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Opinion: Launch Hype - Looking At Consumers And Developers Alike | MMORPG.com
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Opinion: Launch Hype - Looking At Consumers And Developers Alike | MMORPG.com
Mitch explores launch hype, especially as it pertains to himself and other consumers of games, and the role played by consumers in mitigating hype in the long run.
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That company doesn't give a shit about their loyalty or how they've been "buying and playing their games from the beginning". They don't know your name. They don't care about you. Shut up and buy their game and give them your money. That's all they care about and that's all you are to them. Dollar bills. So I do legitimately feel bad for those folks who intertwine their self-identities with these franchises, or development studios, or even just games in general to such a degree that they can't accept criticism of the things they love or are happily content to let these guys get away with shit like this over and over again.
It's just like with CoE, it could be a case study probably. Red flag after red flag, it just wasn't enough for some of these people who bought in. They were willing to gobble up whatever bullshit was being fed to them, and they did it for years. Then they acted surprised, cried, and are now trying to sue. I honestly hope that the lawsuit fails in that particular instance. They should be forced to face up to their mistakes and to eat the loss. Kickstarter isn't a guarantee of a game to begin with, it's certainly not a guarantee when you get into a bed with an indie development studio with a plan and concept as unrealistic and bullshit as theirs was.
You can tell what people actually want by where they spend their money. If they say they want X and not Y, but will pay for Y but not X, then they actually want Y and not X. Vote with your wallet, not with forum whining.
So long as there are a lot of people who want lots of hype and rushed launches, that's what a lot of developers will deliver. If people stopped throwing lots of money at developers who did that, they'd stop doing it. Similarly with kickstarters, other crowdfunding, early access, and so forth.
So far the industry has got away with it and one of the main reasons for that is people forget. But each time a new big name title goes really bad, people remember that; if any change occurs it will be because there are so many big name titles that go south in the space of a few years that people can't help but notice it. That's when a change may occur, they will realise it does not matter how good your game was before, how good your cash shop was before, how good your add on multiplayer was before.
But the ever increasing hype on social media, indeed on here means that may never happen, the latest big buzz game here was EA, with the media fully tied in I doubt players will wise up soon.
So what you are saying is...there's plenty of really stupid gamers out there who buy and play shit games.
Certainly not news to me.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
VTM: Bloodlines 2 is a prime example of this. A massive marketing campaign to tug on the fandom's heartstrings and to push preorders, then delays, then more delays, then radio silence. The CEO of the studios told investors that the game will most likely come out in late 2021, but hey, that's the biz. Meanwhile, fans have heard nothing for 6 months.
Until consumers seriously punish a dev for this type of behavior, it will never end (hell, its some studio's business model).
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
I wasn't caught up in that hype, but not because I was wary of pre-Christmas releases on general principle as I am now. I was wary alright, but it was because even back then I didn't trust games based on the hot movie IP du jour so that made me the oddball amongst adult gamers I knew at the time (at a time when "adult" and "gamer" was a rare admission - a lot were still in the closet back then about following a hobby "for kids") who were gaga in anticipation and equally outraged with the let down.
When CP2077 was about to launch I saw first hand a preview of what was about to happen on reddit. It happened when that last 3 week delay was announced.
The official CP2077 subreddit for weeks leading up to the delay announcement was a downright idyllic little forum full of mostly fan art, cosplay with even crappy submission getting 1000 upvotes just because of the "it's almost here" general good vibe people there were all wrapped up in.
And then it happened: a 3 week delay was announced and the subreddit turned on a dime and went from happy little sub to a toxic CP2077's delay ruined my life kind of place. Of course that was just a taste of how bad it got after actual release to the point that new subreddits were created (such as lowsodium cyberpunk lol) to talk about actually playing the game and helping other players with game play related questions because no one in the official, formerly goofy happy, subreddit wanted to talk about that any longer.
Watching that sub as a lurker was like having a ringside seat at "consumer hype unmet are us."
Anyhow... @Splattr,
It wouldn't be a post from me about hype if I didn't mention the gaming media's part in helping create and fuel that hype. And no I'm not talking about the 11th hour hype created by the ultra controlled CDPR early review process. I can give you a bit of a pass for what you did there under competitive duress. I'm talking about months and years of contributing to it by passing along whatever CDPR's PR department chose to dole out to you which you passed on to us barely touched by editorial hands.
You were and are part of this problem too.
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― CD PROJEKT RED