I don't think that "corporate pushed spoiler culture is asinine" and "leaks can and often do hurt projects" are mutually exclusive ideas. I won't cry myself to sleep at night over this month's Corocoro scans spoiling parts of Pokemon Sword and Shield, but yeah, marketing is really important and a piss poor or uncontrolled reveal can do terrible things for a game's PR. I think being invested in Smash Bros Newcomer culture online since... jesus, since 2012 has kinda taught me this over and over again firsthand: great execution can make up for seemingly piss poor ideas, so when a leak just drops a name or a title or a hastily written sentence it can do a lot to sour an audience on what might be something really kickass that just needs a better tagline for it.
But at the end of the day "fans", the consumers, really don't get anything out of this obsessive devotion to spoiler culture. I could write paragraphs about how it hurts storytelling when big reveals and huge twists are prioritized in spoiler culture, but with regards to stuff like E3 I just straight up don't think there's much point in the secrecy that some games are hidden in. It doesn't hurt that some companies announce games waaaaay too early and go for months if not years on pure silence. All that secrecy does is build up hype and allow for unfettered expectations. We talk about sky-high expectations like they're something weirdo fanboys do on Reddit and not a deliberate marketing strategy, as if countless stinker titles have not been sold entirely on abusing the vagary of promises and veils of silence to mask glaring developmental issues.
But at the end of the day "fans", the consumers, really don't get anything out of this obsessive devotion to spoiler culture. I could write paragraphs about how it hurts storytelling when big reveals and huge twists are prioritized in spoiler culture, but with regards to stuff like E3 I just straight up don't think there's much point in the secrecy that some games are hidden in. It doesn't hurt that some companies announce games waaaaay too early and go for months if not years on pure silence. All that secrecy does is build up hype and allow for unfettered expectations. We talk about sky-high expectations like they're something weirdo fanboys do on Reddit and not a deliberate marketing strategy, as if countless stinker titles have not been sold entirely on abusing the vagary of promises and veils of silence to mask glaring developmental issues.
