How “Ship Now, Fix Later” Affects Player Trust and Game Quality

In 2024, the video game industry hit an impressive milestone with revenues soaring to $282 billion. However, this financial success is being increasingly clouded by a troubling trend: a reliance on launching incomplete games with the promise of future patches. This "release now, patch later" approach, driven by tight corporate timelines and the ambitions of live-service models, is wearing down player trust and changing how games are developed.

Broken Launches and Financial Consequences

High-profile mishaps like Cyberpunk 2077 and Battlefield 2042 are stark examples of this trend. When Cyberpunk debuted in 2020, it required a whopping 43 GB patch on launch day. Yet, it still led to lawsuits and was even pulled from the PlayStation Store due to severe bugs on console versions. Similarly, Battlefield 2042 hit the market in 2021 missing core features, like voice chat, which resulted in a staggering 75% plummet in its Steam player base within just three months.

Often, the race to release these games is fueled by unyielding financial goals. Ubisoft’s XDefiant illustrates this, having been shelved in 2025 after failing to maintain an audience, causing 277 job losses. Such blunders damage the studios’ reputations. By 2022, a PCMag survey highlighted that 68% of gamers now prefer to wait several months post-launch before buying new titles, reflecting the growing wariness.

The iGaming Update Culture

The iGaming industry also thrives on continuous updates, albeit with a different focus: enhancing engagement rather than damage control. For online casinos like SPSuperSolver Casinos, these updates bring fresh offers and premium slot experiences into play.

Online casinos and sportsbooks utilize advanced AI personalization tools to dynamically adjust bonuses, game variations, and host tournaments, ensuring they’re engaging players proactively. Unlike typical video game updates, these changes aren’t about patching up errors but are geared toward enhancing the overall experience.

The Shift to Live-Service Models

The emerging games-as-a-service (GaaS) model has made constant updates the norm. Games like Fortnite and Apex Legends now dedicate a significant portion—about 60–70%—of their content for post-launch seasons. This prioritizes ongoing income over launching fully polished games. While this system works wonders for well-established franchises—Monster Hunter World, for example, boosted its player community by 72% through free expansions like Iceborne—it poses risks to smaller developers. There are success stories like Genshin Impact, which made a whopping $3.7 billion in 2023 with consistent updates, but many other live-service games don’t survive a year due to overwhelming development costs.

Rebuilding Player Trust

The reliance on post-launch updates has noticeably hurt player trust. As reported by PCMag in 2022, 68% of gamers now choose to wait for reviews or significant updates before buying new games, a jump from 45% in 2018. Frequent disappointing launches that fail to meet expectations contribute to this hesitation. Moreover, ever-increasing day-one patch sizes—often over 50 GB—frustrate gamers, particularly those with limited storage space or slower internet speeds.

This "ship now, fix later" approach is primarily fueled by corporate urgency to meet quarterly financial expectations. Studios like Nintendo have taken a contrasting stance, opting to delay games such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to ensure quality upon release. To rebuild trust and elevate game quality, developers need to focus on delivering well-polished games at launch and save updates for enhancements rather than fixes.

With predictions pointing to the global gaming market rising from $262 billion in 2023 to $312 billion by 2027, studios have a critical chance to adjust their methods in line with player expectations. Balancing these priorities is crucial for sustainable growth and long-term success in the industry.