Question about how EA works

[Leto85]

First of all, this is not meant to besh EA in any form. And this question doesn't come out of any frustration related to bugs but out of curiosity after playing and enjoying The Sims 3 so long now. But I was wondering how it comes that every new expansion have bugs in it. My personal thought is that EA would not have the time to test everything in the game before the release date because the game has to much detail in it, but my second thought would be that they could have tested it maybe a little bit longer. But than there is to many time between every expansion, and to many time could mean that players are stapping over to another game.
After all, it is mostly the expansions that makes The Sims so powerfull.
I asume that EA is reading the mails players sent them about bugs because every now and then we can install a new update that solves a lot of bugs with a nice list of everything that is working again.

But still I am wondering. What do you think fellow players?


P.s. I didnt came up with a better title than this, because if I included something in it with like 'Why are there so many bugs in this game?' it could be taken like beshing, which I would not mean.

[IloveLlamas]

Well would you rather get the game in 2 month with bugs or wait 6 month with no bugs? see the reason? It's faster and people don't like to wait.

[Swede1992]

Or, EA can't have all the computer setups out there; all the OS's, all the computer brands, all the hardware or the human factor/bad luck of millions of players. They do test the games before launch as much as economically viable and then they patch out the most prominent bugs and glitches.

Although I'm not saying that everything is completely and utterly perfect, I've seen far worsely treated games to be honest.

Rules-wise, this thread can be a bit speculative, but if it goes down to a pure "EA-bashing thread", we lock it.

[IloveLlamas]

By Ea bashing you mean like Stupid EA can't do anything right they suck. That kind of thing right?
Because I think I know what makes ea tick, money same with every company. And it would be financially wise to release the games the way they are. hope I'm not bashing EA Am I?

[Leto85]

Rules-wise, this thread can be a bit speculative, but if it goes down to a pure "EA-bashing thread", we lock it.

Like I've mentioned in the top of this topic, I haven't started it to bash EA and so I do hope that people will stick to that rule.

[Metropolis Man]

Most players here know I'm also really into Diablo II and eagerly await the release of Diablo III. There are many, many World of Warcraft players on this forum, so players know what kind of company Blizzard is — a company that literally has only released a handful of games in their entire history. Like EA, Blizzard I'm sure is making money by the truckload. It's just a completely different business model. I do wish EA would slow down a bit with the new content and patch stuff that's clearly broken before focusing on new content. But, it's been their Sims model for doing things for 10 years.

[Leto85]

And it works so well you mean Metro? Yeah, it is true actually.

[Pam]

How large is Blizzard, Metro?  If they are significantly smaller than EA, they can take more time with releases.  They won't have as many people breathing down their necks to get the games released.  I think EA is so big and trying to do so many things that their quality suffers.  However, until sales reflect customer dissatisfaction, EA won't feel the need to change their ways.  The games still sell in huge amounts even with the problems.

[Leto85]

The games still sell in huge amounts even with the problems.

Sounda logically to me. Besides that: The whole Sims frances is split up into multple projects like The Sims 3 and his expansions and The Sims 3 Medieval.
As far as I know Blizzard is only for World of Warcraft which made it maybe more convenient for them to focus on one project.
Also, Wow is something you play online. If there is a bug on the road, thousands of people will notify that immediatly while having the ability to let Blizzard know it right away.
Could work as a huge timesaver.

[project_s2]

My opinion regarding Bug testing, why EA? Even microsoft did that. I mean there's always bug in every OS microsoft release. Even after they release new patch, someone will discover a new bug. But sometimes a one bug can be really annoying and one we can live with. I guess it's just a ugly truth in the world of software engineering. Just like us, it will never be perfect.  

And I totally agree with Swede1992.

[Edited for capitalization.  Please use proper capitalization in your posts.  -Pam]

[Pam]

Sounda logically to me. Besides that: The whole Sims frances is split up into multple projects like The Sims 3 and his expansions and The Sims 3 Medieval.
As far as I know Blizzard is only for World of Warcraft which made it maybe more convenient for them to focus on one project.
Also, Wow is something you play online. If there is a bug on the road, thousands of people will notify that immediatly while having the ability to let Blizzard know it right away.
Could work as a huge timesaver.

I think Blizzard also makes Diablo II, if what I understand from Metro is correct.

[mtglady]

I too agree with Swede.  There are way too many variables to make a game perfectly bug-free.
 
Many new 'bugs' can be discovered just by changing one thing in the programing code.  Maybe someone placed an 'O' where a '0' should have been and it would glitch everything associated with that part of the code.  Then it would take a very long time just to find that error and once the correction was made, even more 'bugs' could appear.  These new 'bugs' could then affect many more parts of the game play.  Sometimes it may just be easier to leave things alone. 

I noticed quite a number of players have certain 'bugs' that I have not experienced.  Not sure if it is because of the maintenance I constantly do or if it is the way I play my games.  ** 'Knock on wood' as I don't want some of the bugs I have heard about  . 
 

[IloveLlamas]

I sort of agree Mtglady but I think they could spend a bit more time working on but, I would rather buy a sort of a beta of it and then with time have it turn into a game.

[Leto85]

I sort of agree Mtglady but I think they could spend a bit more time working on but, I would rather buy a sort of a beta of it and then with time have it turn into a game.

A beta sims? Wow, that would be filled with bugs I'm afraid.

[Pam]

A beta sims? Wow, that would be filled with bugs I'm afraid.

No kidding!  If their final release has so many bugs, imagine how a beta release would be.