Enno on AO Launch

[Dagget]

http://enno.homeunix.net/post/276977...-the-ao-launch

[Zirreall]

Imho, M$ started this this paradigm of software development. "Roll it out, we'll fix it later"

[Keldros]

No, their model is "Ship it now, they'll be compelled to buy the next version in hopes that it has a fix."

[Amosco]

Maybe I missed it, but where did Enno explain why launching an unfinished product on time was better than launching a finished product late? I mean, I get what he was talking about how the players helped the Devs establish the priorities on the fix list, as opposed to wasting time trying to build more worthless features. But, if a chef is cooking me Eggs Benedict I don't want him to give it to me before it is fully cooked.

It seems like it would be a better marketing strategy to just say, "We're working on this cool game. You'll see it when it's done" as opposed to saying "We're working on this cool game. You'll hopefully see it in Fall of 20XX." They don't need to create some arbitrary deadline for themselves or the players. We can't play the game until it is released, anyway, so just don't release it until it is finished.

[Boltgun]

Imho, M$ started this this paradigm of software development. "Roll it out, we'll fix it later"

More like "let's reuse the same code without touching anything and develop over and over... oops that printing code from win 3.1 have a security issue that let you send viruses through print scripts".

Vista did hold some promises but this time they didn't release it early enough, and Win XP users hated it because that's not what they wanted.

But anyway we're not about Microsoft, it's about Funcom.

I'd say, yes it's smart to release it but both AO and AoC are labeled launch failures. And it's hard to get that sticker off. It's hard to know where it should be considered a release candidate but even with free time people will feel wasted. There need to be critical features to meet its quality marks before a launch. Maybe we need new terms and both marketing and developing practices to better identify this, so the clients doesn't end with such feelings (I mean gamers in particular, worst clients ever if you ask me).

[Chrys]

Meh. In 2001 it may have held true, but in 2009, you could hardly argue that people don't know what fans want in a MMO. Stability (ability to actually play); balance (because everyone always compares with each other); content/variety (because clicking 1,000 times per min can get old).