Bad Game Launches

[thegrogster]

With Sim City recently running into DRM issues with servers not being available, I don't understand why developers would rather underestimate the demand and have a shitty launch than pay the money for more servers and then re-purpose them for the next launch when demand dwindles to the core followers.

Has there ever been a smooth, mostly error free launch of an MMO or always-on DRM controlled game?

With services like Amazon Web Services or Windows Azure, why would they not get their server team to set up a scaleable server that can launch on there to take the initial burst of launch month rockiness away from their core servers? It makes more sense to me because they can just rent it for the time they need to have a smooth launch and then kill it when the core servers can handle the day-to-day use.

They'd never have to load that up again, they've saved a ton of money by not buying their own servers to cover the initial burst of buyers AND they can go down in history as being the first dev to have a smooth launch of an online only game. Not to mention the savings on tech support just to tell people "the servers are busy, try again later".

There's obviously more to it, but I can see that being a huge reputation builder for immensely popular games if they simply MUST have DRM or are MMOs.

[B-Ferret]

The Mists of Pandaria launch was actually pretty smooth.

[No-eye-deer]

I don't think that counts...

I'm sure most developers look at what is at most a week's worth of server issues, compare that to the cost and say fuck it, we'll take the bad publicity, Besides it's been an issue for so long people don't really get beat up as they should about it. It's shitty trust me I agree, but I would almost guarantee it doesn't make financial sense. Could just be the server renters aren't willing to offer a reasonable deal for them, or the time/effort isn't worth the sales lost from bad publicity for the first week.

[thegrogster]

Mists of Pandaria is different though. Blizzard has already been through several major launches and knows how to handle a lot of users. They deal with about 9 million a day and it rose to maybe 10.5 mil during launch. They predicted that. In fact, they might have over estimated.
Regardless, they had the infrastructure already in place for WoW.
I was going to say it's very likely a money issue, but it doesn't cost that much (relatively) to rent high bandwidth servers from amazon for big publishing companies.

I still come back to the huge reputation boost for the publisher. "There wasn't more than 30 second waiting time for launch day. Finally, some company knows how to do a proper launch day release." And the customer will have no trouble considering getting their next MMO or always-on game on launch day due to the rep of that first smooth game launch.

EA already has a bad reputation. Maybe they could have sunk more money into fixing that up, at least.

Try to think of it as if you were a mindless drone that waits in line 3 days for the next COD midnight release. These people only know some game names and maybe publisher names. If they can't get into their brand new game for the first two weeks without waiting in line for 30 minutes, they're not going to buy the next game or perhaps another game from that publisher if they're even half educated on their entertainment of choice. If they're going to keep that customer they're going to want as smooth of launch as possible. Wouldn't it be smart to invest say, another $50,000 in rented bandwidth and processing power from other facilities to make sure everyone is happy during that launch to ensure repeat business?

...OR save ALL that money and fire the people that invented the DRM in the first place. Then release patches that bypass all the server necessities of existing games. No more need of server maintenance costs or the cost of using the invented DRM. (I think they purchase rights to use it like SecuROM). Many jobs lost but overhead and issues like this are gone. You even have a smaller carbon footprint because those massive warehouses of airconditioned servers are no longer needed. Now they can hire more dev staff and have a happier customer base that doesn't need to be always online because as everyone knows piracy is going to happen whether you have this feature or not.

[Nick Mangiaracina]

Guild Wars 2 had a pretty flawless launch when it comes to server stability. Their only problem was in-game crowding. I was able to get on my server within seconds and even though there wasn't enough room for me to be in the regular channels, I was able to sit in the overflow channel until a spot opened. I was also still able to group with friends despite being in different channels.

[B-Ferret]

Guild Wars 2 had a pretty flawless launch when it comes to server stability. Their only problem was in-game crowding. I was able to get on my server within seconds and even though there wasn't enough room for me to be in the regular channels, I was able to sit in the overflow channel until a spot opened. I was also still able to group with friends despite being in different channels.

Except for things like the Auction House being down for several weeks...

[CrackRabbit]

Except for things like the Auction House being down for several weeks...

While a functioning AH is an important part of a modern MMO, it isn't core to gameplay.
With Diablo III, earlier WoW expansions and more recently Sim City, the core gameplay is being broken by server load that should have been planned for well in advance.

[Nick Mangiaracina]

While a functioning AH is an important part of a modern MMO, it isn't core to gameplay.
With Diablo III, earlier WoW expansions and more recently Sim City, the core gameplay is being broken by server load that should have been planned for well in advance.

Exactly.

Not only was the AH down B-ferret, but the in-game store was down as well. Yet, the AH was back up before the store. This to me is a successful launch because it's clear ANet was more concerned with what the players actually wanted than a big cash grab. Getting the AH up weeks before the in-game store may have been worse for business, but the AH was more important to the players. It was a smart move and something you don't see a lot of companies do.

[CrackRabbit]

This editorial was posted a couple days ago over at Joystiq. It makes a quite apt comparison of the always online game to service at a restaurant.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/06/ed...tomer-service/

[Nick Mangiaracina]

This editorial was posted a couple days ago over at Joystiq. It makes a quite apt comparison of the always online game to service at a restaurant.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/06/ed...tomer-service/

I love how that article starts out. "I'm not a very good writer."