Fri, Mar 08, 2013 | 21:45 GMT
Next-gen systems may allow developers to self-publish patches – rumor
Overkill Software’s Simon Vikland has said he’s heard around town that next-gen consoles will make it possible to self-publish patches, which if true, would be a boon for smaller development firms.
Speaking with OXM, Vikland said that while such news is technically “a rumor,” he hopes it’s the case because post-release support is very expensive on consoles.
“It surprised us how much we wanted to do after we’d finished the game, [because] on the PC we can do it for free – let’s put it up there,” he said. “It costs a lot of money to do that on consoles, and it’s not up to us, unfortunately – we’re not made of money.
“So we thought, let’s wait until we have enough changes and then we can pay that cost and put the patch out there on PS3.”
Vikland said console manufacturers designed systems that way in order to maintain control, something he understands, but would still prefer the self-publishing route.
“That’s how first-party designed it, and I’ve heard stories that for the next generation, they’re making it possible to self-publish patches,” he said. “That’s a rumour. And that would be nice.
“At the same time I understand why first-party wants to keep control of everything – they want to play-test, they want to make sure that it doesn’t crash. Because that’s the whole idea of a console – it’s for the casual gamer, it works all the time.”
Overkill is currently working on Payday 2, which is slated for release sometime this year.
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Posted in: 505 Games, Development, PS3, PS4, Rumour, Xbox 360
Tags: next gen, Overkill Software, payday 2, Simon Vikland
19 comments
#1
dex3108
08/03/13, 9:50 pm
Nice
#2
SlayerGT
08/03/13, 9:54 pm
I hope its true, for devs. Especially on PS4. Cause with spectating and sharing, gitches and the like are gonna get broadcasted on a larger scale.
#3
Erthazus
08/03/13, 9:56 pm
This is so stupid to be honest. While feature is really good and should be there, but that feature is from the 90′s. It shows how ignorant console manufacturers were for at least a decade.
Console business is so outdated it’s not even funny, I guess this is indeed the last console generation. Next gen consoles now trying to be a PC. Madness.
#4
Triforce of the Gods
08/03/13, 10:40 pm
Hey guess what? Patching is already free on the Wii U.
Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/18/frozenbyte-wii-u-indies-set-their-own-eshop-prices-sale-dates/
#5
xxJPRACERxx
09/03/13, 12:22 am
I believe it for PS4 but doubt it for MS. They’re so anal about the certification process.
#6
melonbuster1
09/03/13, 1:05 am
I would rather have a well play tested game that passes than 90% of the buggie crap on the pc. My xboxlive is the best online service in the market bar none. Sony’s a joke Nintendo is newbie. Pc is just broken.
#7
xxJPRACERxx
09/03/13, 3:11 am
PC is not broken. Steam and Origin auto-update, you don’t have to do anything. Sony is more open than MS and just for this much better in my book.
My Xbox Live gold expired last year and I have no intention to renew it. I was a gold member since 1st Xbox.
#8
G1GAHURTZ
09/03/13, 3:30 am
Be prepared for a whole bunch of day 1 patches for bug ridden games from lazy developers.
#9
DSB
09/03/13, 4:14 am
Steam has been doing it for a while, and I’d say it’s a pretty big success.
Do you really want to wait 30 days for a 4 megabyte fix that could mean the difference between a working or a broken game?
A game like Bastion was broken when it launched on Steam, but within 24 hours the problem had been identified, fixed and the patch released.
To me that’s just good service.
#10
G1GAHURTZ
09/03/13, 4:58 am
Having the ability to patch something quickly is by no means a guarantee that a patch will arrive.
#11
OrbitMonkey
09/03/13, 7:25 am
@8, You mean like Bethesda? Day one would be a vast improvement
#12
Samoan Spider
09/03/13, 8:51 am
I agree that it’ll be nice to not have to wait for the certification process, but even with that, save killing and game breaking bugs have got through so what will it be like without a safety net?
#13
Dragon246
09/03/13, 9:29 am
Sony already allows self-publishing on on PSN.
#14
GwynbleiddiuM
09/03/13, 5:06 pm
I can see Sony allow that, just as they allowed connection to 3rd party networks such as DUST 514, but this is something that just has no possibility in Microsoft’s policies. They have built a thick wall around themselves.
#15
sh4dow
09/03/13, 5:12 pm
Great… even less incentive to release actually FINISHED games. FFS…
#16
Gheritt White
11/03/13, 6:50 pm
This is true… but I expect there’s some hidden costs in there somewhere.
#17
Phoenixblight
11/03/13, 6:56 pm
@16
Sony’s bandwidth in order to distribute the patch. This would just remove the certification process which makes it quicker to get patches to game.
#18
nollie4545
11/03/13, 6:56 pm
There is no way on earth MS are going to let anyone else fiddle with their trainset.
#19
Gheritt White
11/03/13, 7:02 pm
@18: FFS – this *is* happening (…of a sort). The first-parties won’t charge for Title Updates anymore, but I expect they will recoup their QA costs by other means.