Updating products right on their day of release is no longer a rare occurrence. The highly-anticipated Nintendo Switch and the long-awaited "Mass Effect: Andromeda", together with "Horizon Zero Dawn" and "Torment: Tides of Numenera", will receive day one patches when they are launched.
Recently, other games such as Microsoft Studio's "Halo Wars 2" and Ubisoft's "For Honor" were given patches also on the day of their release. This shows that even though it is still not a common practice, day one updates are no longer out of the ordinary for the gaming industry.
Members of the media who received Nintendo Switch units ahead of its release were unable to access the Nintendo eShop. Nintendo revealed to them that access to the online store would require an update to the console which would be made available on the day of the gaming system's official launch.
Ian S. Frazier, Lead Designer for Mass Effect: Andromeda, confirmed in a response to a question on Twitter that some members of their team were still working on a day one patch even though the game was already certified gold. Although the development of the game was completed, when asked if their group will still be working on patches, Frazier replied that work on a day one patch was still in progress with a good portion of their team.
Guerilla Games, developer of "Horizon Zero Dawn", announced the day one patch for the game on its official Twitter account. The company stated that the game will be getting an update at launch that will have a file size of about 250 megabytes.
Developer inXile Entertainment announced on the official website of "Torment: Tides of Numenera" that a game update would be available for download on the day of release. The update contains a number of changes that greatly improve the game's quality. The day one update for consoles takes up 8 gigabytes of storage space.
"Horizon Zero Dawn" is exclusive for the PS4. It releases on February 28 in North America, March 1 in Europe, and March 2 in Japan. "Torment: Tides of Numenera" releases on the PC, Xbox One, and PS4. It launches in all regions also on February 28.
The Nintendo Switch will launch worldwide on March 3. It will be released first in the US, Japan, parts of Europe including the UK, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and several other countries. "Mass Effect: Andromeda" is scheduled to be released on March 21 in North America and March 23 in Europe. The game will be available on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
"Halo Wars 2" was released on February 21 for the PC and Xbox One. "For Honor" was released February 14 on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.