As launches go, Outriders’ was a doozy.
Strictly speaking, Outriders isn’t a live-service game. There’s not much in terms of “end-game” content, there are no microtransactions (!), and the campaign can be played entirely in single player. The caveat, of course – one which screamed into focus to bite developer People Can Fly squarely on the arse this week – is that for all its ifs and buts, it might as well have been live-service given the servers went tits up the moment it went live and no one could bloody play it.
For three – three! – whole days, Outriders was essentially unplayable. For a full 72 hours, players all over the world sat patiently (or if, like me, you’re a little less zen about this kind of thing: impatiently), waiting for the “Authenticating” to become “Signing in!” to become… well, something. Anything.
