Warner Brothers knew about Batman issues for months already
A bit of a yikes and PR nightmare for the product series, publisher Warner Brothers already new for months about the problems with Baman: Arkham Knight, but decided to move forward and release the game in the hope that end-users would find it good enough.
Two sources talked to Kokatu, over the past week in hopes of explaining how the broken PC version of Arkham Knight made it out the door. They both said that Warner Bros. was aware of the many issues facing Arkham Knighton PC and that the publisher chose to ship the game regardless, not to maniacally screw over customers—but because they believed it was good enough.
We reported literally thousands of bugs that were specific to the PC version relating to the frame rate. All sorts of fucked up texture issues. The Batmobile in particular has always fucked things up on PC.
"Testing a game this big is very different from linear or smaller games," our source continued. "You usually get a mission, chapter or area of the map, or pick one yourself, and just go to town. You bug everything you see. We had some testers bugging more than 100 bugs per day. Devs would fix what they could but they were juggling that with actually finishing the game so they were insanely slow. Only when the game was done and no new features had to be built could they actually buckle down. Once that happens they also restrict what you can or can’t bug, to ensure that they can catch up."
Our second source said Warner Bros. internal QA focused on bug-checking specifically at 720p resolutions. Most PC players with decent hardware expect to run games at 1080p or higher. If Warner Bros. was using 720p at as a benchmark, that helps explain the large performance gap.
Since then, a minor patch was released for the PC version that addressed some crashing bugs, introduced rain effects, and fixed a few other issues. Warner Bros. described the ongoing work as “significant” and it “will take some time to ensure that we get the right fixes in place.”
One of the problems was that the game was focused on 720P gaming, while gamers obviously laugh at that resolution. One of the sources also noted he literally reported thousands of bugs in regards to PC gaming framerates. Especially scenes where the batmobile appears the FPS becomes horrible.
Arkham Knight was released last week, but two days later WB pulled the digital version of the game from the stores. It is currently unknown when the game will be inserted into the channel again.
Senior Member
Posts: 194
Joined: 2011-07-28
No ****.
I'm really sick and tired of these major publishers pulling crap like this, yet they won't stop because people will keep pre-ordering/buying over and over.
There's always consoles vs PC, but one thing we all have in common is that we keep getting games half-arsed rushed out the door and have to endure the consequences.
Member
Posts: 42
Joined: 2011-07-12
suddenly piracy for games like this sound pretty fair to me.
they release s*itty game, people download it for free, try it and uninstall.
they make a good game, lets say like witcher 3 and many are happy to pay for it.
Senior Member
Posts: 895
Joined: 2013-11-23
I'm gonna take this with a grain of salt. Since it was apparently Kotaku(?) who came out with this story first - Knowing their track record and the source being anonymous, I'm gonna question the validity in all of this. Though, should it be true, then its just sad.
Senior Member
Posts: 686
Joined: 2005-07-31
There are so many games being released nowadays. That a lot of the time before I can finish one, another I want to play is already out. Sometimes there are two released within the same week that I really want to play. They need to slow the hell down and do things the right way the first time around. Then maybe I can enjoy some of these games a little longer. But yeah its been said for a long time now, stop pre-ordering games! There is a small amount of pre-orders that come with extra goodies like a figurine or something and that's fine. Its the other 99% of people who pre-order for no reason that are part of the problem. Big deal if you get an extra gun or access to a multiplayer beta. Stop paying for that crap and everyone can get those things without having to pay extra or early.. I have never done it and I never will. Man.. those devs must be embarrassed and ashamed. Most of them have pride in what the do and want their work to look good and work right and some jerk off boss says "nope you're done its good enough, now give it to me". Because some other higher up is doing the same to him/her with threats of being "let go".. Never bite off more than you can chew or you'll choke.
Senior Member
Posts: 1840
Joined: 2005-08-12
I'd expect such company to know what they're doing. But they risked hoping that the preorders will give some profit and consumers will stay quiet.