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Perpetual Beta: Difference between revisions
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** For example, powerhouse ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' still receives periodic patches that can, in some cases, dramatically alter the entire game. Every single class has been renovated multiple times, entire concepts have been introduced, tinkered with and in some cases finally abandoned if they didn't work right. ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' right now, pre-Cataclysm (which will completely renovate the ''entire game''... ''again'') is practically unrecognizable from its original launch, even ignoring two expansion packs' worth of new content.
** And [[Multi User Dungeon|MUDs]] before them; since they're free to play, they could openly admit they're a perpetual work in progress.
** ''[[
*** Many MMOs are following this model, with public test servers to increase the likelihood of game-breaking bugs being squashed prior to release. Examples include ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' and ''[[City of Heroes]]''.
*** With ''[[Final Fantasy XIV]]'' screwing the pooch terribly on worldwide release, the game has been in perpetual beta ever since, with no monthly fee while the developers rectify the (many) obvious problems with the game. As of this writing, ''[[Final Fantasy XIV]]'' version 2.0 is quickly approaching release, but there are currently no plans to charge for the game.
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* Pretty much every [[Facebook]] game has a big, shiny "Beta" on their logo.
** Facebook itself is being continually renovated over time. Every time they substantially overhaul one of their core features there will be thousands of people complaining about it - all of whom have forgotten about the whole thing a week or two later. This has happened so many times as to be a [[Running Gag]].
* [[Google]]'s mail service, GMail, was in "beta" for so many years that, when it finally got to an official version, an experimental tool was eventually introduced for the sole purpose of restoring the "Beta" to the logo.
** Google inverted this for many years, calling many of their products "beta" when they were fairly solid, just in case.
** As does their Translator.
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* Most Linux distributions have the option to use "bleeding edge" repositories, ensuring the latest untested software is used for updates as soon as its available.
* Every sports game, but particularly wrestling is one of these because they often are titled for the year after they are released, but by that year, many people who were present in the company during the development stage are no longer there, yet are still in the game, and people who've joined since aren't in the game. As a result they usually represent a brief period of time where anything could have changed. ''WCW Thunder'' and ''WWF/E Smackdown: Just Bring It'' are particularly notable examples of this.
* ''[[The Sims]] 3'' is ''very'' guilty of this. Bugs are endemic to the game, and they range from "amusing" to "[[Game Breaking Bug]]" -- some of the most notable ones are "hotspot" nightclubs that are deserted, the mutilation of the Photography skill and an inventory bug that eventually froze the game. Players have to constantly check the site for patches and pray that the patch will fix their particular batch of problems. Unfortunately, each patch tends to cause almost as many problems as it fixes, and that's before the newest expansion pack arrives to wreak havoc on your game. The developers seem to be playing a never-ending game of whack-a-mole with every new installment. By the way, if you think you can dodge the problems by avoiding the patches, you can't - each new expansion pack requires you to update to the latest version of the game. And heaven help you if you have custom content installed.
* ''[[Dragon Age 2]]'' had to be patched almost immediately after its release, and issues are still ongoing. Several quests have only recently been made accessible, and combat is still being tweaked. One major fan bugbear is the cameo of the Warden's love interest in the previous game - Leliana and Zevran either act as if the Warden is dead (even if they survived), or fail to acknowledge their relationship with the Warden (for example, Zevran will accept Isabela's offer of sex, which he is not supposed to do if he's involved or in mourning). Developers claim that this issue is too deeply embedded to be resolved any time soon, and [[DLC]] tends to cause its own set of problems, so players remain braced for more bugs.
* ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' was first released with great fanfare, with the game scoring very well with most reviewers. However, the developer Obsidian, [[Knights of the Old Republic|as they are known to do,]] did not run proper debug routines. The game on release was so crash-prone as to be unplayable at times, a problem that still persists in some parts (the final battle sequence come to mind) after ''four'' major patches. That's not even getting into the faction paths cut off by bugs or scorpions that get stuck in the ground due to clipping errors.
** With ''Ultimate Edition'' announced and all DLC released, support for ''New Vegas'' is essentially over, leaving multitudes of unfixed glitched, ranging from crash-to-desktop game breakers to bookkeeping annoyances (Why are the three helmets from ''Lonesome Road'' the only "Heavy" headgear in the game? When [[Powered Armor|Power Helmets]] are "Light?").
* Many people accuse Valve of doing this for the Cold Stream DLC for ''[[Left 4 Dead 2]]''. The campaign was released in March of 2011 in its beta stage and it slowly changed based on feedback from the players. Towards the end of the summer season, Valve started to add campaigns from ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' to the DLC for people to beta test. As of this edit, it is March 2012. A whole year later and the whole DLC package is still in the beta stage, causing people to think the DLC will never truly be "finished". This is despite the fact that Valve is doing extensive bug tests to make sure not only the DLC package will run smoothly, but that it will also run on the Xbox360 without issues and Valve also has to go through Microsoft's authentication process, which is why Valve chose to have the DLC have everything at once instead of releasing it over multiple patches.
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