Across the game industry, there are all manner of terms and jargon that cover every stage of development. From pre-production all the way to the end product on shelves, players that passionately track the progress of the latest and greatest games that are in development will no doubt hear some of these terms.
One term in particular draws a lot of attention and excitement when developers post it on social media, and that is the phrase "gone gold". For players who don't know what this term means, this guide will help explain it.
What Does It Mean When a Game "Goes Gold"?
The term "gone gold" is shorthand for the gaming industry phrase "gold master". When a game enters this stage of development, it means that it has reached the point where it is finished and ready for release. Everything that the developers want to put into the game is in the most recent build. At this stage, the developers and publisher believe that the game is ready for the public. So when a game goes gold, this is good news for players that are looking forward to a particular release.
In order for a game to go gold, it must also pass the certification process that companies like Microsoft and Sony set to ensure that anything released on their platforms is stable and won't have any major issues. This includes things like crashes that make the game completely unplayable or bugs that would result in a less-than-ideal experience for players. Once a game has gone through this whole process, it will be put onto physical discs (where applicable) and then shipped out to be sold at various retailers.
A recent example of this is the highly anticipated game from Bethesda, Starfield. After being announced all the way back in 2018, Starfield has gone gold and will be available for preload soon. For players fearing that there may still be a last minute delay for Starfield, that is very unlikely. There are only a small handful of games that got delayed after they went gold, and one recent example of that is Cyberpunk 2077 which initially went gold and then got delayed when it couldn't pass certification initially.
One important thing to keep in mind is that just because a game going gold does not mean that it will be bug free. Often games will get a conditional approval that allows it to be released if developers also release a day one patch that fixes the issues that came up during certification. During this period, developers will often use the day one patch as an opportunity to fix minor bugs on top of that. So while Starfield will no doubt have all manner of bugs in it, they will not have been considered significant enough for the game to fail certification.