Game Developers Need to Stop Announcing Games So Dang Early
Game developers are getting into a bad habit of announcing games way too early, and it could be killing hype for some of their titles. | Credit: AP/Shizuo Kambayashi
- Game developers keep announcing games too early.
- Gamers don’t need to know about a game five years before its release.
- Not updating gamers is also the perfect way to kill hype.
Game developers, we need to have a talk.
Listen, I love what you do. Putting in all that hard work so I have plenty of great games to enjoy in my spare time. But there’s a problem.
You keep announcing games too dang early!
Seriously, what’s up with that? What good does it do to announce a game and then let it sit for three-to-five years before it finally comes out?
No One Wants to Wait Five Years for a Game
Is there some kind of misunderstanding going on here? Do game developers think that gamers enjoy being strung along for years while waiting for the game? Even worse, do they think this helps build hype?
Let me tell you right now, it doesn’t.
There’s nothing worse than getting excited for a game after its initial announcement and then getting nothing but radio silence for years.
It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just a couple of games here and there, but it’s so frequent it seems like game developers want it to be the norm.
Here’s a perfect example. The Final Fantasy VII Remake is coming out on March 3 , or at least the first part of it is. That means game developers have been letting hype around it die for five years while they work on the initial episode.
Poor Bayonetta Fans Are Still Waiting for a New Trailer
Bayonetta 3 is another perfect example of a game announced too early. Gamers’ first, as well as the most recent, glimpse of the title was way back in 2017! In no way, shape, or form is that acceptable.
On the subject of games announced three years ago – but no new updates have been seen since – there’s Shin Megami Tensei V.
Atlus was kind enough to let Switch owners know that it’s still working on the game . Yet there still isn’t any kind of release window for it, either.
Game Developers Could Wait a Couple of Years on Announcements
Maybe it’s something to do with Nintendo Switch, but there are lots of games for it that get announced much too early. Case in point, Metroid Prime 4.
Nintendo let everyone know last year that it was restarting development from scratch with Retro Studios taking over as its developer . Do you know what could have helped them avoid that embarrassing announcement? Not revealing the game as it entered development in 2017!
Let’s wrap this up with what may be the most disappointing game of the previous decade.
Shenmue 3
Another Five-Year Wait Didn’t Benefit Game Developers
This is a game that was initially announced via Kickstarter in 2015 . Almost five years later, it came out on Nov. 19, 2019.
After spending all that time in the public eye, the game came out to mediocre reviews . Worse than that is the fact that it didn’t do well in the sales department, either.
To be fair, there were a lot of things that held Shenmue III back from being a great game; but one can’t help but wonder if five years of stringing along fans didn’t help kill some of the hype initially around the game during E3 2015 .
