I bet you couldn’t read the text in the cover image for this article before clicking on it, but you might have had an idea of exactly what it was referring to from the color scheme alone. CD Projekt Red’s delay message template for Cyberpunk 2077 became a meme in itself for a brief period after the announcement. At the time, the hype for Cyberpunk was running rampant and it was a crushing blow to the fanbase. Arc System Works even made a meme where they replaced the text with a small font that read “Everything is fine. We just like yellow.” or something like that to join in on the clowning. I’ll admit, that shit scared the fuck out of me but gave me a good laugh. Today I’m not laughing as it’s come to my attention Guilty Gear Strive has been delayed from April until June. For real this time.
Wait, I managed to find it. Oh how the turn tables.
Even if you don’t follow Guilty Gear or even fighting games, it was hard to escape the news that the beta was going on. Vtubers, regular YouTubers, streamers, and of course the fighting game regulars were going absolutely nuts over it (myself included). The game employed rollback netcode, a style of netcode for fighting games that promises better performance, and damn everybody was having some smooth matches. Pro players from the USA were fighting pro players from Japan and that shit was working well for the most part. If it was so great, what happened, you ask? Well, they spent so much time working on the netcode that they must have run out of time to design the online lobbies and handed it over to the company president's three year old kid. It looks like a shitty browser game from 2006, doesn’t match the Guilty Gear hardcore rock aesthetic, and can be an absolute bitch to get working properly. After the beta was over Arc Sys hosted a survey and the lobbies were dragged through hell by the community. So much so that they said “ay fuck maybe we should let a seven year old do this instead”. Now you’re up to speed as the GG community waits extra time for them to fix it.
Habbo Hotel? Is that you?
Enough with the case studies, let’s expand this discussion outwards a bit. Game delays started happening frequently when COVID reared its ugly head and fucked the world over. Obviously for good reason as nobody knew what the fuck was going on, how bad it was, how quickly it spread, or related information. Then overtime we slowly (Very slowly) figured some shit out and now there’s more precedent of how to operate during a pandemic. As for myself, I can forgive pretty much any delay that’s happening with this COVID shit. We’re all just trying to do our best and navigate between productivity, safety, and not ending up on the street due to economic stress. In the face of all that it’s hard to be mad at a studio for a delay these days. BUT! But, but, but, is this going to establish a guideline that continues even after COVID passes?
Obviously on one side of the equation, game delays are banging because that indicates the studio will spend more time working to fix shit. Nobody wants a bad product. “A delayed game will eventually be good, a released bad game will forever be bad” and all that. The lobbies were shit for sure, and Arc Sys clearly stated that’s what they intend to fix so in a way it’s a community victory. I saw a lot of positive responses in the replies on Twitter, praising them for taking action. The flipside to this argument is what incentive do companies have to stick to a release schedule if the community will applaud them for taking extra time to work on a game? Just throw a random target date on the calendar that we maybe can reach, and if not who cares we can delay that bitch and then get praised for doing so (to a point of course, after multiple delays the outcry would be massive regardless).
A victory or a defeat? It's in the eye of the beholder.
Overall as I stated, I harbor no ill will to studios dealing with development issues while COVID is around. It fucks up development in ways us consumers don’t even think about. For example, someone brought up the point that fighting game companies often do physical promotional tournaments with pro players or demo the game at conventions to collect data on how the game is working in early stages and receive community feedback without having to open it up to the entire Internet for scrutiny. Conventions were killed by COVID so those opportunities haven’t existed this time around in the development cycle. Now once this is all over? I don’t know. I expect many won’t be as lenient as they are now and will be a bit more vocally upset when something doesn’t stick to schedule. At the same time though, fans are fans. Sadly Arc Sys could say “fuck you Snooze, pay us $150 to play this game” and I’d still do it because their games are like crack. In the face of that a mere two month delay is child’s play.
Ultimately delays are a tool and it’s up to the developer to use them responsibly. Right now with COVID it’s hard for consumers to even gauge what is “responsibly” and what isn’t, but if we ever restore some normalcy I expect Cyberpunk 2077 levels of backlash for companies that abuse it. However, maybe this is a turning point and long after COVID, people will be alright with delays as long as it means a better final product. Have you had to suffer through delays due to COVID? Are delays a viable tool to turn out better products, or do they give companies a free pass to plan poorly? Strive to leave a comment below!
