When it comes to disastrous game launches there’s a few notable titles that spring to mind, including the infamous No Man’s Sky from Hello Games, which launched in 2016.
After what was arguably one of the worst game launches in recent years, Hello Games and its founder Sean Murray refused to give up on No Man’s Sky.
Instead, they doubled down on the IP in silence, offering up a surprise free update in 2018 that finally gave players the game they wanted from the start. Even though it took two years to get there, gamers were incredibly happy with Hello Games, and the company’s attitude.
Speaking at the UK’s Develop: Brighton conference [via PCGamer], Murray talked a little about the approach he took, and how developers should follow suit.
“We went about two years without talking to press at all”, Murray said. “And we went about three months without saying anything to the community, either. That was really hard. I sat down so many times and wrote the perfect blog post that was going to explain everything about the game’s development, and the road map going ahead. But I could see that it didn’t hold credibility with regards to where we were at.”
He went on to add: “I can see EA, Microsoft,or Bethesda try to placate players by just talking to them, but for right or wrong, it just doesn’t really work. You see this all the time when a big publisher will talk to the community and try to solve the problem and then get embroiled, taking up more and more of its head space.”
It’s an interesting argument. Bethesda faced a lot of backlash from players when the company tried to roadmap its plans for the future of Fallout 76 back at E3 this year, but would they face more or less backlash for staying silent?
Maybe Nintendo is the company who has the best approach to its game launches, as it’s made no secret of pushing back releases (like Animal Crossing) and even completely scrapping and redoing games (like Metroid Prime 4) when it feels they’re not up to standard.
What’s your opinion on launching unfinished or poor-quality games?
Featured Image Credit: Hello Games