Are we too demanding on NRS?

[Vslayer]

So with the recent news that came out recently about how Bioware treated their employes during the production of Anthem and Andromeda, I got to seriously thinking about how our impatience causes pressure on game devs. They FORCED their workers to put out the game early, basically working them into depressions because they wanted it to come out this year. But if they would have given them a reasonable deadline, none of this would have happened. It's not normal for whole teams of people to get burned out and to lose passion for a thing they probably go into because of their love for video games. Companies only care about the CEOS making money and their investors making money, they don't care about the people who work themselves into a depression to give them all those luxuries.

If you didn't read the article about this, here it is: https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964

Then I thought about how we used to get one character breakdown during the KK, now they're doing 2-3 and a part of that is probably because we wanted more and more info, but does that put more work on their shoulders? I don't know how it is at NRS, and how crazy their crunch times gets, but I really do hope that our impatience as fans and gamers never hurt someone's mental health or forced them to work overtime when they were already overworked.

NRS should know that we all appreciate all the work they're doing to bring us these awesome games, all the passion they put into it to give us a memorable and awesome experience.

 

[STB Sgt Reed]

I think that's more on the shoulders of the investors, the publishers, and all the people wanting the money without actually doing anything. These are the ones pushing for releases by certain dates/times and all that. EA pushes shit out and then is surprised when it tanks. Whereas companies like CD Project release their games, "when it's ready." And that's how it should be.

While it's great for NRS (and other companies) to listen to their fans for constructive feedback, I don't think it really puts pressure on them to release at certain times. Or at least it shouldn't. Fans are gonna be rabid regardless, but that's just what we do. I doubt anyone really wants the devs to work themselves to death to release something.

I honestly don't think we, as gamers and lovers of this particular art form, would mind NRS pushing the game back if they came out and said "hey guys, we really need more time because we want to get you all the best product we can release. We don't want to release a half assed game."

I know I, for one, wanted ME:A to be a success and wanted them to not rush it out the door because I love that series so much.

 

[Vslayer]

I think that's more on the shoulders of the investors, the publishers, and all the people wanting the money without actually doing anything. These are the ones pushing for releases by certain dates/times and all that. EA pushes shit out and then is surprised when it tanks. Whereas companies like CD Project release their games, "when it's ready." And that's how it should be.

While it's great for NRS (and other companies) to listen to their fans for constructive feedback, I don't think it really puts pressure on them to release at certain times. Or at least it shouldn't. Fans are gonna be rabid regardless, but that's just what we do. I doubt anyone really wants the devs to work themselves to death to release something.

I honestly don't think we, as gamers and lovers of this particular art form, would mind NRS pushing the game back if they came out and said "hey guys, we really need more time because we want to get you all the best product we can release. We don't want to release a half assed game."

Definitely. I do think investors and the companies are the biggest villains in this story, and I agree, I'd rather wait another month than have them work themselves to death just to bring it to us on time for the deadline. I think 99% of gamers would feel the same way, I just feared that sometimes our impatience may or may not have added onto that stress.

 

[Law Hero]

Just like those other companies, I would bet money WB puts a lot of pressure on NRS to stick to the 2-year schedule they've been going at for almost 10 years now.

Anyway, as consumers, we SHOULD be demanding. Every single aspect of the game is created in order to convince us to part our money from our wallets. If there is something you dislike or something you want, you absolutely must be vocal about it, or you'll either get a subpar product or the developer won't get your money. Either option is bad. It may not be elegant, but if kicking, screaming, and throwing a tantrum is what gets their attention, then that is what you must do. By bending over and accepting everything thrown at you, or being a blind fanboy, you are giving them the okay to treat you like garbage and give you a crappy product. You should never ever just silently accept what's given to you if you believe it could be better.

Anyway, I love NRS, and I believe they are passionate, hardworking people who want to please the fans. It's just important to remember that they in turn work for WB which is an ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE corporation that will take every single possible opportunity to rip you off and abuse your love of MK if you let them. You must be vocal, and you must be persistent.

