Despite the Hate for patches, NRS Studios has come a long way.

A lot of people grew up expecting the "Now" aspect. Fix it now. Id just like to remind you that now wasnt always an expectation.

NetherRealm Studios Studios?
Good video though.

This is true. People forgot all the begging that went on for additional patches to MK9.

I think in the case of Injustice 2, it was greatly helped by being a legacy game. I think a completely new game with a completely fresh meta is always a huge risk, and those kinds of games are going to require more patching than others.

So although Injustice 2 is a success so far, I'll still be curious to see how this applies to a completely new game.

So...a tidbit from someone in game development:

This doesn't necessarily reflect anything for NRS. On the contrary, patches can and have been bottlenecked by publishers before. Historically (from connections that have worked with them in the past), Warner Bros. have not been among publishers that favor numerous patches. A balance patch - TU or CDN doesn't bring in extra money. Only additional content does - and even then you've got boatloads of metrics like ARPU and other random letters that are taken into account before anything can be green lit.

So yea, NRS is releasing updates more...but since I doubt their work ethic has changed (and by nature, developers DO love to create content for players to see despite what people believe in their blind rage sometimes), I imagine that there has instead been a stronger shift on the publisher side over the course of the last decade as the industry has changed.

No remorse from me after Jax dash punch pwnage.

#jaxlivesmatter

You didn't add anything new with the OP.

Anyway I heard a few time ago that patches don't coast as much anymore. and I don't agree that Inj2 is done being patched.

NRS/Midway have indeed come a long way, and while they did the best they could with every game regarding their patching format, they've improved with each game. I'm indeed happy about how they do their patches now.

BTW regarding your question Dink, I've played games since the early 90's, and my first game every was TMNT Hyperstone Heist on the Sega Genesis. Good ol' times

Roy Arkon said:

NRS/Midway have indeed come a long way, and while they did the best they could with every game regarding their patching format, they've improved with each game. I'm indeed happy about how they do their patches now.

BTW regarding your question Dink, I've played games since the early 90's, and my first game every was TMNT Hyperstone Heist on the Sega Genesis. Good ol' times

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it only took them what 34 years?

Shaka said:

You didn't add anything new with the OP.

Anyway I heard a few time ago that patches don't coast as much anymore. and I don't agree that Inj2 is done being patched.

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it depends on what type of patch. TUs are different than CDNs. The only thing that may have changed (because I'm not 100% and I haven't dealt with patch deliveries in years) is a removal of "pay tons of money to update your game if you have already had X patches this year".

Shaka said:

it only took them what 34 years?

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Actually it took a lot less then that. MKDA had a few tournies for it, and even MK Vs. DC had some. Only MKD and MKA didn't had any of them. And the patches for MK9, IJ1 and MKX were good for what they were, but NRS has improved with each game.

With Injustice 2 I've been enormously impressed by the way the patches have been handled. Every time we've received a patch I've seen a laundry list of desired updates, changes, fixes and additions. On top of the balance patch being quite good*.

I've only been around NRS games since MKX.. and kind of as a spectator since the tail end of Inj1, so I don't have the personal perspective of long years.. but when I compare what I see NRS doing vs what I see many other companies doing I'm blown away by the attention they seem to be paying to the community as a whole.

Regardless of it being easier or more acceptable to patch often, NRS deserves recognition for the game. I think Inj2 in general is absolutely incredible.






*No it wasn't perfect, but I don't know of ANYONE that genuinely believes the game as a whole isn't in a much better place now.

BadMoodBarry said:

So...a tidbit from someone in game development:

This doesn't necessarily reflect anything for NRS. On the contrary, patches can and have been bottlenecked by publishers before. Historically (from connections that have worked with them in the past), Warner Bros. have not been among publishers that favor numerous patches. A balance patch - TU or CDN doesn't bring in extra money. Only additional content does - and even then you've got boatloads of metrics like ARPU and other random letters that are taken into account before anything can be green lit.

