this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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My opinion: Follow the Apex Legends one. Don't tell the public literally anything. Build up zero hype, and then release it out of nowhere and let the game speak for itself. No hype = no overinflated expectations or impatient gamers. Obviously not every studio should do this, but I wish more would. I enjoy being pleasantly surprised, rather than wait for a game for years, only for it to be overpromised and DOA.
I see what you're saying, but it's unviable for much of the industry, and Apex seems to be a rare case where it found success despite the competition of overwatch, counter strike etc and despite being unknown (unlike valorant, which had significant brand recognition behind it).
But it's unviable. Large studios need to market their games early to recover development costs through pre purchases and get people excited enough to buy day 1 (and to convince investors that there is enough excitement behind the title).
Small studios already do this - they don't have brand recognition and therefore no money or need to market their games extensively (except on free platforms like Lemmy, Reddit etc), and hope their game somehow gets picked up by twitch and does well (e.g. Among Us). For many, many indie titles, their games die in obscurity, or get just enough attention to cover costs.
In general, what you're asking for is the following: Don't tell the public anything. Build a game that's good enough but has an unknown IP (so that people who are hunting for registered URLs or LinkedIn hires don't spot anything that could hint at a game), and then release it suddenly, but be absolutely confident that it is genuinely fun, it's watertight (free from major bugs) and chef's kiss optimised so incredibly well, that it gets nothing but glowing reviews on day 1 and word of mouth alone, through Twitch and YouTube is enough to propel it into the mainstream and make it an instant hit.
Or be Starfield lmao. If Bethesda is unable to do to Starfield what No Man's Sky and Cyberpunk did, then there's absolutely no confidence that Elder Scrolls 6 will be a good game.
I think you can learn a lot from apex even if it's not the obvious choice. For Counterstrike 2 the trailer was dropped, aggressively marketed and a beta was put in people's hands basically at the same time solidifying the game is good. Then it disappeared until launch. It very clearly worked because there were no complaints about the game. No question how good it is because the streamers played it. Then it's just a waiting game. BG3 not quite the same but putting the game into people's hands meant that people knew it was solid, before launch. Access creates buzz, especially if a game is enjoyable. It's the through line between all the success stories. Let people play good game, then other people want to play the good game.