Outriders dev asks players not to be too harsh as game servers crash

Outriders game developer People Can Fly asks fans not to judge their game too harshly due to the ongoing server woes.

Like any online game, Outriders is suffering from server instability at launch. The game released two days ago and has had connectivity issues ever since, with scores of players losing story progress and loot as they rubberband from servers. Tens of thousands of gamers are trying to play Outriders at once, and the servers are buckling under the weight.

Amidst tons of updates on server stability/progress and regular updates, People Can Fly is asking for players' understanding and patience: "As developers who have been working super hard for the last 5 years to make this game awesome, we really hope that you will judge the game rather than those teething troubles related to server issues. I tis frustrating for you and it is frustrating for us," the devs said on Twitter.

Just 20 hours after the post, however, Outriders servers were still having problems. The developer's Twitter timeline is punctuated with reports of connectivity issues.

Gamers aren't happy about being disconnected, but they're even more frustrated that they can't actually play the game offline. Like Anthem, Outriders is online-only. There's no offline singleplayer.

Luckily the devs have a website relaying the real-time status of the game.

At the time of writing, Outriders Core Game Components are partially available. There's also real-time crash reports on Steam.

As gamers, though, it's important to remember how difficult it is to not only launch an online-only game, but to maintain it. Also remember that Square Enix is in Japan, and People Can Fly are in Poland.

And finally, we should recognize the current global environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has made games development very, very hard. People are working from home and not in offices, so there's an extra layer of rigor with games released in 2021.

That being said, it is particularly frustrating to not be able to play a product you paid $64 for.