The little guys care because it’s their livelihood

Within the time span of one week I was able to review and revisit Punk Justice because the developer released an update for the game that made it better.  Patches are nothing new to the world of video games, in fact PC gamers have been enjoying them for years as their gaming platform of choice most likely has an internet connection of some kind.  Getting the latest update for a game like Left 4 Dead or Team Fortress 2 is as routine as an anti-viral update.  It’s a rather new addition to console gaming and portable gaming now that Apple and Google have thrown their hats into the ring.

The thing of it is, the people charging you $60 per game seem to be getting it the most wrong and the plethora of developers making games $9.99 or less for the iPhone and Android operating system seem to get it the most right.  Last year Rockstar released a special edition of Bully for the 360 that had a horrible bug that caused the game to crash often.  It was just shy of unplayable until and update was released for it.  More recently Terminator Salvation was released for the PC and the retail copies of the game didn’t allow you to install it making the game absolutely unplayable.  Meanwhile a game like Dropship for iPhone which I picked up for $0.99 has had numerous updates that make the game better and more.  A few days ago Star Defense, which was just released earlier this month received an update that adds a new mode to the game with several other welcomed features. 

The other thing that the little guys get right is telling you exactly what is in the update.  Every time I turn on my 360 or PS3 and a game tells me there is an update available, I’ll download it but often times I have no clue what I’m getting unless I had prior knowledge.  It’s true you can go the the developer’s website and read what the contents are, but why not just give me a pop up screen telling me what you are adding or fixing?  For the G1 and the iPhone when there’s an update available I’m told exactly what is in the update before I download it.  It’s nice to not be in the dark about whether or not a particular bug is going to be fixed when you download an update.  I wonder how many Gears of War 2 players actually visited the site to find out what all bugs of the many that were in that game were fixed.  Secondly, often times when new features are added to a console game there is a fee attached.  This is especially infuriating when the features you pay extra for are on the disk the game comes on like the alternate costumes in Street Fighter 4, or the new recent Wolverine DLC level.  When something is added to an iPhone game, it’s free and it feels like the developer is putting it there because they want you to have more fun not make more money off you.

Aside from the fact that I know the developers of these games care about their product, it’s also their livelihood of the small iPhone/Android developers to care more about their product and to continue to make it better after its release.  One thing Ngmoco has mastered is not only making a good product, but continuing to iterate on it and make it better by tweaking the difficulty, adding content, and making the overall user experience better.  They know that if you buy one of their products and like it, you will be more likely to buy another game made by them especially when the barrier to entry is $10 or less.  I probably wouldn’t have considered buying Firemint’s Real Racing if I haddn’t wanted to see what else they’ve done since I had so much fun with Flight Control.  With every update I download for these games it’s like the developer is sending me a note that says "hey, I care about my product and I want to make sure you’re having the best possible time with it."  The only console developer I’ve seen actually get it right is Criterion with Burnout Paradise.  They gave their players free content updates for over a year and when the introduced paid content made sure it that the people who didn’t buy it were still able to play with those that did.  Valve has also set the bar on the PC side for delivering high quality content to their users for free of charge.

It all boils down to brand loyalty and the little guys know that you will come back if they’ve done right by you.  Some of the big guys get it and some won’t until they’ve destroyed the reputation.  I didn’t mind spending a little extra for the SF4 costumes even though they were on the disk because I would have had to pay extra for them on the Japanese arcade machine anyway.  I did mind and refuse to buy the Soul Calibur 4 content because there was no precedent set up by an arcade release of the game and it just didn’t make any sense to me.  In this new world of constant updates it’s going to be very clear who cares about you and who is just trying to squeeze a few more bucks out of you.