Game updates and Cloud Saving
A game update is a patch for a game you already have. Cloud Saving is a way to move your save files to another computer, using a Save Code you write down. Both will be free. Neither needs an account. Play never waits on either. The disc itself does not change.
The first game updates go out after this week. No account. Play never waits on either.
What a game update is
- The developer sends us a new build. We check it, then publish it. A disc bought today takes those patches when they exist.
- The disc menu asks. You say yes, and the patch is applied on this computer. Nothing runs in the background.
- Windows only. Play never waits on a patch.
Your files on this computer
- Before a patch is applied, the files it would replace are copied on this computer. If that copy cannot be made, the patch is not applied.
- Those copies stay on this computer. They are never uploaded, and we cannot read them.
- From the disc menu you can put any copy back.
What we learned making this
- Players do not want an account to play a disc they already bought. So play never waits on one.
- A patch that rewrote the disc would break the copy they hold. So it never does. The disc stays as we made it. The copy on this computer can change.
- A save that lives only in a login dies when the login does. A Save Code is a code you write down. We cannot read what sits behind it.
- If we cannot copy the files on this computer first, we do not apply the patch. The copies here are the floor.
Cloud Saving: the Save Code (not live yet)
A Save Code is how a copy of your saves will leave this computer: a code you write down, no account, locked in a way we cannot read. The part of the disc menu that writes the code is built; no disc on the shelf carries it yet, so Cloud Saving is not live. Play does not wait on it. The copies on this computer are the floor.
Titles we did not build
If the developer handed us a finished disc image, that title stays as they finished it. No updates.
Questions we get
- Does the disc itself change?
- No. The disc stays as we made it. A game update reaches the game on the computer.
- Is this a shipping update?
- No. A game update is a patch for the installed game. Shipping is the parcel. Cloud Saving is your save files, not a parcel.
- Do I need an account?
- No. Play never waits on an account, a game update, or Cloud Saving.
- What is a Save Code?
- A code you write down from the disc menu. It will let you bring your saves to another computer without making an account. We cannot read what sits behind it.
- Does play wait on Cloud Saving?
- No. The copies on this computer always work, and play never waits. The disc menu says when Cloud Saving is available.