- Server issues spoil summer skirmish
- Players dying to latency
- Described as “trainwreck”
- Will Epic Games go the way of other greedy developers or show them how it’s done?
It seemed that Epic Games could do no wrong, producing an insanely popular game, keeping players happy, and making a bucket load of cash to go with it. But the “Summer Skirmish” series represents the first serious failure for Epic.
PC Gamer called it a “trainwreck”. Others have said much worse. The central issue is crazy latency, and with $8 million on the line its absurd to have players lagging across the map and dying because of server issues.
ESPN have claimed that part of the problem is the use of NA (North American) servers with international participants. If true, this would be a really very odd thing to do. But for whatever reason, servers were not up to scratch, and this is not only unacceptable, but also rather foolish.
Epic Games have made a great product, but players must now be concerned they will be going down the tried and tested route of ignoring game development and server issues and focusing on profits.
The last decade is littered with games that slowly killed themselves through neglect. CSGO, for example, is one of the purest shooters ever created, but it has seen a general decline and constantly frustrated player base. Why? When the game first emerged players complained about a useless anti-cheat and crappy 64-tick servers. Years later, the players left still complain about — you’ve guessed it — a crappy anti-cheat and 64-tick servers.
Let’s hope the people running Fortnite realise that the better the product the longer people will keep coming back.
