Why do all new games do this?

[Father President]

I hate this trend of gaming companies 'announcing' their games and they do not even give us a window. And no, saying 2023 is not a window.

Get your game in a playable state THEN announce it.

Remember Valheim? They came out of nowhere and broke all kinds of records.

I am not wishlisting any of these BS announcements.

[Vrakyas]

So you're basically saying this game is BS, without actually having played a single minute?

Personally I like the way they do it: Announce it, THAN go into Early Access with a game that actually is playable and enjoyable.
Other games throw their tech demos into EA with tons of (gamebreaking) bugs, that make games literally unplayable.
Give Keen Games their time they need to bring this game into a more stable version for EA.

[-Jay-]

I remember Valhein, the first insta-buy after seeing a gif from that troll destroying a tower...
And i played Portal Knights alot so... we need a release date NOW!

[Belmont]

Originally posted by Vrakyas:

So you're basically saying this game is BS, without actually having played a single minute?

Personally I like the way they do it: Announce it, THAN go into Early Access with a game that actually is playable and enjoyable.
Other games throw their tech demos into EA with tons of (gamebreaking) bugs, that make games literally unplayable.
Give Keen Games their time they need to bring this game into a more stable version for EA.

This works, only in the caveat that the devs have a realistic turn around time between "reveal trailer" and "early access release" to playable. That window is small, hype is a precious marketing tool, and stretching that time period between the two longer and longer only hurts a game regardless of it's quality.

Case in point, look at the Hytale situation. 5 years post reveal, still no early access or beta in sight, hype was at monumental levels and then crashed into the basement as people forgot it even existed.

Too many devs these days announce too early, is the problem. No one is saying not to take the development time needed to make a good game, people are saying that announcing said game should be done closer to that playable state than years out. It's strictly a marketing thing.

[๖ۣۜGodSpeed]

Sounds like a personal problem, I saw the trailer and wanted to play it right after. But I'm not having a mental rage quit moment over it. *Click* wish list/follow and wait. Its very simple.
Also its not a Trend. Its common practice since at least I've been gaming in the early 1990's.

[CutchuSlow]

I'm ok with games announcing without a release window. Tho I would prefer if it was soon. Coz if it looks nice, then I'll be like I can't wait lol. But I don't mind games when games are announced without a release window.

I think its better than to announce a game without a release window than to announce a game with a release window. Coz there might be a situation where it gets delayed or released before it's even ready. So announcing without a release window would be better. As there would be no rush to get it out in time.

[haunting_deer]

Remember Valheim the game that lacks depth and content for over 2 years now and evolves with the speed of a turtle? Yeah i remember that game that nobody plays without mods cause it lacks basically everything. From could be the next minecraft to grind the next boring tier. Dont get me wrong i love Valheim but it was a missed opportunity. Bad progression system to grindy not enough depth. And the 5 man team was just a joke. Remember the roadmap? I dont cause i value my sanity

[NexAngelus *X*]

valheim was on itch or what ever that indie launcher for 2 years before it came to steam

[Tunnfisk]

Originally posted by Father President:

I hate this trend of gaming companies 'announcing' their games and they do not even give us a window. And no, saying 2023 is not a window.

Get your game in a playable state THEN announce it.

Remember Valheim? They came out of nowhere and broke all kinds of records.

I am not wishlisting any of these BS announcements.

I believe it's a marketing tactic. They have a certain amount of funding, and at some point they need to prove to investors that the game has some sort of hype. So wishlisting a game shows the developers that there is interest in the game.

I recently saw a video on game development where a single developer said that: before you make a full game, you can choose to make the first level or the first 10-15 minutes of the game. Graphics and all. Then you present this idea and concept to potential investors to get funding to make the actual game.

I think this is basically something similar to it. We've seen the same thing happen in movies where they release a trailer, the people aren't happy with what they see. So they reshoot/edit the movie accordingly.

I can agree that I'm not very interested in hearing about a game 10 years in advance. I used to be, but so many times it never turned out to become anything, or even worse, they release some garbage that wasn't nearly as cool as they first showed. So now if I see a game, I can wishlist it, when it comes out, I look at reviews and gameplay videos, then decide if I want to play it or not. If it's not a game on Steam or some sort of "I'm interested list", then I'll just forget about it the next day. Maybe I'll come across it later, maybe not.

[Pre55ure]

Originally posted by Father President:

I hate this trend of gaming companies 'announcing' their games and they do not even give us a window. And no, saying 2023 is not a window.

Get your game in a playable state THEN announce it.

Remember Valheim? They came out of nowhere and broke all kinds of records.

I am not wishlisting any of these BS announcements.

I must admit the best games have been the ones that just hit the market without a word, havnt seen much of that lately though, lately this type of marketing is increasingly a red flag, well see, fingers crossed

[Swift-Li]

This is all BS! Here's my $$$.

[MokahTGS]

Remember when Valheim released out of nowhere half finished and then got abandoned because they made their money and don't need to finish the game?

Marketing is always BS...never buy a game pre-release. Never pay for a game that you don't actually own. Never buy a game on day one of release.

With all that aside, this game looks impressive from the footage in the trailer. I played through Portal Knights in co-op and liked it. Hopefully this will be that well built. Time will tell if this makes for a good game. I have a lot of games on my wishlist just so I don't lose track of them.

[Taddy Mason]

Originally posted by Father President:

I hate this trend of gaming companies 'announcing' their games and they do not even give us a window. And no, saying 2023 is not a window.

Get your game in a playable state THEN announce it.

Remember Valheim? They came out of nowhere and broke all kinds of records.

I am not wishlisting any of these BS announcements.

they probably saw the years and years of people getting hyped at games being marketed during things like E3 that weren't going to be available for who knows how long-if ever-and thought it was a good idea to announce their game early and try to build hype for it so when it comes out, they don't have to risk it being completely unknown and buried underneath all the porn games and asset flips on Steam.

this isn't new. game companies have been announcing games that might never even come out for many years now. you are being ridiculous and childish.

[tom.m]

They didn't say the game is BS, they just didn't want the blue balls. I tend to agree. Early access is really abused in the games industry now. It's a mixed bag; in some cases it's a license to not ever follow through on commitments, it's an excuse for sloppy product, or it's a marketing gimmick to increase sales for an otherwise completely normal and complete game. Then if the game ever does "release" the price gets jacked up, but it later goes on sale again. All just marketing gimmick.

Not saying that this game will be like any of that - at all. It's just the yo-yo of "early access" that I think OP here is tired of and so am I really. Aren't you all?

I'm definitely following this game and am excited about it. RPG/survival/base building games that are co-op where you can host your own private server? That's my kinda thing.

[Malonze]

There is a sweet spot on announcing to releasing.. if you announce to early, you lose hype. if you announce to late, you might not have enough player awareness to try your game.

You want to announce and advertise to help get attention so you will have a ready playerbase. Unfortunately, companies / devs dont really know nor expect thier project to get a ton of attention when it does happen. They assume they will announce and maybe attract a few hundred players, then are surprised when its covered by content creators and suddenly get thousands of people hyped.

[Malonze]

Originally posted by MokahTGS:

Remember when Valheim released out of nowhere half finished and then got abandoned because they made their money and don't need to finish the game?

valhiem didnt get abandoned. they just released mistlands and ashlands is soon to follow. there was an odd content gap, but seems they are back on track now