Former GTA Developer: Day-One Patch Culture Lowers Quality Standards, and Everyone Loses—Both Developers and Players
Colin Anderson, the composer of the iconic early GTA games, reminisced about the good old days when a game was fully polished upon release. Nowadays, he notes, developers have become too complacent, relying on day-one patches.
GTA: San Andreas
He wrote about this on his X profile on the occasion of GTA: San Andreas's 20th anniversary. This post caught the attention of GamesRadar+.
"As a developer, I sometimes miss the strict discipline instilled by the understanding that once released, nothing could be changed. The current approach only encourages negligence in development and project management, and players pay the price for it," Anderson criticized the industry.
According to him, the trend of releasing "unfinished" projects is a modern-day ailment affecting other entertainment industries as well. "It all started with music and the phrase 'we'll fix it in the mix,' then came movies with 'we'll fix it in post-production,' and finally games with 'we'll fix it with a patch,'" the developer mused.
The community warmly supported Anderson's statements. Users quickly reminded that during the era of older consoles, releasing a single digital patch would cost a company $10,000. They also noted an alternative radical way to fix bugs: "recall all copies, destroy them, and then release new ones." Hence, there was simply no room for error.
The only viable option that didn't bankrupt developers were improved re-releases with "Greatest Hits" or "Platinum Hits" labels, released a few years later, without much fuss and at a reduced price.
Players also pointed out that they no longer feel the same excitement about new title announcements, as "it takes another year or two before they get into decent shape."
