As the title says.... have they?
Here are some bits pulled from an article:
We now live in an age where all the current-gen consoles and handhelds are connected online. Some people don't have this luxury, but for the majority of us our consoles are tethered to the internet, either permanently or semi-permanently. Unfortunately, we also live in an age where it's commonplace for a publisher to release a video game unfinished or loaded with bugs, which are then subsequently fixed via compulsory downloadable patches
Which leads me to ask: Is collecting modern games pointless?
Has anyone ever stopped to think what will become of your X360 or PS3 once the respective companies stop supporting them? What happens once these companies decide that they no longer want to support these consoles and stop supplying the necessary patches to older games? In the case of games like Skyrim or GT5, it's a big deal!
And what of the games which rely on online servers and are online-only? You just have to look back at the last generation for answers. For example, Twisted Metal: Black Online is pretty worthless these days, except to the real die hard collectors who just want it for "completeness", and Steel Battalion: Line Of Contact is equally as unplayable. Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast has an offline single player mode, but the game was designed primarily to be an online experience - Unless you're part of the minority who has invested in some specialist broadband equipment, this game is also now redundant and of little use to anyone except those who want to play alone. Will anyone want to collect current-gen games like Final Fantasy XI in the future?
If we were to open and play a brand new sealed SNES game or PlayStation game in 2012, our experience would more or less be the same as it was back in the day when the game first came out. However, if we did the same to an X360 or PS3 game in ten years' time, the experience would not be the same without the aid of the relevant patches - Gran Turismo 5 is an obvious example here, which has had no end of improvements added since launch via downloadable patches and updates, which have practically turned it into an entirely different game than the one initially sold on disc back in 2010!
If publishers decide to turn off their online servers in the near future (as EA seem to gradually be doing), what will become of the games from this generation? If you were a future collector, would you be happy playing a broken version of Skyrim? What about all of those games that have had additional content added as DLC, but which haven't received a GOTY edition?
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So how do you think patches and updates impacted this gen? For me, it seems like developers feel that it is okay to release an incomplete game and then patch it up to no ends. An example is Call of Duty, where every game since Cod 4, they are always broken on launch and need a ton of subsequent patches. This is an extreme example of developers who don't care about the state of their games on day 1, only that they release it on November of every year. Obviously patches have their benefits as well, such as fixing game breaking glitches. But removing the ability to patch might make developers more conscious of their work and ultimately release better products. I don't know about you guys, but it pains me when I buy a game on day 1 and then pop in the disc only to be greeted with an update page.
It could be said that Nintendo is the only one to stick to traditional ways of releasing games that are final with no patches whatsoever.... or in hindsight, Nintendo made the mistake of not implementing patches due to poor internet infrastructure (i.e. game breaking Skyward Sword bug).
With the advent of next gen consoles, there are even rumors of consoles requiring an internet connection. How will this affect us? We can expect a greater emphasis on patches for next gen games. Developers this gen also seem to be aware of the state of multiplayer and it almost seems forced in a lot of today's games. If a majority of games were single player only, just like the old days, then patches might be less of an issue, as developers seem to run into the most trouble when developing the multiplayer for their games.
As the article already pointed out, this will affect collectors greatly. One user on the site pointed out that PC users won't have this problem since searching for the relevant patches won't be an issue while it will be impossible on 360 and PS3 if Microsoft and Sony decide to stop supporting these games. So I guess that is a plus for PC gamers, although most PC gamers purchase their games digitally so they are not that much of collectors.
