Search and Release Dates

Last night while using search I noticed an error with specified platform and release dates.

I was trying to compile a list of games released on PC in 2015. When I select platform 'PC' and made from 01/01/2015 to 12/31/2015 I get a result that is all games released for PC that also had any releases in 2015. Is this performing as intended or can the search be made to only look for PC release dates within a time frame?

One such game that comes up that made me realize what search was doing is Rise of the Tomb Raider, since it had an Xbox release in 2015 and is coming to PC 2016.

And since this is a bug report I did some more prodding. To see how weird the search results can get. It seems if it released on the platform specified and had any release during the time period (even if the release date is for a different platform) it will return the game in the results, which lead to weird examples.

Search 1: Platform PC, Date 01/01/2015-12/31/2015

Search 2: Platform PC, Date 01/01/2016-12/31/2016

Rise of the Tomb Raider shows up in both searches, and This War Of Mine shows up only in the second search. This War Of Mine released on PC in 2014, but has console releases in 2016.

I had messaged the mods, and Rorie told me to try posting here and to tag @jslack.

@zhordyn:Yeah @jslack is the best person to ask about search he's on a much deserved vacation right now though, he'll be back next week.

Just some initial notes though. I believe those filters are some pretty basic searches, so for example

Platform = XONE and has a release in 2015

Platform = XONE and has a release in 2016

That will find all games that fit that particular set of parameters individually, so for example Rise of the Tomb Raider technically fits in both of those cases because technically those conditions aren't grouped together for a release. It has an XONE release in 2015 but it also has a release in 2016 (even though it's not for the XONE) it still satisfies the condition.

I realize this isn't ideal and we would ideally filter it more accurately. We're constantly tweaking our search so we may get there soon.

@wcarle: @zhordyn:Will is correct, those are basic searches. We aren't very platform specific with those search results, and they should only be used for general returns - also our dates aren't very accurate when it comes to unreleased content, when we don't know the dates.

For more accurate release related results, I highly suggest you take advantage of the API and search API. This will allow you to drill down to specific release level results.

What you see in the current search results are more like generic game results, not release specific results - sometimes it's hard to get accurate dates in there, and we used our "best guess" at what you are looking for, ie: the first time it was released on a major platform, etc.

Let me know if you need a hand, should be pretty easy to set up an API query to get your results in a way better way for what you are doing.

Thanks @wcarle and @jSlack for explaining the nuance of search on Giantbomb. I will take a browse through the API and see how that all works.

What you both are saying makes sense in how the search is structured.