I feel like this problem will get worse in the 9th gen

It's better than 7th gen or before, where games released the exact same way, but they could never fix them. Games were releasing just as broken back in the days, but today people are spoiled by patches, so they have no ideas how broken games were back then.

Let them keep doing it. Sells are showing they are paying for their neglect.

I mean we've been saying this for years. Just because it CAN be fixed later, doesn't mean it SHOULD be fixed later.

It always pisses me off, when I buy a game, whether physical or digital, that I need to immediately download a patch or update before I can play the game. EVERY game does that now.

Agreed

Ubisoft seem to be moving away from this, with Watchdogs 3 at least.

Game development is a risky business . So I understand they need to try and recoup money and can’t keep burning money while not making any . But some games are released way too early . I’m glad Sony has been delaying games if they aren’t ready as they can afford to but some of these smaller companies don’t have the same luxury. Bethesda should be a company that works on bugs more before release no doubt .I don’t mind The Day 1 patches because they are fixing the game as much as they can. These games are getting bigger and more complicated so bugs are a part of life , just don’t release a alpha/beta test like Fallout 76 or broken games .

There is a balance here. There have been games that shipped very broken. But, if everyone wants the developers/publishers to ship an almost perfect game then games will get more expensive and take much longer to deliver.

The 80/20 rule really applies here. 80% of the bugs can be found with 20% of the testing effort. But 20% of the bugs will require 80% more testing. I do believe games need to ship and be very playable.

At the same time this generation I have pretty much stopped day one game purchases. I do maybe one or two a year. Now, I am more into GamePass and PSNow and less into "What came out yesterday". Instead, I wait for the games to stabilize and then I start looking at how much they are worth to purchase. By then reviews are much clearer, the developer has all the major issues, and the game starts to get sales on its purchase.

The other thing that annoys me is the content after day one. What is my incentive to buy a game that ships today, if in a year it will have a complete addition, and be half the price? Sure I get it day one, but frankly, there are literally 1,000's of games in my back log dating back to PS3, X360, and Wii so, I can wait and work on the old stuff!

I can't think of any other form on entertainment where this would be considered acceptable. Albums, Movies, Books? They are either released exactly as it is intended with no chance of going back and fixing anything. Games should be no different. Granted in an age of DLC and patches it is possible, but it should not be acceptable.

Wait months for a sale, dlc, patches, etc = win

Back when the original Xbox came out with online the old curmudgeons in the room said this is the beginning of the end with patches and unfinished games.

It’s not a joke that we wanted this new tech called patches, this new thing called DLC. The wise men said don’t do it and we shouted them down.

I accept my punishment

I can appreciate post-launch support for most games but I agree, a game shouldn’t be released a dumpster fire, forcing fans to wait another year to play an acceptable form of an already released game w/ added DLC/micro transaction down the line. Lookin at you AC Unity, Street Fighter 5, and Fallout76. I love to see developers continued support on a product they built, love, and released, I just wish pre-release QA was as bigger priority than the impatient cash grab from many big publishers today. I much prefer delays over purchasing incomplete works of art. My 2 cents

I've never bought a game that was "broken."

That being said I don't mind games getting patches either day one or later on. I still have console games from the 80's and 90's that have game crashing bugs and will never be patched. i consider it a blessing.

Completely agree.

I honestly don't mind Early Access and games being bit rough around the edges when they come from small/new developers. A small team of people purusing their dream of releasing a game, and wishing for some support along the way. Games like Subnautica/Wolcen, Outward come to mind, But it's astonishing when the same practices are done by multi-billion dollar companies, who's sole purpose is to dish out functional products.

You could expect to find a burnt burger at your friend's BBQ, but not if you went to 5* Restaurant.