Patching games on “modern consoles” is not a cheap affair, according to Double Fine’s Tim Schafer. According to Schafer, it can…
Patching games on “modern consoles” is not a cheap affair, according to Double Fine’s Tim Schafer. According to Schafer, it can cost at least $40,000 to patch a game on consoles. For any developer for games on consoles, this is quite the cost to simply patch a game. Overkill Software’s Simon Vikland, however, believes that time’s a-changin’.
According to Vikland, the 30-person group that comprises Overkill Software was caught off-guard by how much post-release content Payday: The Heist required. At the same time, the team was far from being a fan for how much the associated expense is on consoles. “On the PC we can do it for free – let’s put it up there,” says Vikland
Unfortunately, Vikland echoes Schafer’s sentiments. According to Vikland, “it costs a lot of money to do that on consoles, and it’s not up to us, unfortunately – we’re not made out 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.”
While Vikland understands why manufacturers might want to do things this way, he is also relieved hearing that this policy may not last until the end of time. “I’ve heard stories that for the next generation, they’re making it possible to self-publish patches. That’s a rumour. And that would be nice.”
Although Vikland is not thrilled at the cost of patching games on consoles, he does understand why Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft want to control this aspect of the console environment. In short: quality control. “They want to play-test, they want to make sure that it doesn’t crash.”
What are your thoughts on Vikland’s thoughts?
Source: OXM UK