiac
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 6:43:09 PM
Skyrim used to be glitch fest for me, and now, only the Civil War is glitched.
0 up, 0 down
Fox hounder
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 1:34:58 PM
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Lol, just kidding :)
Last edited by Fox hounder on 3/29/2012 1:37:16 PM
2 up, 0 down
wackazoa
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 2:09:12 PM
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* Oh but you cant compare games with other industries.
2 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 2:52:32 PM
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Board Meeting
Bethesda Soft: "The game is busted, it slows down after the save reaches a certain size, we need more time."
Bethesda Pub: "It was very difficult to secure that non-tuesday 11-11-11 date so just wrap it up and you will patch it later."
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 3/29/2012 2:53:08 PM
7 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 3:42:57 PM
5 up, 1 down
maxpontiac
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 4:01:54 PM
7 up, 0 down
Laguna
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 4:24:27 PM
Reply
6 up, 1 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 6:55:27 PM
The complaining and lecturing will stop, one way or the other. This is ENTERTAINMENT.
3 up, 7 down
Teddie9
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 6:40:48 PM
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By no means an excuse but a reality that we really don't seem to have immediate control over.
Last edited by Teddie9 on 3/29/2012 6:42:05 PM
0 up, 1 down
Temjin001
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 7:32:17 PM
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I can sort of, just sort of, sympathize.
When our instructor assigns us huge projects we have a limited time to get things done. I don't think there's been a single 3D project I've done where I felt anything was fully finished before submitting it for review. I literally have to consider the deadline and scale or overlook certain elements while working within constraints to meet a deadline.
I see this being pretty similar between devs and pubs. The pubs want to market a product that fits their time table, but the devs want to create a game that meets their own standard of quality, I'm sure most of whom take pride in. Sometimes I think when people label a dev as being "lazy" when something isn't perfect they're being overly judgemental because they can't really know what all was going on behind the scenes. I sometimes wonder if games like Enslaved, NG3 and others would've been quite a bit better if given more time. I think it just boils down to how much a pub is willing to work with their team members to make things right and fair.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 3/29/2012 7:33:27 PM
0 up, 0 down
Rogueagent01
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 7:50:41 PM
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Developers need time, even if you can give them all the time in the world and an unlimited budget they will still have bugs, BUT the amount will be drastically reduced and game breaking glitches/bugs would all but disappear. They don't need eternity, nor an unlimited budget but they need patience. This is also why I am not a fan of releasing details about a game till it is within roughly a year of being ready for release, this just enrages inpatient gamers.
1 up, 0 down
___________
Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 3:31:09 AM
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im REALLY starting to get sick of this whole whiny its not our fault mentality developers are coming up with!
always have a truckload of excuses lined up for anything!
im sorry, but YOU make the game so its your job to make sure it releases finished.
if the games not running how it should its your responsibility to go to the publisher and say sorry guys but were not on schedule we need more time to clean things up.
if you dont then you have NO ONE but yourselves to blame when people get the sh*ts that the game is buggy.
developers and publishers need to learn all there doing is hurting themselves.
release 1 buggy game every once in a while no one cares as ive said a million times no ones perfect.
BUT when you release buggy game after buggy game after buggy game, well thats a whole other kettle of fish!
thats when you get customers saying f*ck you if you cant be bothered making a working game then i cant be bothered going to the store and purchasing it.
and all you have accomplished is loosing customers, is that what the industry really wants?
im really getting sick of this its good enough mentality!
no its not good enough, its either finished ready to be released or its not!
theres no such thing as its good enough, for the love of god have some f*cking pride in your work!
this is exactly whats REALLY pissing me off about the world today.
no one gives a flying f*ck about their product!
i miss the good old days where things were actually play tested, they would go out and invite people from the public to test things make sure they worked and people liked them.
nowadays though companies dont give a flying f*ck if they work, just release it its good enough!
optus box for instance has a USB port on the front so you can plug a USB drive into the port.
but allot of drives these days have really short slots so the stick is too wide to fit into the port.
printers are the same, i went to JB today to look for a new printer and every single god dam one had a slot for USB so narrow my USB drive would not fit in there.
WTF is the point of having a USB slot if USB drives cant fit in there!?
dont they test these things out?
ah f*ck it just put it there who cares if it actually works.............
or last week i bought a new controller for my PC.
no instruction manual no nothing!
so how are you suppose to know how to get it working?
its plug and play is it?
i spent 2 hours on google trying to find the official website, or some guides on how to install it.
NOTHING!
so i took it back to EB and asked if they had a phone number i could call, they gave me the companies tech support line.
oh sorry sir we dont provide support for that item.
WTF!?
so you want customers to purchase the item but you wont tell them how to use it?
a piece of paper detailing how to install it is really that expensive its going to send the company broke is it?
drives me nuts, gone are the days where companies gave a f*ck about their customers!
what happened to the good old days where a company would sell you something, come to your house, install it for you, then ring you a week or so later to make sure your satisfied with the product?
now your lucky if you get a tech support line to ring, let alone them coming to your house to install it for you!
no one has pride in their work anymore its just everythings its good enough.
NO ITS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
0 up, 0 down
Geobaldi
Reply
Thursday, March 29, 2012 @ 10:49:05 AM