Game Delays: Good or Bad?

[astrogamic]

Everyone goes insane when a game is delayed. Most of the times people get reasonably pissed about it, with good reason. If it's a game you look forward to playing, then the anger is justified. A part of me is initially mad while the other half is OK with delays because they usually tend to result in better completed games. There's pros and cons to delays. Some developers have given reasons while others don't. Where do you stand on the topic of games being delayed? What is your reaction to them and why?

 

[Andy Shandy]

It's irritating to hear at the time, particularly if the game had a set in stone release date to be excited about, but I don't get all that annoyed about it, since most of the time I rationalise it as that they're taking more time to make a better, more stable game, which I have no problem with at all.

The only time I've gotten particularly peeved about a delay was with Rayman Legends on Wii U, where the game was ready and was only delayed because Ubisoft decided they wanted a multi-platform release, and that it all had to launch at the same time. Though to be fair to Ubisoft, they did add more to the game with the delay too, so that took some of the sting off it.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Depends. Sometimes delays are an indication that the developers can't get their act together, and the extra time just causes built up anticipation for a game that has no hope of being good yet no one knows it has no hope until they've already played the bad game.

On the other hand, I generally don't mind delays. I'm a little annoyed when I first hear about it, but given that it is usually for polishing purposes, I just assume the developers and publishers actually care about giving us a good, complete, and stable game on release. Sure, that isn't an automatic sign that the game is being polished to near perfection, but the possibility of that does help make game delays a little more bearable.

 

[Casual Shinji]

How long a delay are we talking about here?

Like Watch Dogs delay? Or The Last Guardian delay?

A few extra months spit shining never hurt any game. A few years however...

 

[Bad Jim]

If an AAA game publisher has decided to wait, I am happy to wait also. They would not withold a game from us and spend millions on further development if they could sell it to us now and maintain any kind of reputation for decent games.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

A few extra months spit shining never hurt any game. A few years however...

Pretty much this.

I'm all for waiting if it means getting a good or even great game instead of one that's just decent or worse. But when months stretch into years, that might be an indicator that the game is stuck in development hell and that is seldom good news. See Duke Nukem Forever, Too Human, Aliens: Colonial Marines, ...

 

[Eamar]

It really depends on the situation. If a game's being pushed back in order to avoid rushing it, in a genuine attempt to make the game as good as it can be, that's great. Commendable, even - we've all heard horror stories of devs being rushed to meet some arbitrary deadline set by the publisher.

Other types of delay, as others have said, can be a major warning sign.

 

[Hazy992]

"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad".

- Shigeru Miyamoto

Sure it sucks that a game's delayed if you want to play it, but I'd much rather a game be late and be good then be rushed and blow chunks.

 

[Hero of Lime]

"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad".

- Shigeru Miyamoto

Sure it sucks that a game's delayed if you want to play it, but I'd much rather a game be late and be good then be rushed and blow chunks.

I came here just to say that quote. So simple, yet so true.

OT: It sucks to hear at first, but when you realize that a game is delayed to make it better, in hindsight the wait is totally worth it.

Except for the rare case of a game being delayed repeatedly only to never come out, or come out and be really bad.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

If a game is delayed that means that the powers that be believe it is so overwhelmingly broken that releasing it would do more harm than good. Thus it is safe to say that a delay is always going to be the better decision even if it sometimes leads to vaporware (Ghosts for example) or the game turns out garbage anyhow (A:CM, for example).

 

[shootthebandit]

Any delay is bad whether its a game or not. If you cant give an exact date (or even the nearest fiscal quarter) then dont announce it until you know exactly.

This happens all to frequently with games for me to care and i take release dates with a pinch of salt

 

[TallanKhan]

It really depends on the situation. If a game's being pushed back in order to avoid rushing it, in a genuine attempt to make the game as good as it can be, that's great. Commendable, even - we've all heard horror stories of devs being rushed to meet some arbitrary deadline set by the publisher.

Other types of delay, as others have said, can be a major warning sign.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Delays can be a bad thing and can in some circumstances be hugely damaging to the finished product (Duke Nukem Forever anyone? - Although that game also had bigger problems). We should however consider how damaging it can be when games are released rushed, or in some cases practically unfinished just to meet a largely arbitrary deadline. I sure as hell wish Obsidian had been allowed to spend a little more time on Knights of the Old Republic 2. I would personally rather wait and play a finished, high caliber game than a rushed out holiday release.