Talking Point: Are Games Announced Too Far In Advance?

Rather than a six-month reveal window, I'd prefer a ONE-month RELEASE window.

rushing to release a game will result to a buggy incomplete game

yes.

NFS Unbound was about right.

and FK off to all those who say they get 'hyped' about something they know nothing about

I predict a lot of people that will claim the 6 month window is the ideal window also already have complained at least once about not knowing what is coming for xbox past July.

Nintendo has the right idea, have 3 main Directs (1 in February, 1 in June, 1 in September) and each one's main focus is on the next 6 months with a few games outside that window. Meanwhile have single game Directs about a month before launch where suitable.

The problem with holding the announcement is that they almost always leak. Would you rather control the narrative or have insiders interpret their info into a narrative?

Plus you need to tell investors what the long term outlook is, you also need to recruit people to finish the games.

Under a year from cgi reveal trailer to release would be ideal but two years from cgi reveal to release isn’t the worst. For Xbox and other companies to reveal games so early and then go completely stone cold silent is a bad move. EA and motive deserve a lot of credit for doing what is probably the best way of announcing a game, doing small dev live streams with in progress updates showing off what they are working on and then ramping up for closer to release

I'd rather have a 'six' month breakdown of the six months ahead with teasers about what's coming in the 'next' six months...

For example: MS Direct detailing Jan-E3 and 'teasing' E3-Dec/Jan
Then E3 detailing what's coming before the next Direct and 'teasing' what's coming next. Until then, keep them under wraps, under a 'project' codename with NO title shots or CGI video's years before they even really have a 'full' idea of what the game is, will be etc...
That way, 'delays/disappointments' are kept to a minimum, there is always 'new' games to talk about and show off - all of which you can play 'SOON', and have some 'teasers' of what maybe coming next with some 'early' game-play footage to keep people excited for the 'future' too...
That's as far as the Marketing/PR cycle is concerned but things 'leak' and I'd still rather they kept a 'Project' title that people 'think/know is whatever it turns out to be than be 'confirmed' years ahead of delivery...
Of course Jorno's and 'insiders' want their 'clicks' too but its still 'rumoured' until 'Confirmed' and 'subject' to change anyway if its too early, but let devs get their games to a state they are 'happy' to release (or close enough) then start the cycle of tease if more than 6 months out or show in depth/reveal what's coming in the 'next' six months so those developers are 'ready to market' their game not get harassed and/or bothered about how long its taking from impatient fanboys.

I'm a simple man.

If you announce a game 2 years in advance, I promise you I'm not playing it day one because I've forgotten about it.

Probably will be lucky if I remember it soon enough to get it in the bargain bin.

I’d settle for a realistic timeframe… announce a game now for 2027 if you like so long as its release date doesn’t slip again & again or it doesn’t release in a half finished, way below par state

I appreciate knowing that a game is in early/active development vs potential years of not knowing why a game company is radio silent or flat out denying existence on a desired sequel. I'm cool with hearing that a new Perfect Dark game is in development and I'm cool with waiting. It is odd when you have titles like Beyond Good and Evil 2 and Metroid Prime 4 taking so long and going through a restart but I'd rather it be in known development than not know it's in development and be curious as to why the company seems to not want to make a sequel.

I think 12-18 months from reveal to release day is pretty reasonable. I see no point in announcing games that have only just entered development like what happened with Final Fantasy 15, Elder scrolls 6, New Metroid, Cyberpunk 2077 etc.

So many studios try to be specific with dates but anything can happen to delay them, instead of them saying things like Q1 2023 or Holiday 2023, just say it will be released sometime in 2023 and then give a concrete release date 2-3 months before release like Nintendo have been doing lately.

Also one thing I would like devs to stop doing is using CGI trailers to announce games, straight away if they use a CGI trailer then you know for certain that game isn't coming out that year. CGI trailers do not reflect any aspect of the game at all, they don't give an insight on gameplay visuals, gameplay mechanics or story. They are pointless and may aswell save the time and money in making them and just announce the game in a tweet.

