[TigersFan23]

bigphesta,

Don't mean to come across as a butthead at all- and I hope you don't take it that way.

Since I work in the industry know other folks at other companies it is frustrating to here people criticize product with little or no knowledge on what goes into making them. Anyone in the industry with any dedication works tirelessly to put together the best game possible within the schedule and budget allowed. Markus and .400 are some of the most dedicated folks I've ever worked with (as I did on the Season Ticket Baseball series). I wish every developer I worked with had thier passion and dedication.

Sports games are very time sensitive. Vendors want them on the shelves before opening day- as to the fans. Software publishers and developers are aware of this and do what they can to meet those deadlines. If you miss opening day/week, then the game gets dropped by vendors and fans pass it over. Notice that everyone who is doing a baseball game on any platform is releasing thier games over the next couple of weeks- because now is the time to maximize sales impact. You do the best you can to catch the big bugs, squeeze in as much new stuff as possible and hand it off (then work on fixing the issues you know about and the ones that show up after store release). You can't do 2-3 years of feature upgrades in less than 12 months time.

Markus is under the same restrictions- but in a different way. While he doesn't have to worry about vendors, he does have to worry about the hard-core fans (who want the game yesterday) and having the game available prior to opening day. Where as we do games with development teams (12-20 people generally), Markus does almost everything himself and relies on a group of dedicated fans (who he trust) to assist in doing QA.

Releasing general open beta test builds is a calculated risk IMHO. I wouldn't do it personally since you only get usable feedback from 1%-2% of the folks who downloaded the build and you let everyone know what you are up to. I've found that 10-12 dedicated gamers who are passionate for a game will do the work of 20-24 testers- they give you the best feedback you could imagine and do it quickly. These kind of testers give the product the attention it needs (as opposed to a group of "corporate" testers who view the game and just another product).

Putting sports games together is not easy and is almost a thankless job. Very rarely do you hear about what the game does well, but you always hear about all the flaws (real or imagined). Unlike some companies, Markus and .400 do listen to thier user base and work to resolve any issues in a timely manner.