Do you prefer small bits of info over a long period of time or a huge info dump?

[Kieli]

Inspired by the Xbox thread, I'm curious how we feel about a slow trickle of information or revealing an extensive amount in one go?

FFVII took the second approach. It felt like we knew practically nothing about it from 2015 to 2019. Then they revealed a ton of information in 2019 and kept that momentum going into early 2020.

On the other hand, we have Hades by Supergiant Games. Perhaps slow trickle isn't quite the right word, but there's been a steady stream of information given to us. I'm sure a large part of it is driven by the fact that it's early access. Nevertheless, it's an unprecedented level of insight into the roadmap of where Hades was heading towards in 2019 and where it intends to head in 2020.

What do you prefer?

 

[Deleted member 10629]

Just lay it all down. I want to buy the product, not the hype.

 

[Benzychenz]

Big nut but reveal the game 6 months before release, not 5 years.

 

[SJRB]

Slow trickle is the absolute worst and I absolutely HATE that strategy.

 

[ElephantShell]

Gimme that nut.

 

[Tyrant Rave]

why are you guys like this

 

[Windu]

Girth

 

[Kieli]

I guess I forgot to mention that I'm envisioning a scenario where a game is announced in year 202x and is released in 202x + 5. With the 2nd approach of unveiling a lot of information at once, let's say that it occurs in 202x + 4. So effectively 3 - 4 years of radio silence. With the first approach, we're talking about steady approaches every year leading up to launch.

Feel free to substitute your own numbers if you don't like mine.

 

[Praedyth]

I usually like when it begins slow then it gets real fast.

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

Hate slow stream of news, especially if a lot of it I don't care about. I'd rather get all of it all at once so I get more things I care about and get through the weaker news faster.

 

[Tiny Hawk]

I'd rather know most of it closer to release than constantly get teases and glimpses over a long period of time. Just shoot your goo, dude.

 

[Kieli]

I'd rather know most of it closer to release than constantly get teases and glimpses over a long period of time. Just shoot your goo, dude.

Click to shrink...

I'm not a big fan of premature announcements either. The tease is so painful.

 

[tellNoel]

why are you guys like this

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lmao fr

 

[Piggus]

Nuttt

 

[Pirate Bae]

I changed your thread title because we're not going to allow crass, "boys club"-esque titles when you could have been an adult and made a normal one. Don't do it again.

 

[Kieli]

I changed your thread title because we're not going to allow crass, "boys club"-esque titles when you could have been an adult and made a normal one. Don't do it again.

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Thanks for keeping the thread open. Future thread titles and polls won't be vulgar.

 

[Strings]

Oh no, I instinctively voted thinking this was about presenting a story in-game and picked small bits. Can't change vote :(

Fuck small announcements over a longer period. Lots of Japanese games do them via Famitsu and the like, and they're never worth it, even with titles I'm really looking forward to. It forces the devs to hand out information I'd much rather just learn when playing, instead of dumping the story setup in one big trailer, the gameplay in another, etc.

 

[Kieli]

Oh no, I instinctively voted thinking this was about presenting a story in-game and picked small bits. Can't change vote :(

Fuck small announcements over a longer period. Lots of Japanese games do them via Famitsu and the like, and they're never worth it, even with titles I'm really looking forward to. It forces the devs to hand out information I'd much rather just learn when playing.

Click to shrink...

Your generous contribution to make the poll more balanced does not go unnoticed, my friend.

 

[nib95]

I prefer something in-between the two. Eg a mix of small and medium to medium-large dumps of information. To me that is better than just small morsels spread out, or instead only large ones with huge gaps in between.

 

[Bradford]

In terms of details prior to release?? none. give me nothing. let the game speak for itself. I think we live in an era of information overload especially prior to release, which leads people to judge things and form opinions way too early, even before they have played a game at all. Just look at how many threads we get about Ghost of Tsushima. By people's reactions to it you would think it's some vaporware game, but we have been told multiple times that it's just in development at its own pace, lol. This kind of attitude is a result from the constant hype cycle information stimulus overload most people are used to, and I really think we should get away from it. Let devs make games on their own time. This, I think, will also help with crunch and release dates as so often features are rushed to meet delivery deadlines based on previews and announcements.

In terms of game stories, give me an extremely slow and steady burn, preferably with lots of environmental storytelling and item descriptions. Don't make everything magically happen in front of, or pertain directly to, me as the player character.

 

[Hecht]

Updated the poll to be less childish

 

[ItsTheLittleThings]

Not every genre or IP interests me, so a steady stream of a lot of things that don't interest me does not interest me.

