I remember accessing the internet before the internet was born. With dial up modems. BBS they called those and you could type with other members and access files. Most BBS had a limit of people to access it at once. Like 8 on luxurious BBS's.
Today we speed around with 100MBs and complain when the internet slows down. But we are spoiled children. Broadband users represent less than 8% of the internet population. We just get the wrong picture as we usually have friends who are nerds like we are.
Visiting other countries, or your country side, will teach you a lesson. When I visit my parents in southern Germany I always roll my eyes due to their internet. But they can't change it. No one is able to give them more than like 5MBit although they are near the Telekom research center where they test out the latest internet tech. Wtf?
Now look at our games. PS4 downloads of 50GB are normal now. PC games easily beat the 50GB barrier and you have a 9GB first day patch (hi Dishonored 2!). Thats not fun for people like my father ain't it.
And as we game developers are spoiled we really don't care. We don't see the problem. Publishers aren't interested either, as they say you already gave them your money when you start the download. So why care? Fuck them. Same applies to platforms like Steam. But most Steam users are core users right? Well, not really.
So many of these people walk into stores to buy the Disc. Yes, these round things still exist. They walk home and wait for hours, maybe even switching Discs every couple of hours as the drives are even slower than your internet speed. And then surprise. 10GB first day patch. Oh my.
Some time ago a company approached me to help them accessing my network as they have the coolest tech for large games. It allows playing the game minutes after you started the download. Yes, we all heard about it, and its not the streaming (which is dead). Its a downloader. I was skeptical. Why do I need it? I didn't. But my father would. OR anyone else with slow internet access loving games.
Meanwhile I am on their advisory board as their tech fully got me excited. It is a real download. No installation of strange drivers necessary. No change on the code of the game, so less friction implementing the technology. Coolest of the coolest. Get this. It starts Witcher 3 fully playable after 5 minutes on a 24MBit line. 5 MINUTES.
Players we show it love it. Developers love it. Publishers don't care. WTF? Wake up AAA publishers, there are millions of customers waiting for something like this. Check it out yourself.
This sounds like a self promotion. It isn't. It is a rant about the ignorance of the game industry about their customers.
