Every now and again, game developers take the input of their fanbases into consideration. They either make subtle nods to these fans or big additions that can make or break their games.
Occasionally older games stop being maintained entirely, and it's the fanbase that keeps them functioning at all. Other times there is a feature that was released for one purpose, and the fans as a whole found a brand new way to make it work in their favor. And sometimes fan input ends up leading to dull, repetitive, and directionless games due to the fact fans don't actually know what game development entails and what really makes a game more engaging.
10 Better: Sacred Has Fans Keeping It Up And Running
The Sacred series was made by the developer Ascaron Entertainment, but the company went under in 2009. Eventually, the games were ported to Steam, but exactly the way they were initially created. This made it so that Sacred Gold is completely unplayable due to the older system requirements.
However, the game was so well-loved by fans that they quickly began to develop their own patches to make the game run on modern systems. Additionally, fans also continue to update the patch and include new content, fix glitches and bugs, and essentially have taken over development for both of the Sacred titles.
9 Worse: Mortal Kombat Easy Fatalities Ruin The Spirit
Mortal Kombat is a well-known, well-loved franchise that is famous for some of its special, one-hit-kill moves known as Fatalities. They are meant to be incredibly difficult and hard to perform, leading some players to have never successfully done one and thus get frustrated.
While the concept of easy fatalities sounds like it would be just fine for players who just want to enjoy the game or make it easier for players who are simply unable to execute the originals for whatever reason, that isn't often how it's used. At least they're charging for the DLC, but caving to fans did not win it many favors this round.
8 Better: Minecraft Incorporated A Lot Of Fanmade Modifications Into Their Game
Especially back in the early days of Minecraft, the developers were wildly receptive to fanmade modifications and input. So much so that many things that were popular mods eventually made their way to the game itself.
Pistons were a big one that changed the game, and they all started out as a simple mod before the game was even officially released. The ability to change the game mode between survival and creative without restarting a game was also initially included in a mod, as well as single-player console commands. Many other things started out as mods too, and Mojang has always been supportive of mod developers even if they don't decide to incorporate those features.
7 Worse: Skyrim High Resolution Texture Pack Was A Waste Of Resources
A year after the initial release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Bethesda released a free DLC which updated some of the graphics to a higher resolution. The problem was by that point, there were already some beautiful player-made mods out there that did the same thing, only better.
This just meant that the entire pack felt more of a cash grab to try and appeal to the players instead of fixing the numerous bugs and glitches of their game. Special Edition, which released four years later, finally gets up to par with the level of some of the fan modifications. The High Resolution Texture Pack was more of a waste of time on their parts than anything in the long run.
6 Better: Pokémon's Wonder Trade System Was Improved By Community Effort
The concept of implementing a random trade feature was a long time coming as far as the Pokémon franchise was concerned. However, as would be expected, the majority of the trades were just flooded with useless creatures in hopes something good actually came the player's way.
A good chunk of this still holds true, but for the most part the online communities banded together to push forth the concept of etiquette within the Wonder Trade/Surprise Trade system. It's also attracted a lot of illegit-generation sites to send out hacked creatures with their website as their nickname, but that just means that people who just like collecting regardless of legitimacy can, and those who don't can send it back or release it.
5 Worse: Skyward Sword's Demise Was Catering To Fans Who Wanted Gannon Back
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword had a wonderful design for their final boss Demise, but that was where it ended. Demise felt, to most fans, like he was just a new Gannon as everything about him felt the same other than how he looked.
The problem here was the loudest voice in the fandom happened to actually be the minority, and their insistence on having Gannon back really influenced Demise's character. So instead of having a new, interesting boss with unique interests, he was just a boring Gannon 2.0 that was more disappointing than not.
4 Better: Sims 4 Ball Pits Gained A Slight Improvement Due To Fan Complaints
No pack to The Sums 4 comes without a whole new slew of bugs and visual issues. When the Toddler Stuff DLC came out there was one extremely glaring issue that had most fans angry. That ball pit was horrendous and looked like it was a poorly thrown together afterthought.
Fans were so outraged at the terrible quality that EA ended up sending out an update that included some visual upgrades to the ball pit. It still isn't quite as nice as some fan-made CCs, but at least now it looks like it belongs in the game.
3 Worse: Final Fantasy XV Tried So Hard To Appeal To The Masses That It Had No Direction
Square Enix went out of their way to try and figure out what fans wanted from a Final Fantasy game and then changed hands so much during the course of XV's development that the game itself is a disappointment on all fronts.
It has so little direction and fluidity within the game due to trying to constantly appeal to the widest margins and loudest voices. If the developers would have just gone with their initial vision, the game may not have suffered quite so badly.
2 Better: Divinity: Original Sin Constantly Keeps Track Of What Fans Want And Need
When the game first appeared on Kickstarter, the developers of Divinity: Original Sin did not expect it to become what it did. They realized that in listening to what fans wanted, watching their playthroughs to see their own flaws and how to improve, and overall taking into consideration what they were going to need, that they were going to end up with a better game.
It really worked out for them, and they constantly keep tabs on the most important issues and flaws within their game and do their best to incorporate fixes to the most commonly found complaints. It's also granted them extremely high reviews from players and helped them make something that is truly phenomenal.
1 Worse: The Removal Of A Timer In Dead Rising Also Removed The Tension
Dead Rising started out strong as a zombie apocalypse game and included a timer that forced the player through some extremely terrifying and intense moments. The second installment did away with it due to a loud minority of fans complaining about it. What happened was that it removed all of the tension and inherent danger of the game, leading to a much more mindlessly boring set of games.
Eventually, the developers recognized their mistake, and Dead Rising 4 released a DLC to reintroduce the timer. Now everyone can be happy, as DLCs are almost always optional.