 

[DaciaJC]

I'm sick of games getting announced and then *nothing*, not a word for months, if not years afterwards. I understand development is a complicated process with ever-shifting goals and progress, but surely it's not impossible to deliver small snippets every so often, be it concept art, renders, interviews, whatever. Hell, even some retrospectives on previous games in the series if applicable, detailing what the developers felt went well and what they'd want to address for the new title.

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

I'm sick of games getting announced and then *nothing*, not a word for months, if not years afterwards. I understand development is a complicated process with ever-shifting goals and progress, but surely it's not impossible to deliver small snippets every so often, be it concept art, renders, interviews, whatever. Hell, even some retrospectives on previous games in the series if applicable, detailing what the developers felt went well and what they'd want to address for the new title.

Click to shrink...

Announcing games too soon is also a problem.

 

[Glio]

I don't really care

 

[Joni]

Little bits and pieces to let me get better insight.

 

[Superking]

it depends. for something like E3? yeah i don't mind having to wait a year to get a gusher of new info/video/etc. this is what bugged me about last year's, where we started getting trickled info and such like two weeks (at least) leading up to it, pretty much defeating most of the point of e3.

 

[Zippo]

Steady stream of info, Smash did this wonderfully so I prefer that with my games.

 

[Nintendo]

What I prefer? I prefer lots of info at once only because it becomes a big event with everyone participating in discussions.

What I think is actually better? A stream of info over a long period of time because it means there's always some news to look forward to.

 

[____]

Steady stream.

 

[DeoGame]

Usually all at once. But due to quarantine, I prefer the trickle method. Gives me something to look forward to each week/month.

 

[Yuntu]

I prefer big info dumps.

 

[bane833]

As much info as possible at once. I fucking hate this boring ass next gen rollout we´re experiencing so far.

 

[TheMadTitan]

I like the whole announce the game six months to a year before release thing. Then they can dole out that info bit by bit or through large dumps within that timeframe.

Anything longer, it doesn't matter how they give out the information, it's still annoying as shit.

 

[EliR]

Trailer with date and no additional info. Reviews should contain that info.

 

[PokémonSpears]

I prefer like lots of info all at once, preferably closer to the release.

Unless it's a new franchise or something that hasn't released anything in years and needs more promo, I don't know why there's such a need to hype games for so long with tidbits of info when you already have a captive audience that's gonna buy the game anyways. Sure you wanna give them some time to save money for the release, but I think that franchises that have been here for years should be fine announcing their games 2 or 3 months in advance.

 

[texhnolyze]

Just lay it all down. I want to buy the product, not the hype.

Click to shrink...

One and done. Hype is a waste of time.

 

[Deleted member 27551]

I much prefer a huge dump.

 

[Midgarian]

In my teens and early 20s I was all about reading every morsel of info. and watching every frame of trailers and gameplay footage multiple times (I even used to keep a folder with trailers of my favourite anticipated games).

In my mid to late 20s I've transitioned to entering media blackout as early as possible for games I know I'm interested in. Because if I know I will get a game, might as well go in as fresh as possible.

I recall so many games where I was familiar with so many scenes because both too much was shown in trailers and gameplay footage, and also because I replayed that footage too many damn times during the years of development!

So I went steady stream on the poll.

 

[Soul Lab]

Info dump is great.
I love the flood of new threads after an event

 

[TheRaidenPT]

I like info dump.

But then again it's nice to have info drop here and there. I suppose It depends on if it's a game coming out soon or not

 

[Deleted member 46948]

Absolutely huge info dump all at once.
Staggered trickle makes it way easier to miss something.

I loved e3 precisely because I got 90% of my yearly gaming info over 5 days.

 

[Vexii]

The staggered info release just makes me feel real anxious for some reason

 

[Smoolio]

Huge reveal and info dump 1-3 months before release, launch trailer on release.

 

[Clive]

Info dump. I don't watch trailers so that I can go in unspoiled but I want to see the biggest hype events like this week's Inside Xbox, Nintendo Direct, E3 and State of Play. After that I black out the rest of the trailers up until launch. I can get a good idea of what to buy without them. For specific games, it's the same. I don't need to read new details every month. Just let me know what I'm getting and let me decide when to take in the info.

 

[Falchion]

Give me that huge chunk of info about 6 months before release.

 

[Pyro]

I like a steady stream but only if it's in a Capcom style 6 month blitz (RE7, RE2, DMC5)

 

[Polyh3dron]

I want the release of info to happen at the specific pace that is good for me to feel happy and don't care that others may want the info all released quicker or slower. They need to listen to ME!