 

[SHAOLIN]

The BioWare scenario has to do more with the investors than it does with the consumers

 

[Vslayer]

The BioWare scenario has to do more with the investors than it does with the consumers

Yeah that’s what I’m thinking too, and to be fair BioWare has been working on this game for 7 years and it started production 16 months ago I feel like Bioware’s management really dropped the ball there too.

 

[SHAOLIN]

Yeah that’s what I’m thinking too, and to be fair BioWare has been working on this game for 7 years and it started production 16 months ago I feel like Bioware’s management really dropped the ball there too.

I mean seriously the upper management of Bioware is so fucked up. Like your people who are working on this game is having anxiety attacks, suffering from depression, leaving the company a month to 3 months, and some of them not even coming back. Like how many red flags do you need!?!

 

[FoughtDragon01]

While I'm not a fan of Warner 'Prioritize DLC over fixing the actual game' Bros., I at least feel like they give NRS a manageable amount of time to put out high-quality content that's filled to the brim with extra features, game modes, etc. And when shit's not working (i.e. MKX's launch netcode), they can typically be trusted to course correct. They've set a standard for themselves, and besides a few REALLY hot takes in the past few months, I think that we, as the consumers, have just been trying to ensure that we get a product worth the money that we're putting into it.

The Bioware situation (and to another extent, Destiny, since Bungie had similar development issues), is unfortunate, and I'd never wish that level of stress on anyone, and if it feels like they are over-working themselves over at NRS to try and meet fan expectations, I'm sure we as a community would be able to reach some sort of compromise.

 

[KHTC Takgillo]

The only fault EA had in the anthem fiasco was the use of frostbite and taking some developer to put them on FIFA. They gave bioware 6 or 7 years to make a game. It's normal for them to demand a product when the time has passed

 

[SHAOLIN]

Also to add on that, the frostbite engine was used for first person shooters. It had no purpose to be used for nothing other than shooters but EA wanted all of there studios to use it, which is fucking dumb.

 

[Tokiwartoothxdk]

no

 

[Vslayer]

I mean seriously the upper management of Bioware is so fucked up. Like your people who are working on this game is having anxiety attacks, suffering from depression, leaving the company a month to 3 months, and some of them not even coming back. Like how many red flags do you need!?!

Yep, what kind of manager, or CEO for that matter, lets a whole team of people do literally nothing for 7 years then force them to push out this game - that they don't even have any clue what it's supposed to be in the first place - in 16 months? I don't know what they managers were doing but it seems they had their heads far up their asses and didn't deal with the situation at all.

Then again, people were also pulled from that project to work on other games, but still, really bad management from Bioware. And EA should have rattled the cage way sooner than freaking 7 years, wtf. Don't they need like status reports of where things are at?

Everything about this feels like no one did anything or just ignored the problem.

 

[SHAOLIN]

Bioware response to the Kotaku article exposing the chaos that was going on behind the scenes of Anthem.

 

[Skcorpion86]

The way I see it, we all spend our hard earned money on the game, if it wasn't for us being fans none of them would have a job. So we are allowed to ask for things we want in a product we buy and spent a lot of time on.

 

[MrWarMachine]

I think video game fans, in general, are far too demanding of the people who make the games. While I understand wanting quality out of the thing you spend your money on, a lot of people take it way too far and are really annoying because of it.

But as other people have said, our demands are probably closer to gnats than the hornets and wasps that are the investors and executives.

 

[stokedAF]

I don’t mind coming to places like these and sharing pros or cons. Nothing wrong with valid criticism or concerns. Even the trolling and shit talk is funny sometimes. The people harassing NRS devs over twitter with threats, demands and random anger are over the top to me. That segment is such a small part of their fanbase though.

So are WE too demanding? I don’t think so, the vast majority of us at least. We are just fans that want to see cool shit or have mechanics a certain way. If one character missing is going to make you boycott then you aren’t an mk fan, you are a character fan. That’s not a valid general concern to me. That’s a personal issue.

