devtrackers.gg
Hey everyone, XBOX and PS4 updates are in certification, which typically means that they could be out within the next couple of weeks, but I can't guarantee anything.
...the reason I haven't tweeted about this in a while is because, in the past, unless I had a concrete release date, it seemed to just frustrate people more than anything else. If I say "it's in cert now" then people will ask "What does that mean? How long is that?" and then I'll have to give some kind of estimate, which then, if it doesn't pan out (which can always happen if the game fails cert a couple times), people will be angry with me. It's complicated. I'm sorry about the radio silence. I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place with this, and it's not always easy to know what to do.
Part of the problem is that the way the whole QA/cert cycle works, it's really really difficult to say "It will be out on X day" or even X month. It's also difficult because, as someone else mentioned here, I'm not personally doing the console ports, so any info I have is indirect. There are some aspects of console ports that I can control, and I will say that I'm committed to not allowing Switch updates to come out before Xbox/PS4 in the future. I want the consoles to get updates simultaneously in the future.
Again, sorry about the frustration and let me know if you have any questions, I'll answer what I can
Can you at least help provide some context as to why this is taking so long?
I get that you're not personally QAing these console updates, but it might help alleviate some players' frustration if your partners provided some context.
A year+ is a pretty long time for a player to wait for an update as massive as this one when other platforms have it. It feels pretty unfair to be expected to just wait it out with little to no communication from the developer and their partner(s).
The multiplayer update is a difficult thing to port, because under the hood it kind of completely changes the way stardew valley works. It's transparent to the player, but for the porting team it means a lot of work and extra problems that have to be solved, compared to a normal content update. That's why the actual porting work took so long.
Also, the XBOX/PS4 versions got started a little late because of some behind-the-scenes business "misunderstandings" (which I can't get into for legal reasons).
Working with consoles is just slow in general compared to PC.. Unlike something like Steam, you have to pass "certification" for each platform, which has specific technical requirements. So in order to do that you have to do a lot of back and forth QA, etc. in addition to the regular development time of the port itself.
So the main reasons why it's taking this long: 1) multiplayer update is a big change to the stardew valley code and difficult to port. Each console has it's own unique issues and quirks as well. 2) Some business issues (won't happen in the future) which slightly delayed the start time of the update 3) updating console games is just slow in general due to the more rigid requirements than PC
I'm committed to not allowing Switch updates to come out before Xbox/PS4 in the future
Why not hold PC until all ports are ready as well? A lot of new console players, especially ones who have bought the game since the update for PC/switch/mobile and watch YouTube videos (most of which are played on PC), are expecting the same game experience as what they see online. It is frustrating to a new console player to be trying their best to activate an event/quest and it not happen...only to find out that their platform isn't completely updated and they dont have that content yet. It's also frustrating to long time players to have to work hard to avoid spoilers from PC players, especially those on YouTube...and Reddit... who don't give (and don't care to give) spoiler warnings or even mention that it's from the newest update. Most of the frustrations that come from console players could be completely removed if ALL ports were released at the same time. There are some big name games out there (eg. GTA V, Fortnite, Sea Of Theives) and even some other indie games (Slime Rancher) who release for all platforms at the same time or within the same week, and all of their players are happy.
And radio silence...that's like a big middle finger to anybody still waiting for the update. I know that you aren't doing the port yourself and there are events that are out of your control, but not knowing....man, it's annoying to be left completely in the dark with spoilers everywhere for the content that we are waiting for.
Both added together...the radio silence plus the length we've had to wait and are still waiting...that is what has console players upset. Radio silence is fine if the update is in development (still with you), but once its released to one platform, radio silence isn't an option if you want to keep players happy. Let us know if there is a hiccup or set back. Even if you can't give a date or month, let us know that there are issues and the port is being delayed.
I totally understand why console players are upset, and I'll take responsibility for that. I also apologize for the lack of communication. I don't intend for that to be a middle finger to console players, and I'm really sorry if it comes across that way. I want the console players to have the multiplayer update very badly.
Releasing on all platforms simultaneously is the ideal, but there are also some benefits to releasing on PC first... namely that PC is a much more open platform, and if there are bugs they can be fixed immediately. Whereas on console, releasing a bug-fix patch is much more involved, and at the very least it has to pass through the whole certification process. So releasing on PC first allows any bugs to quickly be found and resolved before entering the lengthy console release cycle. I still think it's best to minimize the time difference between PC launch and console launch as much as possible, and that's what I'm going to shoot for in the future.
Another thing, is that the developers you mentioned might be doing console ports in-house, which would make the simultaneous release easier to pull off without having to sit on a ready-to-go PC version for months. I don't do console ports in-house because when I launched Stardew Valley, I didn't have any clue how to port a game to console. I was a solo bedroom developer who had no idea his game was going to get so popular, I honestly thought it would only sell maybe a couple thousand copies on PC, not get huge and need to be ported to a bunch of platforms. So, considering I was a solo developer and was suddenly swamped with things to do, I had to rely on 3rd party companies to do that for me. It's true that I have the means to hire people to port the game in-house now, but there are a lot of quirks involved in developing on console, to the point where having to switch who does the port would require tons of time simply to get things up to speed, and would probably not be worth it at this stage.
I've learned a lot through working on Stardew Valley... I've made plenty of mistakes, but I hope to learn from them and always improve and get better at doing things right.
Been a few weeks, any update?
The updates are still in the certification loop. Could be ready tomorrow or could still be weeks, depending on what happens