This news broaches an interesting question, one that isn't dissimilar from the downloadable content question.
It has been revealed that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will require a day one patch when it releases later this week. In an e-mail Bethesda sent to us, that patch will address "some minor stability and quest progression issues." We got no further details.
Now, "quest progression issues" could be horribly problematic, although I will say I haven't come across any such nightmares in my play-through thus far. However, we often talk about the possibility of DLC allowing developers to get lazy; i.e., "oh, this isn't really done, but we can fix it and add stuff we didn't add with DLC." Extra content is great, but it's a slippery slope, you know? What's stopping them from releasing a game that's literally only 80% done and then slipping in the "fix-it" DLC as time goes on?
Personally, despite the conspiracy theories, I don't believe there's a lot of that going on, even if it's possible. Most designers are gamers, too, and they want to produce the absolute best product possible. Do you see guys like Kojima letting a game out the door they're not 100% happy with? But this day-one patch thing…it's a little concerning because we need to fix something immediately after buying the game. It just makes it feel like even more of a purposely incomplete product.
The Skyrim patch may not be a big deal, but there's always a "what if" scenario attached. What do you think?
Related Game(s): The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
