Community Manager Apoc has
posted news saying the patch has been delayed. In part:
So, I know it's been a bit of continued ruckus here late in May and everyone has been anticipating patch 1.05 just about more than Kane himself appearing at your doorstep, though, if you could get both at the same time, i'm sure that would be amazing. Patch 1.05 has been an enduring process, primarily because it is a massive patch with tons of technical fixes, a myriad of game-changing balance fixes, new UI features like alternate classic C&C mouse-setup, and a competitive multiplayer collection of new maps that are bound for success and popularity amongst the community. I think historically we've been known to do big patches, and while we are trying to move away from such epic patches, it was imperative that patch 1.05 included everything which it has.
To that extent, I know we initially said "later this month", but we have had to test this patch to infinity and beyond to ensure it is 10000% clean, especially because of its size. The last thing we want to do is release a patch that affects your game negatively and does not simply fully enhance it in a 100% technical manner. We were on track to release patch 1.05 in late-May, however, last week we hit some technical snags before the Memorial Day Holiday weekend which set us back a number of business testing days within our QA department. This was not our intent but had we released patch 1.05 with these issues, it would not have been a very positive situation.
Because of this, we are moving the patch 1.05 release to next week. A little producer bird tells me the 1st half of the week is the better case scenario, but as all things go, we'll keep you posted. We feel very confident on release next week. Our QA department is about to sign off (barring the Apolocalypse) and then the patch will be put through the final CQC and ECG approval routes (they are just a final testing gate that any EA game or patch must go through). Standard testing fare as always.
Producer Chris Corry
chimes in as well about patching and future updates:
Great games require great support, and we have a lot of stuff in the hopper. The Mod SDK has been in development for quite some time and is looking good. Our plans for a quick 1.06 follow-up patch are starting to take shape, and then we’ve got some stuff coming in July that I think is really going to rock your world.
There can be a tendency amongst the cynics to think of EA as the huge, monolithic Borg, with boundless resources and insatiable greed. This is not the EA I work for. Our teams are autonomous, largely responsible for our own community engagement, and composed of gamers – real people, just like yourself – who are passionate about playing and making great games. We make mistakes just like everyone else, but at the end of the day we make our games for you and won’t be happy until you’re satisfied.
In general, I don't think something like this is surprising. The patch is, after all, huge. Yes, it is in large part huge because the game never went through a full beta, according to the Executive Producer, Verdu, but it's still not reasonable to expect EA to magically be able to avoid bugs. On the whole, though, I think Chris's statement is telling: development teams might be passionate, and indeed are becoming more responsible, but the shots at EA are called by the higher level managers, and its their duty to the shareholders to make profits trump all else. As C&C 3 develops, don't forget that.
