Home Gaming FFD: Hype! Does it help or hurt video games?

FFD: Hype! Does it help or hurt video games?

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I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game with as much hype and expectation as No Man’s Sky. From its first showing at VGX all those years ago, No Man’s Sky has captivated the world’s imagination. It’s also, unfortunately, set up expectations that are impossible for the game to live up to.

That, for better or worse, is how the gaming industry operates. Set up a cycle of hype – usually announcement trailers, followed by previews, more trailers and then reviews – to try and push pre-orders and sales.

The problem with hype is the expectations that people have will never be fulfilled, leading to reactionary vitriol. When people feel like they’ve been let down, they tend to spread that – which can ends up being an own goal by the marketing machine.

One game that’s done well enough to spawn a sequel, but crumbled under its own hype is Watch Dogs. When it was first shown off at E3, it was a graphical revolution – but its release showed significantly downgraded graphics, and its much-touted hacking mechanics devolved in to simple button presses.

Of course, the reverse is true. Take a game like The Witcher 3 – which had an exceptionally long cycle of hype. Middling combat (and its own visual downgrade) aside, it’s largely lived up the expectations people had for it.

That said, I think that Hype is largely good for the industry – and is part of the joy of video games. The excitement and anticipation for new games are an integral part of the experience. So too, unfortunately, is the grumbling about it afterwards. The relationship gamers have with the games doesn’t begin when the disc enters the drive, or the Steam key is redeemed. Rather, it begins with that first announcement trailer.

Hype! Is it good or bad for games? Does it set up too much in the way of expectation? Is it something that needs to be perfectly fine tuned and balanced? Let us know what you think of videogames and the use of the hype machine.

Last Updated: August 12, 2016

55 Comments

  1. Alien Emperor Trevor

    August 12, 2016 at 10:37

    Bad. As Sean Murrayneux is finding out.

    Reply

  2. VampyreSquirrel

    August 12, 2016 at 10:42

    It helps if the game is complete and has all the promised features and WORKS.

    It hurts badly when there’s 110% hype and then half the features aren’t there yet, don’t work properly, or will never be there. Looking at you GTAV (Had to wait for heists, which were sub par), Division (broken DZ), and Diablo 3 (initial launch)

    Reply

    • Pariah

      August 12, 2016 at 11:19

      And here NMS added more features than announced BEFORE launch and they got shit for it. Gamers are a strange bunch.

      Reply

      • Dutch Matrix

        August 12, 2016 at 11:29

        We are. 😛

        Reply

      • VampyreSquirrel

        August 12, 2016 at 11:35

        Yeah… no MP or co-op puts me off NMS

        Reply

        • Pariah

          August 12, 2016 at 11:40

          Yeah see that was never my draw, and from day 1 it was pretty clear that that was super unlikely to happen anyway. So meh, no love lost.

          Reply

          • VampyreSquirrel

            August 12, 2016 at 11:45

            Yeah, well, without the MP I’d probably end up getting bored 6 hours in.

          • Pariah

            August 12, 2016 at 11:46

            They never really said it was MP though. That was never what they sold. So any draw toward that was simply fan-made expectations. See option 1) in my reply above. 😛

          • VampyreSquirrel

            August 12, 2016 at 12:03

            I was never sold on NMS. MP would have made me think about getting it more though.

          • Pariah

            August 12, 2016 at 12:06

            That’s fair enough. 🙂

      • Deceased

        August 15, 2016 at 11:26

        NMS is great…
        If people bought it, then thought: “Well, I’m not a fan of the survival, crafter, horder, exploration, walking sim genre” then that’s their problem…

        I repeat, NMS is great – I haven’t encountered a bug other than the alt + tab issue.

        Reply

  3. Darren Peach

    August 12, 2016 at 10:47

    Hype can be a serious downer. Ubisoft and their habit of being less than honest about graphic fidelity springs to mind. The Peter Molyneuxs of this world are also good examples of over-hyping a IP. But, It’s a moot point. In order for us to want to play a game, We need advertising and a subsequent result of advertising is hype….

    Reply

  4. Skyblue

    August 12, 2016 at 10:47

    DOOM lived up to every expectation I had. It even worked on Day One.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      August 12, 2016 at 11:30

      Yeah, It is.

      Reply

    • Deceased

      August 15, 2016 at 11:27

      DOOM is game of the year IMO

      They did good.

      Reply

  5. Umar

    August 12, 2016 at 10:52

    It actually hurts the game, sometimes. Sure it’s good for exposure and constant market presence but the problems lies not with the game but with those excited for it. We tend to have our own expectations of what the game needs to be and upon release we end up projecting those feelings onto the game, and should it not meet them, even in the slightest, we tend to have a negative reaction. Look sometimes the game was falsely advertised and end up being shit (LOLWATCH DAWGS), other times, the game is exactly what it said it was going to be, but people’s own expectations ruins the experience. Hype is a dangerous, then again, sometimes games need hype to be successful as not everything can be a sleeper hit.

    Reply

    • GooseZA

      August 12, 2016 at 14:10

      Oh, to be a fly on the wall when you finally play The Last Guardian…

      Reply

      • Umar

        August 12, 2016 at 18:39

        LOL brb, sacrificing a goat to the gaming gods so that TLG doesn’t suck 😛

        Reply

  6. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    August 12, 2016 at 10:54

    Hype does more bad than good, same goes for movies

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      August 12, 2016 at 11:33

      It’s especially bad for movies as they can’t patch them on Day One ;-p

      Reply

      • Pariah

        August 12, 2016 at 11:39

        XD

        Reply

      • Admiral Chief - Check

        August 12, 2016 at 11:43

        TO THE TOP!!!!

