Burrito of Peace wrote on Oct 21, 2022, 20:29:
Does "gone gold" really mean anything in the age of digital distribution?

If it's "gone gold", it's done and, logically, should be able to be released tomorrow or any day between tomorrow and December 2nd. But the "publisher" is looking for the sweet, sweet Xmas loot high.

Disks still represent a significant portion of the market on the console side of things which is still where a majority of game sales happen. Also, developers like to celebrate the milestone of "finishing" their game, such as it is these days. Finally, game releases are often coincided with ad campaigns so the game might be finished before that starts, hence the gone gold date is not the release date.

Love Glen Schofield. This must be such a weird time for him, what with his original baby's remake coming out which is also now a nasty competitor to his new baby that looks so much like his old baby in so many ways.

Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 4, Dead Space and Callisto Protocol.

Pretty good time to be a fan of survival horror even though three of those are remakes.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Oct 21, 2022, 20:29:
Does "gone gold" really mean anything in the age of digital distribution?

If it's "gone gold", it's done and, logically, should be able to be released tomorrow or any day between tomorrow and December 2nd. But the "publisher" is looking for the sweet, sweet Xmas loot high.

It's not like the world is 100% digital distribution; consoles can still get disks, and you can (probably) still buy a physical media disk for even new games for PC in box stores, right? Plus at some point they have to call it quits and send it off to Microsoft/Sony/etc. for whatever their certification process is.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Oct 21, 2022, 20:29:
Does "gone gold" really mean anything in the age of digital distribution?

If it's "gone gold", it's done and, logically, should be able to be released tomorrow or any day between tomorrow and December 2nd. But the "publisher" is looking for the sweet, sweet Xmas loot high.

I'm going to assume it has adjusted its meaning just like beta testing, but I would say it's just now a "feature complete and locked" build and that moves into Day 0/1 patching mode.

Does "gone gold" really mean anything in the age of digital distribution?

If it's "gone gold", it's done and, logically, should be able to be released tomorrow or any day between tomorrow and December 2nd. But the "publisher" is looking for the sweet, sweet Xmas loot high.

I want.

I'm cautiously optimistic.

*Sustained applause from the audience*

Excellent, now come out without major bugs; I'm looking forward to this game with great anticipation.