News
Video Game Disconnect - Hype
Cordova, TN; June 5, in the year of our Lord 2017--Family
Friendly Gaming, the industry leader in covering the family
friendly video games is continuing our new series under the
umbrella Video Game Disconnect. These are articles on areas of
double standards and disconnections within the video game
industry. This article is on the topic of hype. I feel like this
article is too easy. Like taking candy from a baby, or mowing a
lawn that is already done. Every single gamer who has been
playing video games for a few years knowa about the issue of
hype in the video game industry. Too many companies brag that
their game is the latest, greatest most amazing piece of
software to be put on sale. They do this to generate excitement
over their products.
What happens when the hype does not meet the reality? In the
past there were angry letters, and calls into a company. They
would try to appease annoyed, irritated, and angry fanboys and
fangirls. Then emails would be sent to tell the company how we
felt. With social media channels there are all kinds of
campaigns concerning instances when the game does not meet the
hype. There have even been instances of websites being created
over the hype not meeting the game. Anyone remember One Man’s
Lie? If not, enact an Internet search on it. It was over the
game No Man’s Sky. That is just one recent example of the gaming
community getting irritated over the hype disconnect.
Why can’t these companies just be honest? Why does PR &
Marketing mean liars most of the time? It goes back to the big
money issue. These companies are making big money off of video
games. They want to squeeze every penny out of gamers they can.
Video games are released at over inflated prices, and hype is
used to prop up those prices as long as possible. Glitchy games
are released and the hype has them beating out the best in that
genre. I shake my head when I see some indie game developer
claim their game is better than Tetris. Do they mean the
graphics of their game beats a game from thirty years ago? I
would hope so. Generally they mean the game play experience.
Which I happen to question.
Gamers have done a good job in recent years of addressing the
disconnect of hype in the video game industry. It seems like
there have been so many backlashes that almost every video game
release is suffering from this problem. If the PR and Marketing
folks would be honest about their games, they would find gamers
would be much more forgiving. I am concerned that the backlash
happens so often that games that actually do achieve the hype
will be falsely accused. Maybe my concern is unfounded. You can
give Family Friendly Gaming your opinion on that. Do you have
any ideas on how to fix this disconnect? Do you want a better
video game industry going forward? What say you?
God bless,
Paul Bury
Family Friendly Gaming