They did it perfectly with fh5, announced and launched within less than half a year iirc. More of that pls.

Ya think??

Microsoft is the single worst offender in this regard. Take a page from Nintendo: announce games when they're nearly done, it'll save a lot of headaches. The one time they didn't do that was Metroid Prime 4 but generally they're GREAT at this

I feel like it’s the amount of marketing that leads to these sort of problems. Early announcements lead to over marketing and too much hype.

I love how CDPR didn't learn their lesson and announced Witcher 4, lol.

But the thing is these companies need to give investors an idea of what's coming down the line. Any public company HAS to specify some portion of what products are coming down the line to keep investors abreast on potential profit or loss items coming up, so it can't be a total surprise that these games exist. Plus they're often for attracting talent to the studio, not really to market games to consumers early.

Or to showcase the future of a console generation, for the big 3 (they all do it, but don't pretend Nintendo didn't do exactly this with almost everything on WiiU, and on Switch, MP4, Bayo 3, SMTV) And sony did it famously in 2014 and 2015 though Square takes a lot of the blame there.

I’m happy to know what’s coming, even if it’s years away - but keep the hype in check until the final 6 months before release.

ABSOLUTELY!!!

I've said for years if follow the 6 month rule you are golden. Checks soooooo many boxes for successful launch.

Thing is it makes good hype at E3 or State of Play or Directs. If MS/Bethesda announced say Fallout New Vegas 2 from Obsidian this month but with no release date and saying its released after The Outer Worlds 2 at the earliest it would be way too early of a reveal but the hype would be high and would get people talking.

For me the sweet spot is around a year, that way you can speculate for a decent time and get nicely hyped. What i don't like is Bethesda with Elder Scrolls 6 where even now its most likely 3 to 4 years away.

It’s fine if they announce they are working on things, since it also serves for the hiring process.
But they shouldn’t announce release dates more than 6 months in advance. It’s the constant delays that annoy people.

My personal opinion is that while letting us know games are coming long in advance is great, I wish actual trailers and reveals did not start until close to release. Simply knowing that a game I loved will be getting a sequel or hearing of a new IP with a short pitch is enough for me all the way until the last few months before release.

Nintendo is good at this too , metroid prime 4 and Zelda tears of the kingdom are in the development limbo for way too long. It’s not good to announce too early , people gets frustrated waiting for these games to come out and when they get pushed back the frustration increase and when the game finally come out it better be good because people get very high expectations with the long development, it’s better when they announce games within 6 months and deliver a good game at the expected release date.

I wouldn't say no to a star ocean 6 reveal though. Right now it's debatable if Tri Ace is even solvent.

@WallyWest lol and they announced that with fo76 like 5 years ago. And I'd bet it's 5 years or more away. We probably won't play it on series X.

I voted for the six month window, but with a huge asterisk.

Six months before launch is a great moment to show off story, gameplay, mechanics, vibe. I'm not a market person, but I for one tend to pay more attention to things the closer to date it gets, wether it's about games or life stuff.

That being said, I do like a dry announcement like Elder Scrolls 6 did. Just a big banner saying, "Yes, we're doing this, you'll hear from us when we get there."

Remember how everyone got mad at Blizzard for not telling us if they were working on Diablo 4? We all knew, but they didn't say it. Did they have to make a cinematic about it? No, that's just bonus.

I guess what I'm saying is, say what's going on with your company/IP without putting dates or revealing mechanics.

Announce it whenever, but fix the bloody game before releasing it....and stop working on DLC before the main game is even released.

I love 1-2 years out but we are getting much worse than that. The MS reveals like Everwild Fable and Avowed were bad, but the worst offender of all time is the Elder Scrolls 6 which was given a joke announcement trailer literally 10 years before the game will release just so people didn't riot that they made a phone game.