The launch of 'Tennis: World Tour' didn't go quite as planned for publisher Big Ben Interactive, and the title was practically panned by critics. While the concepts were certainly promising, the game lacked content, which hardly justified a full-price title.
BigBen Interactive founder Alain Falc has now spoken out, confirming that the title was only about 20 percent complete in the weeks leading up to its release. Instead of simply postponing it, as would have been sensible, they felt bound by a marketing deal that stipulated the release of Tennis: World Tour coinciding with the French Open. This is a rather brazen admission that they knowingly sold an unfinished product.
Improved version coming in 2019
Now, the developers don't want to simply abandon their customers and have announced an improved version, slated for release in 2019. Presumably, this will be the complete version that was originally planned. It's safe to assume that current owners of the game will receive a free upgrade, which would ultimately be only fair.
Furthermore, another game is planned for 2020/2021, which is already expected to receive a high rating. That is, provided the players haven't been completely scared off by then.
For Big Ben, Tennis: World Tour is still a profitable business, having already delivered 500.000 units to retailers, which according to the contract also not returned can be.
(Update)
Big Ben has since released an official statement regarding the report, which was partially misrepresented and therefore not entirely accurate. They also provided an outlook on upcoming updates designed to improve the game.
The statements currently circulating in the French press regarding return rights cannot be confirmed. This is a communication misunderstanding, as Bigben's trading partners naturally have the industry-standard return rights, which can reach up to 100%.
It's also unusual for a game to pass Sony and Microsoft's quality control with only 20% development progress. This, too, seems to be a misunderstanding. The sheer number of stadiums and playable characters should demonstrate that this figure is completely disproportionate to the final product. The Breakpoint team has been working on the title for over two years, meaning the 20% mark was surpassed long ago. It's conceivable that Mr. Falc was referring to the fact that the game was still 20% complete a few weeks before release. This, incidentally, was also the reason for the delay of the online mode.
The developers are already working to close existing gaps and add features requested by fans to further improve the overall quality of the game. Planned updates include the implementation of an online mode, the option for double play, and the integration of additional partners and game modes.
One example of such a partnership, established alongside ongoing improvements, is the one with the French Tennis Federation and, consequently, the Roland-Garros tennis complex. This began with the Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas, an eSports tournament whose final took place at Roland-Garros on May 25th. Furthermore, the new Roland-Garros courts, expected to be completed in 2021, will be incorporated into the game in their new form as early as 2019.
The development team is working hard on further patches and content updates. Here's an overview of upcoming improvements:
Key topics of the next update:
- 3 Online Modes: Quick Match, Private Match, Ranked Matches
- Improved grass pitches
- Improved atmosphere during matches (e.g., commentator, audience reactions)
- Bug fixes (e.g., the bug that prevents coaches and agents from being swapped correctly)
- For Switch and Xbox, the patch includes further bug fixes and improvements that bring them up to the level of PS4 and PC.
Furthermore, the following aspects of the player experience are to be improved and expanded in the near future:
- Expansion to include tournaments in online ranking mode
- AI balance (increased error rate)
- Improvements to the atmosphere around the court (graphics and sound)
- New official outfits for career mode and alternative outfits for professional players
- Bug fixes and improvements based on player feedback
- Further reduction of the possibilities of gaps between racket and ball
- The game has been expanded to include a dual mode.
- The game will be expanded to include a weekly community challenge mode.
- Slide animations on sand courts
- Improvements to Career Mode
- Further improvements to the game atmosphere
- General bug fixes and improvements based on player feedback
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