Switch Release Date Mixed Signals

[gabbynbarr]

So...like many I am super excited for Pillars 2 to release on the switch. I have been scouring the internet for an official release date of the digital release on the Nintendo Eshop, but have found nada. Has anyone seen that the retailers have an official release date? Target and Amazon both say that the physical release is available for purchase Dec. 31st. 2020 and have been taking pre-orders since last year. Soooo....is it coming out today or not? lol. I have some serious social distancing to do and need SOMETHING to ensure that I avoid as many people as possible ;).

I mean, if I have to go to Target to get a physical copy fine...but I'd rather just have it in my digital library.

 

EDIT: WAAAAHHH! 2021!!!! NOOO! Please disregard XD

Edited December 31, 2020 by gabbynbarr

[Tencatta]

Obsidian pushed the port work to VsEvil, which was responsible for the first Switch port of Pillars 1, which wasn't well done, and as I understand it, still has numerous issues to this day.

Both companies encouraged pre-orders of a broken product, and I for one, am not going to give any money for another poorly-done port that both companies don't even seem to care about getting right. The fact they are doing pre-orders on Deadfire Switch when the first port doesn't work, is really questionable.

I seriously doubt you'll see it until Pillars 1 Switch is "fixed," which is likely to be never.

[thelee]

On 12/31/2020 at 6:55 AM, gabbynbarr said:

EDIT: WAAAAHHH! 2021!!!! NOOO! Please disregard XD

holy crap, does Vs Evil just have like one part-time developer doing this? the game hit end-of-life like two years ago

[Tencatta]

11 hours ago, thelee said:

holy crap, does Vs Evil just have like one part-time developer doing this? the game hit end-of-life like two years ago

I think they alienated the company doing the port (Grip Digital). 

I'm just really disappointed in how these ports were "farmed" out and the companies they went to clearly are going for cash-first, patch-later to an extreme degree.

It could have been a great chance to showcase the franchise on other platforms and instead we get these crappy poorly-ported wrecks (including Outer Worlds).

[Boeroer]

I think because Obsidian vowed that they are only developing for PC they just didn't want to touch console ports - which I understand, it's really not their expertise.

And maybe their "style" of implementation also makes porting difficult. It's easier to develop software for a single platform and completely ignore others - but it makes it a lot more difficult to bring it to those other platform then. I know from experience that's it an be very frustrating and enfuriating having to "fix" or convert somebody else's code. It's even bad if it's your own.
I remember when I did my first browser-based administration software for a client (like... nearly 20 years ago I think) and at some point they wanted to switch from Internet Explorer to the new Firefox browser - holy moly that was bad. Nowadays with all the frameworks it's no biggy, but back then it was like having to rewrite more than half of the software. God it was a huge steaming pile of spaghetti with a thousand bandaids afterwards. Man I really don't want to remember that...

So I'm sympathetic when it comes to bad ports. What I don't get is the poor communication though. You could just tell people what's going on and why. Most players will understand.

[EveryThorn]

Obsidian has largely abandoned the ports. My issue is if you're not going to do them properly or hire someone to do them properly or sell them ethically (by this, I mean, taking pre-orders to trick people into buying broken ports like the Switch Pillars game), they should not do them. There is no reason to keep at this practice except to make a temporary cash gain while eroding people's trust.

The Outer Worlds switch port, for example, was nowhere near the level of the Witcher 3 port, but the difference is in the level of commitment to getting it right.

[Boeroer]

The point is that Obsidian didn't do this. It's the publisher. I guess Obsidian does gain something from the console ports (no doubt actually), but they said right away that they will only do PC and nothing else. The publisher then took the game and handed it over to a development team to do a port. Of course this will fall back on Obsidian because they developed the game and their name is still on the box. But I just think they don't have a big say in this.  

Edited January 10, 2021 by Boeroer