My rant on the modern state of the game industry.

[Elton John]

First off, I will say that there are still some good games that don't fit into these categories. Bayonetta 2 on the wii u is a polished, content filled game that includes unlockables that you don't need to pay extra for. Not only that but they also included the best version of the original with it on a seperate disc with every copy of b2 for no extra cost. It's also a darned good game.

This topic is not for stuff like that.

DLC, microtransactions, broken titles (warner bros recently pulled batman arkham knight off steam after being unable to fix it months after release) and more plague a lot of games released in the past few years. Even nintendo isn't guilt free as a lot of their recent titles have expensive dlc that adds a lot of cost to an expensive game. Sonic boom on the wii u last year was a mess.

When microsoft revealed dlc plans for the xbox 360 over 10 years ago it was said that paid dlc would be substantial in content and the smaller stuff would be free. The first xbox 360 dlc was announced to be horse armor for the elder scrolls oblivion..... Yeah.

Then there is bethesda. They release games in a very buggy state. They also release games in a broken state, like skyrim on the ps3 which was one of the worst ports I have ever played in my life.

We shouldn't make excuses for it. If a big name movie was released in an unfinished state moviegoers would not put up with it. If JK Rowlings charged another penny for every third word in her latest novel and held back the word if you didn't pay nobody would put up with it.

Why should game developers get away with it? I believe that games should be released when they are done and lack major bugs and glitches (no game is glitch free), the only paid dlc is substantial in content, and when you buy a digital game you own the game and not a license to play it.

/rant over.

[FlipMode]

Because a lot of gamers DO put up with it and so the industry has no reason to change.
Why spend years making a great AAA game when you can fart out a sequel every year and get a better return for less effort? Why give good DLC that contributes to the original purchase when you can just sell a bunch of unlockable skins that were cut from the game to begin with?
Why make a good PC port when they will just go out and buy the console one anyway?

Fact is: if we didn't keep supporting this stuff then it wouldn't keep happening.

[HereWeStand]

Yeah, the gaming industry is just dead to me by now because of BS like this. Complete (without DLC), quality games these days are fairly rare. It's absurd to purchase an unfinished base game and have to pay almost double the price of it if not worse to actually have a complete game. Sad thing is, it's not going to change since the majority puts up with it like Flip_FTW said. It sucks having to pay for everyone else's mistakes in supporting atrocities like this.

[Simbaholikov]

This is why I do my best to avoid buying games from devs like these, if I really want the game I'd be far more likely to find another mean to acquire said game. The way to change this is to hurt them in their pockets, I'm just one person and I'm not going to change anything alone but I'm sure as hell not going to pay for a half assed game by devs that'll just sell the rest of the game later as "DLC".

[Captain Cupcake]

What's funny is Bethesda's latest release, Fallout 4, isn't actually all that buggy. There are some expected minor issues and glitches people have got, but it's surprising how it's somewhat functional.

As to the overall issue at hand, the reason why a lot of these problems have become more prevalent is due to how "bigger" and "better" games have becoming in recent times. The more stuff they put money and time into, the less opportunities there are to iron out all the quirks and unpolished things. That's why certain huge titles with gigantic settings and a lots of content, like some of those older Bethesda games, happen to have some issues. Game production has just become way too sophisticated to maintain, and a lot of developers can never really afford that extra love and care during the initial development. Considering that, I'm a bit more forgiving when it comes to these things (or, to be more precise, tolerant of them), unless the game is just a complete broken turd and no amount of patches can fix it.

As for DLC, that is the one true villain of these past two generations. It is unbelievable how such a potentially amazing aspect of gaming has been exploited in absolutely the wrong way. Instead of making additional post-game content with actual depth to it, companies have made their various developers just churn out pre-order downloads, superficial add-ons, and lame power ups/equipment. Additional story/major content made some time after the game's release date should be the norm, and it's really unfortunate that it's become a rarity.