Patch Notes Powered By Fans

Nothing hits you like loading up a new game you have been waiting months to release, only to realise it's not quite right, something's off. That’s when fans decide it's their time to influence the decisions and get the game we deserve. I mean, do you remember when Pokémon Sword and Shield was released? The disappointment was immense.

Gamers aren’t sitting quietly anymore, gaming is more than just a hobby to some, it’s a comfort, and when our comfort game changes or doesn’t meet our expectations, it can be heartbreaking. We take to social media to share our thoughts instantly so that the developers can see the feedback in real time, their feedback isn’t just feedback its pressure. Gaming communities can be brutal.

Take a look at Pokémon, one of the biggest franchises out there, and when their newest game at the time, Pokémon Sword and Sheild released, it was not met with excitement and joy, it was met with backlash and controversy. The Pokédex was extremely limited, so many Pokémon were not even part of the game. How can we Catch Them All! Without them all? Fans started referring to Game Freak’s (the developer) decision to not include all the Pokémon in the game as “Dexit”, a fun play on words related to “Brexit”. The outcry got the attention of Game Freak, and they made clear they were going for quality over quantity, given the sheer amount of Pokémon that now exists but just because they aren’t in this game doesn’t mean they have been shunned to never appear again.

But even with this announcement, to say the game took the criticism to heart and soon after the release, it announced Pokémon’s first DLC, which added 200 more Pokémon into the game, which included new, never-before-seen Pokémon. However, with the price of this DLC, fans began to see this as a simple way to milk more money from the fans, a classic Nintendo move.

It’s so important for developers to listen to their fans, if they don’t and the game gains a bad reputation, then they lose money. When they listen, they gain long-term fans and create a community. But there are always limitations, not all demands can be met, but developers do their best to keep up with what the game needs, providing new updates when needed. Developers need to create a relationship with their fans and not just see them as a business endeavour.  

As much as it is important that games do take in criticism from their fans, sometimes what we want is not always what’s best for the sake of the game. When fans criticism of the timer in Dead Rising, claiming it made the game less fun, led to the abandonment of the timer feature in the 4^th game, it was met with yet again more criticism, with fans then saying it robbed the game of its tension. We can always be right when it comes to telling developers what we need. We expect these unrealistic expectations of games to be perfect, when that’s not always possible, but they can get damn near close with the right mechanics, story and design.  

It may be the developers that shape the game pre-launch, but after release, the success is all down to the fans, it is we who shape them post-launch. The updates of Pokémon Sword and Shield is proof of that, our outreach leads to change. So, next time you're ranting about a new game online, just think this could lead to a new change.