I just fired up Cyberpunk 2077.
It had come packaged with a ps4 pro I had picked up last year when my original ps4 began showing a downward decline after years of heavy use. I dusted it off, noticed that the ps5 upgrade was free and installed it over the holidays in anticipation of snowy days. So tonight the folks were streaming and being on rural Kansas internet I couldn't continue with my normal online loop of grinding out daily and weekly challenges in Fortnite and Destiny or try. So I scrolled through the library until I saw Cyberpunk staring at me with those big Blade Runner eyes.
Since the weather hit I decided to try out Fallout 76 because it was this months free game and I was caught up with my aforementioned weekly grinds. Then something struck me as I was working my way through Cyberpunk's first mission.
I think we're hitting the second life of many games.
That transitional period between the current and previous generation of hardware that has spanned roughly the last five or six years.
A life where, the developers had a vision for a game, and even though that vision wasn't realized at launch they continued working on and supporting the game until it matched the vision, or at a minimum the inferred promise given to the players.
Both 76 and Cyberpunk were buggy messes when they launched. But on current examination I have to take that with a grain of salt and lend a bit of leeway to the developers. Though the publishers and/or share holders can still take a flying leap.
As we've moved into the realm of non platform exclusivity for most 3rd party (and some 1st party games) publishers and share holders are putting the responsibility on developers to create games that work on all hardware.
If we rewind the clock early 2010's and earlier; when a new game was developed it was developed with a singular hardware architecture in mind. Optimized for a playstation, a nintendo, a xbox, and yes even other systems like Sega and Atari hardware. Unless a game was objectively garbage it was at the very least functional on the hardware it was intended for.
I will note that PC hardware has always had the issue of game software being hit and miss in it's functionality. PC hardware isn't static the way that console hardware typically is. Where as in a generation of console hardware, save for some very slight upgrades to stability or processing, they maintain their architectural standard. A PC's functionality relies, largely, on whether or not the user correctly installed all applicable hardware and software. Not to mention making sure that all of those pieces of hardware and software fall within the games functional range, be it to old or to new, for a build.
Where as in previous generations IF or WHEN a game was released on multiple platforms there was typically a delay of six months to a year from it's initial release to it's release on other platforms. And even then the releases on the secondary platforms always had some functionality issue, even if it was something as imperceptible as longer load times. And unless a game was objectively bad from the start it almost always worked as intended on it's platform of origin.
Fast forward to now and developers are largely expected to launch on all systems at the same time, plus have it stable on the infinite hardware variations that is the pc gaming world.
And not just that, but have all of the multiplayer functionality stable from day 1.
Reasons for failed launches aside, this second life that many games are getting because their developers continued to build, repair, patch, and correct the errors at launch is a boon to gamers that wouldn't or couldn't acquire something in it's early days.
Fallout 76, from a new player stand point is a phenomenal online game with tons to do, engaging world building and interesting questlines. But 76 originally launched over 4 years ago in 2018 as a barren world and barely functional piece of software that fans of the series and scared away anyone not already invested in the franchise.
Much the same with Cyberpunk.
As I start into it's beautifully realized gritty realism. I see what the developers were shooting for when it launched over 2 years ago across across six different console architectures, plus the PC miasma. Something that pushed, then, current hardware to the edges of their functionality to tell an immersive story.
Even though there are newer games I'm looking forward to in the coming year and beyond I, as a gamer looking to stretch my software budget as far as a I can, am enjoying these absolute gems that were raw, unrefined minerals when first introduced. And am whole heartedly looking forward to reaching into the past to find what other pieces of art were buried under corporate market projections and day 1 snobbery. Those pieces, like these two, that the original artists refused to give up on until their vision was achieved.
