Sports Storydeveloper Sidebar Games has issued an update targeting the Nintendo Switch exclusive’s performance issues and game-breaking bugs. The follow-up toGolf Story, one of 2017’s top indie games, has been highly anticipated for some time. Yet whenSports Storyarrived players were quick to say it needed more development time.Sports Storylaunched with serious performance issues and issues preventing progress. Sidebar Games is doing what it can to improveSports Story, at least.
In a huge surprise,Sports Storylaunched on Nintendo Switchwithout fanfare on December 23. Frustrations with the game’s technical problems were immediate, with Sidebar Games stating on December 24 that it had a patch in the works to address “some issues.” By December 31, Sidebar Games said that itsSports Storyupdate was ready but needed to be approved by Nintendo. It has taken time since to ensure theSports Storyupdate was ready for release.
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TheSports Storypatch has delivered fixes targeting a variety of performance and gameplay-breaking issues. In theSports Storypatch 1.0.3 notes, the top fix is a very general statement clarifying that “Various efforts were made related to golfing, general performance, getting stuck, and misc. challenges.” Sidebar Games makes no claim to fixing all ofSports Story’s problems, but does ask players to continue reporting any issues they experience going forward.
While the patch notes aren’t specific regarding technical changes, there are several story-focused bugs that Sidebar Games does mention by name. For example, several bugs in the Tennis Academy have been fixed, like the “Impressing Kelley Gibbon” challenge, additional bees for “Catching Bees,” un-stucking players in a mine cart during the “Silver Mines Return,” and severalissues within the Tennis Academyand the “baby court task” more specifically. The changes should improveSports Storyfor a significant number of players.
To repeat, Sidebar acknowledges that these changes don’t necessarily solve every ongoing problem inSports Story. That doesn’t mean Sidebar has stopped or slowed its efforts, though. Sidebar has confirmed that a new patch is currently in development that will fix various problems that remain after today’s update.
This is obviously not a situation that anyone is happy with. There’s some evidence thatSports Story’s issues were well-known by Sidebarbefore the game launched, but the game had to launch despite frustrating development issues. The past is the past, though, and all Sidebar andSports Storyplayers want is for the game to run as well as possible. Today’s update is an important step in the right direction.
Sports Storyis available now on Nintendo Switch.
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