There’s a problem within the industry. Developers and publishers are too eager to overhype games. Something is nowhere near completed, perhaps isn’t even ready to be seen, but that doesn’t matter. No, what matters is getting people on a hook. Having them ready to commit their time and money. Companies are getting too caught up, and need to stop showing off incomplete games as though they’re ready to go.
Why am I bringing this up now? Because of Square Enix’s Gamescom 2015 Active Time Report. Did you see it? You missed nothing if you didn’t. Final Fantasy XV didn’t appear at E3 2015, and it seemed like this could be the big event to show the title off. Except Square Enix’s Hajime Tabata didn’t. What did he do instead?
Tabata teased. He stalled. He claimed Square Enix had all these dates and plans for Final Fantasy XV . That the company knew when the next demo and the full game would release, but then said nothing. My favorite part was heading lines that basically said, “We have this information, but we’re not going to tell you what it is.” This has been going on for years. Don’t tell us if you aren’t ready! Especially since you’re doing the same for Kingdom Hearts 3 .
Square Enix isn’t the only offender. Sony is just as bad. I’m talking about The Last Guardian , of course. When did development on The Last Guardian begin? It started in 2007. When did we first hear about it? It was brought up at E3 2009. What year is it now? 2015! Like Final Fantasy XV , it has a 2016 release window. Will we see it then? Smart money would say no. Because it’s another situation where the developer and publisher couldn’t keep their mouths shut until the thing was ready.
There’s one more instance I have to mention, and it’s going to break your heart. Remember Beyond Good & Evil ? We’ve tentatively known about Beyond Good & Evil 2 since 2008. Ubisoft is supposedly developing it. The company had no problem bringing it up originally, but the last we heard about it was in 2011, with rumors from Michel Ancel saying it would come to the next generation of consoles. Well, the next gen is now the current gen, and we haven’t heard anything about Beyond Good & Evil 2 .
Listen, we love games. We all wouldn’t be so upset about prolonged development cycles and delays if we didn’t. But we don’t love being teased. There’s a good chance it isn’t intentional. Things come up. We understand that. What we don’t understand is dancing around topics, constantly bringing up games when they’re obviously nowhere near complete, and not being told the truth about things. Instead of teasing in order to build up hype and enthusiasm, wait until the project is close to being complete. It improves your credibility and makes us like you more.