That is to say, some of the players who were originally hit by the performance issues might still be convinced that their game is running poorly even when it’s fixed.
It has happened before with other titles, and the initial impression a gamer gets from a new release seems to be particularly important in determining its long-term potential for success. In the case of “Dishonored 2”, this was a huge problem which may become even bigger as time goes by and opinions on the game start to settle in.
For now though, those who’re able to play “Dishonored 2” claim to have been having a lot of fun with it, and the product is apparently very nicely polished and thought out as a whole.
The best thing Bethesda could do right now to ensure they won’t suffer from any long-term reputation problems is to give a nice discount on some of their titles – maybe even the first “Dishonored” and address their community in a direct manner, explaining the problem and their plans to fix it.
As much as gamers hate poorly executed releases, what they hate even more is a lack of communication from their favorite studios. This kind of silence can completely kill people’s desire to purchase any new products from a company, so hopefully Bethesda are not about to make that mistake.