Broken, unpolished video games have been more apparent this console generation than ever before. It seems like more companies are haphazardly rushing their games out the door before they are properly polished.
Marvel's Avengers, WWE 2K20, Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition and Fallout 76 are just a few games that launched well before they were ready. Troublesome bugs and glitches plague these titles, ruining the player's experience. Broken games do nothing but disappoint fans and paint publishers and developers in a negative light. If the trend continues, it could have dire consequences on gamers and video game companies alike.
There's no reason for potentially great games to be ruined by rushed development cycles. Many unpolished games have loads of potential but are unable to reach it due to numerous technical flaws. Although many developers end up fixing most of the bugs and glitches later on, it doesn't excuse their hasty development process. Patches are great, but video games need to be finished before developers stick a $60 (soon to be $70) price tag on them and ship to stores.
When gamers pay full price for a new video game, they expect it to be a finished product. It's unfair to video game fans to sell a game at top dollar if it's a broken, glitchy mess. They feel ripped off and begin growing resentment for the parties involved in the game's development.
Some gamers resort to review bombing a title if they feel ripped off or view the game as incomplete. There have been countless cases of angry video game fans leaving poor reviews on a title that felt incomplete or sparse. Some people argue that it's not review bombing if the game doesn't perform correctly. Others completely detest the practice and want to put restrictions in place to prevent it from happening. Like it or not, at least it tells developers that gamers won't stand for broken video game titles.
If developers continue to push out buggy, incomplete games, many players will stop buying their products. People will eventually get tired of wasting their money on highly anticipated games that are ruined by problematic bugs and glitches.
On the flipside, many gamers expect new games to be full of bugs nowadays, which is a problem as well. If enough video game fans take a stand and refuse to buy games until they are properly polished, it could force developers to fully finish games prior to launch.
Video games used to be finished products upon release. Sadly, more and more games are being rushed to launch in completely broken states, due to the possibility for patches and other updates on a more regular basis through online services. Gamers are getting sick of spending their money on unfinished games that are bogged down by technical issues. Video game companies need to start ironing out all the bugs and glitches before sending them to retailers. If something isn't done about it soon, gamers can expect the same problems on next-generation consoles.