Would skipping the holidays be better for the game industry?

[Texan Penguin]

So for World of Warcraft, we just got word that Visions of N'Zoth is coming out in January so that it doesn't interfere with spending time with friends/family during the holidays. And it made me think about something...

I know very little about business, but I have to ask. Would it be better for the overall health of the game industry and its customers to skip the holiday rush and push back the traditional winter releases to January/February or early March (at the latest)?

Industry-side: Games wouldn't be rushed out to make holiday sales, preventing a situation like KOTOR 2 from happening where a game is tossed onto the market half-finished. Perhaps this means less crunch too, which is better on the developers.

Consumer-side: Pardon my language, but honestly, it's stupid as fuck to release anything new during the holidays. College students have finals and other end of semester responsibilities, and most decent people will be spending time with their families/friends.

I don't know, really. I'm just pondering. What do you folks think?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

College students have finals and other end of semester responsibilities, and most decent people will be spending time with their families/friends.

College students need their entertainment to survive studying for finals, and many people I personally know prefer to spend their Christmas playing video games.

[Greyvax]

So for World of Warcraft, we just got word that Visions of N'Zoth is coming out in January so that it doesn't interfere with spending time with friends/family during the holidays. And it made me think about something...

The patch is delayed to january because it's not close to being finished. but if they tell people its so they can spend time with their families, they get extra brownie points.

[Cyclone Jack]

Seeing how many half-finished games get rushed out the door between Oct-Dec just to hit those big holiday numbers, I would say that skipping the holidays would be better for the consumer.

[lagiacrux]

The patch is delayed to january because it's not close to being finished. but if they tell people its so they can spend time with their families, they get extra brownie points.

anything to back up that claim?

they did it last year as well.

[TigTone]

anything to back up that claim?

they did it last year as well.

It could be true, but regardless a lot of people I play with have families and play a lot less during November/December.

It could also be employee holidays and vacation times

- - - Updated - - -

Seeing how many half-finished games get rushed out the door between Oct-Dec just to hit those big holiday numbers, I would say that skipping the holidays would be better for the consumer.

Off topic but Doom Eternal was delayed until March 2020. It’s original date was this month. So im glad it’s delayed for a better quality game.

[lagiacrux]

It could also be employee holidays and vacation times

this i can believe in a heartbeat. every company is understaffed before and during the holidays. having release windows during that time is never a good idea.

[Firedemon]

So for World of Warcraft, we just got word that Visions of N'Zoth is coming out in January so that it doesn't interfere with spending time with friends/family during the holidays. And it made me think about something...

I know very little about business, but I have to ask. Would it be better for the overall health of the game industry and its customers to skip the holiday rush and push back the traditional winter releases to January/February or early March (at the latest)?

Industry-side: Games wouldn't be rushed out to make holiday sales, preventing a situation like KOTOR 2 from happening where a game is tossed onto the market half-finished. Perhaps this means less crunch too, which is better on the developers.

Consumer-side: Pardon my language, but honestly, it's stupid as fuck to release anything new during the holidays. College students have finals and other end of semester responsibilities, and most decent people will be spending time with their families/friends.

I don't know, really. I'm just pondering. What do you folks think?

Not exactly. For WoW it makes because raiding Mythic requres a good amount of time commitment. Sure for many guilds it would not matter that much but guilds that decide to raid in that period and especially guilds competing for very high rankings will be put in a very bad spot.

For games that don't require you to be online at a set time for a fair amount of hours it's very good. Like for example say you receive Fifa. You can play 1-2 matches on christmas eve without screwing your time with friends/family.

That is of course if the gsme is ready beforehand and not forcing the employees into overtime during holidays

[SpikeySquad]

My partner and I actually play a lot more in December so nope I would find a "break" annoying.

[Tech614]

Games should release when they're done. If that's holiday season then fine. The major problem with games seem to be when they are rushed to release in a certain quarter(usually q3 holidays but also sometimes the very end of q4 around Feb).

You can't compare MMOs to the game industry at whole, many people have some spare time to play games during the holidays. Where it gets tricky is organizing 20 people to be able to play for long periods of time together during the holiday.

[avitush]

I think deadlines in general are bad for games. 100% okay with "it'll be done when it gets done" and having a decent, working game as a result instead of a broken, buggy mess that people worked insane hours to rush out the door because someone promised that a game that should take 2 years to make would be ready in 1 year.

[Pony Soldier]

I would think it'd actually be more beneficial to the gaming industry to release around the holidays if they can because it's easy money for them with all the people rushing around to grab those holiday sales and what not.