 

[LeoMK29]

Yes

 

[OnlineSkunk]

I don't want to derail the conversation but I just wanted to say NRS already did everything I've ever wished for in a fighting game, I just felt like customizing your characters was cooler and a bit more fun. Maybe the OP it's right though, maybe we're being too demanding after they did everything we asked for and more. Not going to lie though, I got a bit concerned because after reading this thread I remembered Ed Boon saying getting their life back in the rapid fire interview. I hope everything it's alright at NRS and I hope they know we're grateful for everything they've done.

@STB Sgt Reed I love the Mass Effect Series too, I still play Andromeda and 3 sometimes.

 

[Vslayer]

I don’t mind coming to places like these and sharing pros or cons. Nothing wrong with valid criticism or concerns. Even the trolling and shit talk is funny sometimes. The people harassing NRS devs over twitter with threats, demands and random anger are over the top to me. That segment is such a small part of their fanbase though.

So are WE too demanding? I don’t think so, the vast majority of us at least. We are just fans that want to see cool shit or have mechanics a certain way. If one character missing is going to make you boycott then you aren’t an mk fan, you are a character fan. That’s not a valid general concern to me. That’s a personal issue.

I agree I feel like that too. I don't think those fans harassing with pictures of rain and Mileena over and over really add to that stress, if I was them I would laugh it off 'cause it's ridiculous, but the way managers handle their teams need to change for their sake. If all the game devs are depressed and lost passion for making them, we'll keep getting more and more uninspired products. I feel like devs at NRS are always really excited for their game and that speaks volumes.

 

[RexxyC]

I don't particularly think so, no. I think there's a lot of us that are very vocal in disappointment with some things like roster choices, but otherwise I think we're treated fairly well and in return treat them well.

Of course there are things like twitter, where people never ever shut the fuck up, but I think a lot of the times here, the team that makes the game is treated fairly well.

 

[xenogorgeous]

I don't think so .... the KK rush up stuff is due the bad schedule agenda they set to promote characters .... they are putting pressure now, because, the first KK schedule was postponed (due some snow storm or something) , and the overall KK format, with some useless parts on it, just favour poor character gameplay breakdown segments ....

In generall, we , as fanbase, don't have enough power to influence that deep the NRS plans to develop and promote MK11 .... sure we are important as customers, but, our opinion regarding certains major strategic decisions related to MK11, don't have weight and don't matter to Warner Bros

 

[Kenshi-Keanu-Kool]

Just like those other companies, I would bet money WB puts a lot of pressure on NRS to stick to the 2-year schedule they've been going at for almost 10 years now.

Anyway, as consumers, we SHOULD be demanding. Every single aspect of the game is created in order to convince us to part our money from our wallets. If there is something you dislike or something you want, you absolutely must be vocal about it, or you'll either get a subpar product or the developer won't get your money. Either option is bad. It may not be elegant, but if kicking, screaming, and throwing a tantrum is what gets their attention, then that is what you must do. By bending over and accepting everything thrown at you, or being a blind fanboy, you are giving them the okay to treat you like garbage and give you a crappy product. You should never ever just silently accept what's given to you if you believe it could be better.

Anyway, I love NRS, and I believe they are passionate, hardworking people who want to please the fans. It's just important to remember that they in turn work for WB which is an ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE corporation that will take every single possible opportunity to rip you off and abuse your love of MK if you let them. You must be vocal, and you must be persistent.

Well said . could not agreed more .

 

[Bloodfang]

They get enough bs from Warner Bros. I doubt putting their heart and soul into a game but instead of a "thanks for the awesome game, so much fun" all they get tweeted about is "No Rain? Go kill yourselves." Gotta be disheartening.

 

[Vslayer]

They get enough bs from Warner Bros. I doubt putting their heart and soul into a game but instead of a "thanks for the awesome game, so much fun" all they get tweeted about is "No Rain? Go kill yourselves." Gotta be disheartening.

Yeah, those people really do piss me off. I believe that NRS knows that these are people to ignore and they're not the majority, but they are the most vocal and annoying people on Twitter.

 

[STB BroZki]

The BioWare scenario has to do more with the investors than it does with the consumers

Bro I’m not gonna lie. Seeing your posts without that font you used to use throws me off so badly.