So yea, NRS is releasing updates more...but since I doubt their work ethic has changed (and by nature, developers DO love to create content for players to see despite what people believe in their blind rage sometimes), I imagine that there has instead been a stronger shift on the publisher side over the course of the last decade as the industry has changed.

Click to expand...

Really interesting post and great insight. I wonder though if that's why over mkx and this game I imagine we've seen a lot of the patches and fixes/balance changes come bundled with new content in the form of dlc characters, stages, skins etc. so that any expense associated with patches and balance changes are offset by DLC purchases.

Also, in 2017, I wonder if developers and publishers view patches and balance changes as the cost of doing business and a kind of "investment" in the reputation department to gain the trust and support of players that the games will be high quality in the future and in future titles. Then again, these companies profit off of casual players who stop playing the game weeks or maybe months later so.

Shaka said:

You didn't add anything new with the OP.

Anyway I heard a few time ago that patches don't coast as much anymore. and I don't agree that Inj2 is done being patched.

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Maybe not to you, but my goal is always to help those that dont have the knowledge. So if you didnt get anything from this its very apparent to me a lot of people did and you could probably benefit by adopting the thinking that "Just because i know this doesnt make it common knowledge". Just a better way to contribute to society

Patches are great, an excuse to re-learn my favorite characters.

I still wonder what MK9 would have been like if EVERYONE had been viable.

#StrykerWasSoMuchFun
#Standing4IsStillBae
#PoliceBrutality

Cashual said:

Really interesting post and great insight. I wonder though if that's why over mkx and this game I imagine we've seen a lot of the patches and fixes/balance changes come bundled with new content in the form of dlc characters, stages, skins etc. so that any expense associated with patches and balance changes are offset by DLC purchases.

Also, in 2017, I wonder if developers and publishers view patches and balance changes as the cost of doing business and a kind of "investment" in the reputation department to gain the trust and support of players that the games will be high quality in the future and in future titles. Then again, these companies profit off of casual players who stop playing the game weeks or maybe months later so.

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More and more games are going the "living world" route due to an increase in gear/investment-driven games. With those kind of games you have to have constant updates, or you have to be willing to lose random amounts of your player base while being confident in your ability to bring them back for more player retention and/or money.

As far as bundling balances with updates, that's just the nature of development branches and revision control. It's easier to do things bundled together, and you can essentially say "here - here is all of your content now. With a calendar flag, we'll make things "show up" (new characters) later that you already downloaded and push out a hotfix for any bugs we didn't fix for the first run".

That gets a little hazy when you have some content where the entitlement flags are being set from the console store even if people bought packs though (like how we have to "download" our character from the store instead of just having them when we have the pack already), which kind of dilutes the whole calendar flag concept - but, no two games are ever made the same.

STB Shujinkydink said:

Maybe not to you, but my goal is always to help those that dont have the knowledge. So if you didnt get anything from this its very apparent to me a lot of people did and you could probably benefit by adopting the thinking that "Just because i know this doesnt make it common knowledge". Just a better way to contribute to society

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lol You were just fishing for views.

Shaka said:

lol You were just fishing for views.

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.

No... I think he had a point he felt like making and.. made it? It's the same with your post, or any of mine. We feel like saying something, and so we post. That's literally the entire point in a forum.

I'm not sure what your argument is exactly. Since the point(s) he's making are somewhat known and it's a view shared by others.. it's not valid and pointless? Maybe it wasn't a view shared by everyone though and he changed some minds or educated some people.who didn't realize? Or maybe added some perspective? Negativity bias has a huge roll on our perception, so what you take as just common knowledge, could be anything but.

Shaka said:

lol You were just fishing for views.

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Why are you so salty all the time?

Dink, your channel is great and you're definitely not washed up lol.

Micro transactions are good for gaming imo. Not sure if patching became a regular thing from micro transaction incentives or PC game developers starting the trend but I'm glad we're not stuck in the days of game breaking exploits and wickedly unfair online gameplay.