I honestly think this is a great move because it takes away that temptation of spending money on something you shouldn't and the distraction from your family time which is what matters most around this time of year.

It's surprising to me that a company like Blizzard who loves to find ways to make money any way they can to think about people spending more time with their family and friends rather than making money from them. Kind of makes me wonder if there's a catch to this.

[Tekkommo]

I think deadlines in general are bad for games. 100% okay with "it'll be done when it gets done" and having a decent, working game as a result instead of a broken, buggy mess that people worked insane hours to rush out the door because someone promised that a game that should take 2 years to make would be ready in 1 year.

Unless you have perfect staff, deadline are needed. However, deadlines should be realistic.

[Logwyn]

I think deadlines in general are bad for games. 100% okay with "it'll be done when it gets done" and having a decent, working game as a result instead of a broken, buggy mess that people worked insane hours to rush out the door because someone promised that a game that should take 2 years to make would be ready in 1 year.

Every project that I've worked on in multiple industries my experience the "rush to get it done by the deadline" is due to people not working as they should during the entire life cycle of the project. Even if you have "mini" deadlines during the project the same thing occurs. If you have no deadlines then the project will never get done.

All human nature.

[Tech614]

Every project that I've worked on in multiple industries my experience the "rush to get it done by the deadline" is due to people not working as they should during the entire life cycle of the project. Even if you have "mini" deadlines during the project the same thing occurs. If you have no deadlines then the project will never get done.

All human nature.

Having dead lines is fine, but being able to adjust them when you find things that you either want to or should be changed is the difference between finished games and rushed shitty ones.

Game development is fluid, you can't compare it to "other industries" because there are problems with a game you won't even know exist until you start playing the game, and you don't start playing the game in big parts until well into development so when something needs changed it's gonna cause a delay or you're gonna ship a shit game.

[Queen of Hamsters]

They gave their reason for not releasing during the Holidays (ofc haters deny it since they sit on secret data known as "feels"), that doesn't mean it's viable for every company, every franchise, or even every MMORPG.

If they're still seeing engagement with the current content, and known from past experience what it'll be like when they release during the Holidays... well...

[Vash The Stampede]

I don't know, really. I'm just pondering. What do you folks think?

As a consumer it isn't your problem to worry about the health of an industry. If there's demand then someone will supply it, don't you worry. It would be better if you hesitate to spend money, as that would prevent developers like KOTOR 2 from releasing a half finished game. The reason games are released unfinished is because they know their consumers are willing to deal with it.

Also skipping the holiday season is hard because gamers will be too busy playing their new games, not buying another one until they're done. Which for some people it could take a week to 6 months before finishing a game. Again, not your problem.

[Logwyn]

Having dead lines is fine, but being able to adjust them when you find things that you either want to or should be changed is the difference between finished games and rushed shitty ones.

Game development is fluid, you can't compare it to "other industries" because there are problems with a game you won't even know exist until you start playing the game, and you don't start playing the game in big parts until well into development so when something needs changed it's gonna cause a delay or you're gonna ship a shit game.

Game development is really no different than in other industries. Other industries have anomalies that show up from time to time at various stages of development. Causing delays and other issues.

[zlygork]

I can only speak for myself when I say that the holidays are when I get a chance to game the most and I am disappointed to not have any new content to play through. I understand not getting the new raid yet, but I don't quite get why some of the content couldn't be rolled out earlier. I should be done with both the crab and the model W within the next 2 weeks and then I'll have nothing to do whatsoever outside of mythic nights.

[sam86]

u actually believe that bullsh8t?
ok let me tell u real reason that i bet 99.9999999% of ppl here already know: they delaying it because they didn't work enough on it and they using the holiday reason as excuse
because in fact best time to f8cking play is holiday, most video game release is in fact in f8cking xmass, blizz is only one to pull out of their a88 reason to delay patch is for holiday, the exact date that even activision release games at

anything to back up that claim?

they did it last year as well.

entire video game industry, they try to rush games for xmass, not shy away from it, activision is saying - in exact same time - that they releasing games for xmass to buy, but they delaying games in xmass so u spend time with family, gee i wonder why they delayed a game while releasing other games

wanna bet if the patch was for money instead of 'free' (because it seems they consider sub money their basic right and not actual payment) it would been released at x-mass alongside every other AAA publisher ?

I just reviewed the title, u asking about gaming in general? yes having no forced deadlines will be better for gaming industry, we won't have Andromida for example
But ur first post is talking about wow specific, and in case of wow, their reason is bullsh8t, since activision is still releasing games - like every other AAA publisher - at xmass time to cash on that massive market, xmass is the biggest season to buy sh8t, it will be finance suicide for any big publisher to skip it