Although the game boasts favorable reviews, the Outriders launch was frustrating at best, as server outages plagued the game’s opening days. After servers stabilized, Outriders hit a massive concurrent player count but many players were upset at the difficulties and delays surrounding play. The co-op looter-shooter was a big win for publisher Square Enix both in acclaim and popularity. It was the biggest Steam launch in Square Enix’s history, but due to connectivity issues, the launch was disappointing. To say sorry, Outriders is planning an appreciation package.

The developers of Outriders, People Can Fly, promised to explain the server failures after being bombarded by a horrible Metacritic review. Eventually, the developers did explain it as mismanaged server calls, being managed by an alternative data management method as opposed to RAM. The alternative method was too slow for the tremendous amount of data and when the data queued back too far, the service failed. The Outriders servers went offline altogether, but fans still showered the game with overwhelming support.

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In appreciation for the fans’ support, Square Enix confirmed on Reddit that it would deliver a gift package to all players who logged into the game during launch. The package includes a level-appropriate Legendary weapon for each account’s highest level character, along with a level-appropriate amount of Titanium and a coincidental "Frustration" emote. Currently, the "Frustration" emote is otherwise unobtainable. When the package will be delivered is currently unknown.

Players who logged in to Outriders from March 31 to April 11 are eligible to receive the package, and Square Enix also confirmed that those affected by the inventory wipe glitch will be sent the package as well. Legendary items are extremely valuable in the game, and the package is a nice apology for the irritation at being kicked out of games and entire inventories disappearing. In a game that is extremely dependent on loot, this was extremely disheartening for many players.

If Outriders’ launch avoided server issues, the game itself would probably be a top choice in the first quarter of 2021. Outriders offers a unique perspective on the looter-shooter genre, with abilities and its story setting it apart from other games.  Unfortunately, technical difficulties are extremely infuriating for players who pre-ordered the game or those who hopped in relatively early during launch. It can heavily influence opinions on the game, which would otherwise highly regard the game. The Outriders’ reviews have pointed out the game’s fun characters and compelling atmosphere. Hopefully, the game won’t fall victim to more connectivity issues and players can enjoy the multiplayer experience as it was intended. The appreciation package is a nice touch, but the best way to ensure happy players is to keep the game working properly.

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Outriders is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows

Source: Square Enix/Reddit