        😀

        Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        August 12, 2016 at 11:57

        LOL!

        Reply

      • miaau

        August 12, 2016 at 11:58

        This comment, Mr Skyblue, sums up the whole problem.

        It like meeting people for the first time: that initial moment of contact is hard to change, takes some time to adjust initial perceptions.

        Reply

  7. Jac7

    August 12, 2016 at 10:57

    Well, I’ve already managed to piss my lady off beyond comprehension when I failed to make dinner, clean the house and take the dog out for his nightly shit when I switched on No Man’s Sky. This is the criteria I use to measure the quality of a game. For me, the hype was real. I actually get to climb into a spaceship and go “fuck this place” and take off.

    Reply

  8. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    August 12, 2016 at 10:58

  9. Ottokie

    August 12, 2016 at 11:09

    Well since this is about no man sky. Yes I was on the hype train because I enjoy space sims a lot. But now the hype for NMS is enormous and I feel the dev’s hiding behind the hype and are not clear about features in game at all, so I have no idea if this is the game I thought it would be.

    I still want to buy NMS and I have one foot in the door already. But do I follow my gut feel that there is something sketchy going on here or just plunge right in without a second thought and let happen what ever comes.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      August 12, 2016 at 11:17

      Go to their official website. They’re VERY clear about their features on there. It’s cry babies who aren’t.

      Reply

      • Ottokie

        August 12, 2016 at 11:25

        Well, got until 7pm to make up my mind. Going to read up some more before then.

        Reply

        • Pariah

          August 12, 2016 at 11:27

          I bought 2 days ago. Already lives up to what I want. Simple exploration. Stock up on resources and go. Exactly what I’ve been looking for.

          Reply

          • Ottokie

            August 12, 2016 at 11:27

            Indeed. That is 80% of the game I knew I wanted for.

  10. Admiral Chief - Check

    August 12, 2016 at 11:17

    Hurt

    Reply

  11. Pariah

    August 12, 2016 at 11:22

    Hype always works as intended. The problem isn’t the hype.

    It’s 1) the gamers who feel entitled to features that were announced 3 years ago that no longer work or fit with the game or that “should’ve been there”, not understanding the way development works. It’s development. Things change. All the time.

    2) Developers not managing those expectations. If you promise something, and that something changes, be the first to say so, and say why. If you’ve improved it, say so, say why. If you remove something. Say so. Say why. Otherwise just don’t announce stuff that isn’t final.

    Reply

    • Ottokie

      August 12, 2016 at 11:33

      Branding someone as “entitled” aside. I do agree with you. It’s a double edged sword, as a developer it’s fine to alter a game as long as you give feedback on why. Stating changes to the game only after a game has been sold to gamers with expectations of said feature is just arrogant.

      Reply

      • Pariah

        August 12, 2016 at 11:37

        “Gamers who feel entitled to xyz” is not the same as “Gamers who ARE entitled”. Just saying, feeling entitled to something can be a simple misunderstanding (which is what I was saying above), or entitlement (which some gamers do have). 🙂

        Reply

    • miaau

      August 12, 2016 at 12:00

      Ah, yes. Expectation management. It is important. Very important. And, sadly, missed a bit in our modern, flashy world, of trinkets, toys and flashy gadgets. Marketing and Techies (engineers / developers) need to be more in sync, in my opinion.

      Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      August 12, 2016 at 23:51

      hype works as intended, yes, it helps with the sales.
      But it does that by overmarketing their product.
      They promise you the world, but present you with a broken piece of wood.

      Reply

      • Pariah

        August 13, 2016 at 10:04

        Sometimes yes. But also sometimes they deliver. Hype has a bad rep, but that’s because people naturally remember the shit stuff and forget the good stuff. That’s why news is “always negative” because when there is good news, it’s simply overshadowed by the bad. Because good news is not news. That’s how people work. Hype is the same. Good hype and people forget in a day. Bad hype and people forget in a week, but will bring it up in a year when the next hyped game comes up.

        Reply

  12. Admiral Chief - Check

    August 12, 2016 at 11:30

    Don’t support Butthurt, NMS is coming?

    Reply

  13. DragonSpirit009

    August 12, 2016 at 11:53

    I like when games have a hype before hand. Sure it is sometimes disappointing when they don’t live up to it but that’s just how life goes.

    Reply

    • miaau

      August 12, 2016 at 12:06

      There is something to be said for vicariously following a game, the hype and so on, without actually getting involved. No Mans Sky, I have followed for a while now, but have no intention of even trying to play it. In this case, I feel completely unaffected by the hype and just enjoy the show.

      Reply

      • DragonSpirit009

        August 12, 2016 at 12:12

        It all depends on the person in the end. It’s your choice alone, on how you want to experience the game or if it meets your standards.
        I’m excited for the game but not that much that I would go buy or even find a way to play it. Mostly because the chance I would ever get to play the game is actually zero XD

        Reply

  14. miaau

    August 12, 2016 at 11:55

    Yes, yes it does.

    Unrealistic expectations are sometimes the result of a lot of hype and this leads, ultimately, to a disappointed player.

    For example: it is extremely important to downplay any prior , um, experience at the start of a new relationship.

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      August 12, 2016 at 12:02

      I’m laughing way too much at that example.

      Reply

  15. Deceased

    August 15, 2016 at 11:24

    It’s horrible 😐

    Reply

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