Yes, we're all waiting for patch 1.5 and BF3 and we've heard the "I paid £30 for this game three years ago. Why won't they fix it?" discussions so I thought I would add my insight to the mix. Some of you will probably find this boring and rant away but for those who are actually interested in knowing why, I thought I would share my experience of software development programmes and being a senior manager in one of the biggest in the world recently. No, I won't say who I work for but I will say that its not a game company but the development systems are very similar. I should also point out that there are how I would play things if I was the product manager for the BF franchise.
1, Where is the BF2 1.5 patch?
The reason you put a patch out to your customer base is to address serious problems with a software product - or so you would like them to think. Patches are nothing more than a release of the code you are currently working on and would have produced anyway. You get the developers to choose a release candidate, get the QAs to test it and put it out to the public.
So here we have a problem. As Dice have moved on to the Frostbite engine and released games on it then that would explain why there haven't been any patches since 1.41. In order to produce the patch then they will have to take developers and QAs off the development of another product and that will cost they money so I'm guessing that they have been looking for sponsorship in the same way that Intel sponsored Highway Tampa. Ah, but then we have a credit crunch at the moment and companies aren't splashing the cash as much as they were recently so I'm guessing that they have shelved the patch - That would be the way I would play things if I was in a similar possision.
2, Where is BF3?
I would say its on the way but not soon; probably twelve to eighteen months after Bad Company 2. Why? Well the creation of BF1943 seems like a what we would describe as a "lead in product", a product which is a step towards another. Think about it, BF1943 used the Frostbite engine, has a limited number of player classes, has only a single combat theatre (so you can reuse the textures, download only for a low proce; it ticks all te right boxes. So why release BF1943? Well, lets face it, the easiest way of finding bugs is to get it out to the biggest number of pepole possible, the general public so BF1943 seems to fit the bill.
3, What will BF3 be like?
In a word, 'nerfed'. I doubt that we will see the same number of classes or armies that we have seen in BF2 as complexity equals cost. We may see cost savings in terms of downlload distribution and in-game advertising (but the advertising market is also nerfed at the moment) but I doubt that it will be the same game that we all want.
1, Where is the BF2 1.5 patch?
The reason you put a patch out to your customer base is to address serious problems with a software product - or so you would like them to think. Patches are nothing more than a release of the code you are currently working on and would have produced anyway. You get the developers to choose a release candidate, get the QAs to test it and put it out to the public.
So here we have a problem. As Dice have moved on to the Frostbite engine and released games on it then that would explain why there haven't been any patches since 1.41. In order to produce the patch then they will have to take developers and QAs off the development of another product and that will cost they money so I'm guessing that they have been looking for sponsorship in the same way that Intel sponsored Highway Tampa. Ah, but then we have a credit crunch at the moment and companies aren't splashing the cash as much as they were recently so I'm guessing that they have shelved the patch - That would be the way I would play things if I was in a similar possision.
2, Where is BF3?
I would say its on the way but not soon; probably twelve to eighteen months after Bad Company 2. Why? Well the creation of BF1943 seems like a what we would describe as a "lead in product", a product which is a step towards another. Think about it, BF1943 used the Frostbite engine, has a limited number of player classes, has only a single combat theatre (so you can reuse the textures, download only for a low proce; it ticks all te right boxes. So why release BF1943? Well, lets face it, the easiest way of finding bugs is to get it out to the biggest number of pepole possible, the general public so BF1943 seems to fit the bill.
3, What will BF3 be like?
In a word, 'nerfed'. I doubt that we will see the same number of classes or armies that we have seen in BF2 as complexity equals cost. We may see cost savings in terms of downlload distribution and in-game advertising (but the advertising market is also nerfed at the moment) but I doubt that it will be the same game that we all want.