Bethesda Knew About Skyrim PS3 Issues Pre-Release

[Nuvian]

Thought that only a "small percentage" would be affected.

Speaking to Kotaku at the DICE summit in LA last week, Bethesda's Todd Howard has admitted that the publisher was aware of problems with the PS3 version of Skyrim before release, but thought that "only a small percentage" of players would be affected.

"The way our dynamic stuff and our scripting works, it's obvious it gets in situations where it taxes the PS3. And we felt we had a lot of it under control," Howard said, speaking about what he calls the "bad memory situation" on the platform. The intention, he goes on to explain, was to fix the game post-release, after developers noticed problems and were unable to tweak the code enough to solve them in time for the planned release date on 11th November last year.

The fact that people at Bethesda were aware of this so-called "bad memory situation" on PS3 before release and chose to release the game anyway, knowing that a percentage of PS3 players would encounter major problems, is pretty shocking – but the plan to fix things with a patch post-release should have rescued the publisher from controversy if things had gone to plan. When November's patch 1.2 did not fix the game for PS3 players, Bethesda went all-out to solve the problem, getting players to submit their individual save files and studying them prior to the release of patch 1.4 this month.

Howard reckons that PS3 issues should finally be fixed now, but he's cautious in his assertions. "Now that we've been through this, we're not naive enough to say, 'We have seen everything,' because we have to assume we haven't. There are still going to be some people who have to come back to us and say, 'Ok, my situation is this.' [We say:] 'OK, send us your saved game.' We literally need to look at what you have running… We need to open the saved game comes up and look at it."

It's easy to say that Bethesda should have delayed the release of the PlayStation 3 version of Skyrim until the developer was able to fix these known problems, but it's equally easy to see why that didn't happen. From Bethesda's point of view, delaying the release on one platform only could have angered the majority of PS3 gamers more than releasing a game with problems that only a "small percentage" of players would encounter - especially when the assumption was that these problems could be fixed quickly and easily with a post-release patch.

That assumption backfired, of course. It's obvious that Bethesda did not know (and could not have known) the extent of the problem until the game was out in the wild being played by millions of individual players with individual play habits.

"For certain users it literally depends on how they play the game, varied over a hundred hours and literally what spells they use. Did they go in this building?" explains Howard. "It's literally the things you've done in what order and what's running. Some of the things are literally what spells do you have hot-keyed? Because, as you switch to them, they handle memory differently."

Source

[F34R]

That's the problem with the ability to patch things post-release. Devs get caught up in these release windows, etc., and when they can't make it work, they release it anyways.

[plustheharm]

Sadly, Beth isn't the only one to push a game out with known issues this gen. Been a constant complaint I've heard of from Day 1. Not that it makes this particular case less of an issue than others, but one of these issues was seen with Fallout and they didn't seem to make much of a move to address it.

[Thorzilla]

That's why Bethesda will never see a dime from me on day 1. When they can release a bug free game or at least one that doesn't have game breaking bugs, then I'll buy.

[Sylar]

That's pretty shocking, I doubt I'll going for any more 1st day releases from them in the future!

[Blacksite]

Well, it's a little unrealistic to expect a bug-free game for one as large as Skyrim. But I do think that it would be a wise move to wait a little while before purchasing future titles from the development studio. I wouldn't be angry if they chose to delay their games either. Play something else while you wait.

[*goo]

Bethesda telling us what we already knew. Their track-record is less than stellar which is the single reason why I personally see their games as good but never being great.

[daLa]

So regardless of most Bethesda games being as good as they are, this speaks badly of them and makes me feel like they're not a worthy company, like a game company I rather not trust.

[Nuvian]

DiCE and Bethesda are some of the worst when it comes to unpolished AAA titles in my opinion, and yet we still buy those games.

[mynd]

Well the other option was to delay the PS3 verison only, I'm not sure people would have liked that.

[Equinoqs]

Welcome to today's gaming environment.

[admartian]

Threats to boycott in 3..2..1...

[TGO]

PS3 memory problems uh, ya know if it can be fixed its not a PS3 problem, just a unfinished game

Sent from my Xperia Ray

[Chark]

I just hope they and other developers/publishers walk away with, "Oh man we should have dedicated our efforts equally among platforms. It would have saved us a lot of money on patches and sales." instead of, "PS3 is hard to develop for and it doesn't sell as much software." Please devs, in the future, don't shoot yourselves in the foot.

[Inzane2050]

Well the othe roption was ot delay the PS3 verison only, Im not sure people would have liked that.

And even this would possibly be impossible given if they games have already been distributed. A post release patch would be the only option at that point. All in all, I'm glad the release wasn't delayed.

[mynd]

PS3 memory problems uh, ya know if it can be fixed its not a PS3 problem, just a unfinished game

Sent from my Xperia Ray

Computer game development isnt as easy as walking down the street and buying the game.
It's a very complex process.
Im sure they could have easily solved the memory issues by cutting features out of the PS3 version, which wouldnt have made anyone happy.

[Bigdoggy]

Bethesda proved on the PC they half ass even PC games. Some people may be stunned by me saying this, but I find KoA more enjoyable for some strange reason, not only that, but if another Oblivion game comes out, I'm skipping it, I'll get the one after that one. lol

While I do like their games, I just didn't care much for skyrim. New things they added to Skyrim could have been done a lot better and more variety within "said" new things in that game. The marriage thing was nothing more then a gimmick which they could have excuted A LOT better and that isn't all either, there is a lot more in skyrim that made me say "meh".

[Soldier 95B]

Well, it's a little unrealistic to expect a bug-free game for one as large as Skyrim.

I disagree. I don't care if it is a 50mb Pac-man $5 download title or a $60 retail release. They should ONLY be selling us a product that works, and works properly.

That is the worst thing this generation. Bandaiding of our games and experiences.

[F34R]

I disagree. I don't care if it is a 50mb Pac-man $5 download title or a $60 retail release. They should ONLY be selling us a product that works, and works properly.

That is the worst thing this generation. Bandaiding of our games and experiences.

That's very unrealistic.... I doubt you'll find a single piece of software in todays world that is bug free.

[mynd]

I disagree. I don't care if it is a 50mb Pac-man $5 download title or a $60 retail release. They should ONLY be selling us a product that works, and works properly.

That is the worst thing this generation. Bandaiding of our games and experiences.

Easier to do if your only targeting one platform.
Much harder to do when your targeting multiple platforms.
Perhaps another case of lead with the PS3 then port to the rest.

[Soldier 95B]

That's very unrealistic.... I doubt you'll find a single piece of software in todays world that is bug free.

That is not my problem, that is the developer problem. Just because it happens doesn't make it acceptable.

[F34R]

I didn't say it was acceptable. However, it isn't a realistic scenario though. I don't think there are ANY game that don't have bugs in them. Maybe if we're talking about "game breaking" bugs, then I'd agree to an extent.

[Fenix]

Skyrim was still an enjoyable game, and I put over 120 hours into it before I hit the issue. That, to me, is great money per hour of entertainement. I never once regretted my purchase day 1.

[Soldier 95B]

Maybe if we're talking about "game breaking" bugs, then I'd agree to an extent.

Well, I say even more than just game breaking. But here or there...if you are talking game breaking, clearly this Skyrim bug is?

[F34R]

I don't think you can realistically expect games to be bug free. Is there a game that is bug/glitch free? If you believe the posts complaining about the bug in Skyrim on the PS3, it sounds as it would fit the bill. I don't personally know as my son bought the game on the 360 for him.