Hype - Who's to blame?

[JaredVannett]

We all know 'hype' is too common in gaming, with recent examples being Cyberpunk - but who is to blame?


At first, you could blame the developers and their trailers with 'Michael Bay' special effects whipping gamers into a frenzy, yet not revealing any gameplay footage. And even if the gameplay footage is shown we never always know the hardware specs it's running on?

How about the gaming community itself? Specifically upcoming games getting mega-hyped in online discussions which then sets expectations really high only to be met with disappointment when the game doesn't meet them.

Good examples of over hype include "cyberpunk" and "no man's sky". Yes, today these games are getting better following a series of updates, but upon launch... my god.

1. Do you fall victim to hype?
2. Do you try and avoid pre-ordering/buying games on launch, let the dust settles and see what the scoop is?

No Mans Sky - Expectations vs Reality



EA - Hype

[P-Jay]

I don't often fall victim to hype, but then I don't play much.

I was looking forward to Cyberpunk, but I still haven't managed to buy a Series X, and I'm not getting it to run on my Xbox One, sounds like a frustrating waste of time.

The exception being Rockstar releases, every few days there's a new 'leak' supposedly revealing something about the next GTA game, some wildly optimistic people claiming it's going to 'drop' before Xmas this year, it won't, but it doesn't stop me googling "GTA 6" every few weeks, as if they'll announce it or release a trailer without me noticing...

(FYI if you want my theory, based on the current level of 'leaks' the R* hype machine is building up to a 'Coming Soon' trailer this Autumn, followed by a second trailer with a release date announcement a few months later, which will be missed and it'll arrive sometime in 2023).

[Jinx]

So far, since the Colonial Marines episode I haven't given into the pre-order hype wagon (though a couple of my friends are trying to get me to buy BF 2042) . I'm willing to pay extra to wait and see if they are any good (I loved Witcher 3 but Cyberpunk is still on my wish-list until it is fixed) . For single player games it is always best to wait for the GOTY editions anyway.
The other issue is patches for your hardware. If you haven't got the latest and greatest set-up the day one experience can frequently be less than optimal - at least until the new drivers are released.

[Jimmy No Hands]

I think one of the biggest issues is that the concept of a game is often far more tantalising than the actual finished product. Communities will form and spend several months, or even years, visualising what a final product may look like. Although trailers and concept art provide a good indication of things like aesthetic and setting, they rarely provide enough examples of core game play loops, mechanics and "feel" (which is incredibly important.) It is very easy to get carried away and not be mindful of budget and time constraints, engine limitations, implementation etc. It is incredible what you can achieve (in engine) for a trailer nowadays, and these are often counter-productive as mocking up something for a 3 minute film and implementing it in game are two different things entirely. It's not uncommon for a trailer to not represent the final product whatsoever.

Sequels are expected to not only meet the standards of the first iteration but in many ways exceed them, the "big boys" have an expectation to produce AAA purely because they are the outfits with the biggest teams, the biggest budgets and usually, the most talented developers. This preloaded thought process has lead to some disappointment - but this is nothing new, it's been happening for 20 years.

Cyberpunk was a text book example of how not to approach a release. The game they wanted (and the public wanted) and the game they were capable of producing were two different things entirely. The problem was the developers did nothing to quash the expectations of the public. They were too unwilling to accept a lesser amount of hype (and thus pre-orders) and instead decided to roll the dice and play damage control.

I very rarely pre-order now. Unless it is something such as another Battlefield iteration, or something like the Diablo II remaster, I tend to sit on the fence. With games at £50 + it's a big commitment, and one that is not often worth doing.

That said, if Half Life 3 ever comes..

[ZedLeg]

It's the fanboy culture around gaming that maintains the hype.

People treat developers and hardware companies like stars and follow them no matter what they do.

Combine this with the massive greed of the AAA publishers leading to games being rushed out to meet targets and you end up in the cycle of hype and disappointment that we've seen over and over recently.

I've mostly opted out of AAA games at this point, between disgusting behaviour at publishers and broken, cynically greedy products the industry is not something I want to support just now.

The way Microsoft is heading with having a large amount of big games going straight onto gamepass seems like a good way to go from an end user pov.

[Lucas Ayde]

I think with No Man's Sky it was mostly unrealistic expectations which Hello Games failed to manage. They said what their vision was for the game and were forced to release it before they wanted because they had a deal with Sony. Right now, the game is way beyond what they promised.

With Cyberpunk however, CD Projekt Red really pumped the hype themselves.

Edited by Lucas Ayde on Friday 20th August 12:19

[Dagnir]

I think it depends on a combination of things:

Genre
Cult following
Devs
Type of Hype
Origin of Hype
Timing
Previous games
Current trends in the scene


All of these things can either work for against a title when it comes to hype but ultimately it's an organic thing I think. There's just too many factors involved for true hype to be reliably manufactured.

[dapprman]

Jimmy No Hands said:

I think one of the biggest issues is that the concept of a game is often far more tantalising than the actual finished product. Communities will form and spend several months, or even years, visualising what a final product may look like.

I think this is particularly the case where there is a long development cycle, with Cyberpunk 2077 being a very good example (again). If you look at the list on the official forum of what players thought they should still be getting and were missing you'll see a mix of items that add nothing to the game play, things that would not work resulting in players complaining if they had been implemnted, and items that the technology required to implement and run we're probably still decades away from.

Additionally to the above is the 'open world/sandbox' theory - again people seem to think you can wander round and get randomly generated original content, and yes the games producers themselves are as much to blame for this one as anyone.

[Jasandjules]

No I don't really fall for hype in the main.

I will buy Battlefield 2042 because I have most of the older BF games and I like them. I will buy Far Cry for the same reason.

As with films, I find games to be an either I like them or I don't (there is always a part of the Far Cry games I hate!)