4. Post-Production
This is the phase in which repeated testing and additional content is put together. It starts out with an alpha, where bugs are likely rampant and and implementation of the features is done rapidly. Once they are tested by the QA team, as many high profile bugs are resolved as possible before being sent again as a beta.
Betas are meant for smaller problems to be discovered, and are frequently made public for feedback in order to find as many bugs as possible. Beta testing continues until it meets requirements to be shipped or be published.
Once released, some games still show bugs that haven’t been squashed sometimes due to the sheer scope of a project, or running out of time towards a release date. With there always being more demands and expectations from the consumers, patches are becoming the norm.