GTA Dev Disapproves of Releasing Games with "Day Zero Patch"

Colin Anderson, one of the developers of the Grand Theft Auto games, says that releasing a game that needs fixes and accompanying the release with a "day zero patch" "encourages poor development and management practices."

First spotted by PC Gamer, Anderson expressed his opinion in response to a tweet of Obbe Vermeij, the former Technical Director at Rockstar North Obbe Vermeij, who worked on GTA: Vice City, GTA: San Andreas, GTA 3, and more. Vermeij recalled the time of the release of GTA: San Andreas, which took place back in 2004. "Game releases were different back then," the developer wrote. "Patches over the internet were not yet a thing," he noted, among other differences compared to the present.

Colin Anderson commented on the practice of releasing a "day zero patch," which has become common nowadays. "Zero patch" typically fixes some bugs in the game that were left at the time of the launch. "As a developer, I miss the discipline of knowing there was no way to 'fix' a game once it had been manufactured," Anderson wrote. He also noted that such habit has a bad influence on game development and discipline: "The 'Day Zero Patch' mentality today just encourages poor development and management practices, and it's a worse customer experience too."

Before joining the game industry, Anderson worked in the music sphere and later was an Audio Director at Rockstar. In one of the responses to his tweet, the developer pointed out that the practice of releasing the product that requires fixes started in the music industry: "It's a disease. It started with the music's 'we'll fix it in the mix,' then film's 'we'll fix it in the post,' then game's 'we'll fix it in a patch."

Previously, Obbe Vermeij shared that the original plans for GTA: San Andreas's world outline was different from the final version of the game, and the devs initially intended to create three cities on separate maps, similar to GTA 1 and GTA 2.

The next installment to the Grand Theft Auto franchise, the long-awaited GTA 6, is set to release next fall. The game was proclaimed the Most Wanted Game at Golden Joystick Awards 2024, and Rockstar's Publishing Director, David Manley, took the anticipation to the next level by saying that the devs were working on "absolutely mind-blowing things."

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