Anyone else think that games are announced WAAAAAAAAY too early?

[Jak]

now, i'm not referring to the occasional arkham city or assassin's creed. but wasn't "DmC" announced in 2010? the game wasn't released until 2013. "metal gear solid: whatever the hell the game is called i got tired of waiting" announced last year. i forget when it gets released but its sometime later this year.
i'm just of the mid set (at the moment) that games that are announced with an amazing cinematic trailer and great gameplay footage should be announced (and by announced i mean with the full trailer and all) atleast 8-9 months out.
thoughts???

 

[Dark Drakan]

Yeah I understand why people would start thinking this, most the time its down to shareholders and financial reasons. They have to announce projects early to get the financial forecasts for the following years based on interest in their projects etc. Its a shame that the games industry has started to show more signs of being a business these days but guess these are the times. Rubbish for gamers though as we hear about titles and get excited and then have to wait years down line to actually get our hands on them.

 

[ToriJ]

As long as we're not waiting nearly a decade to have nothing more than a demo I'm not bothered by the wait.

 

[Khundy]

Remeber FF13-versus now FF15, I do feel like the game industry has gotten worse over the years, especially their DLC practices- on disc and day one DLC's not to mention day one patches because they send out broken games.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Build hype.
I think Dark Drakan was drooling over 1313 lol.

I was as it sounded superb and just the Star Wars title I had been waiting for.

 

[Jak]

yeah. 1313 looked SPECTACULAR. i was really looking forward to it, but again, it was a year and a half out. and it got cancelled right at that year out mark. all that hype was built for nothing

 

[Meg]

I guess part of it is that when developers announce a game, they are assuming it won't be plagued with delays and other issues. Developers also need to make sure there is ample time to release information (instead of dumping it all at once) and to drive up pre-order numbers.

 

[Jak]

I guess part of it is that when developers announce a game, they are assuming it won't be plagued with delays and other issues. Developers also need to make sure there is ample time to release information (instead of dumping it all at once) and to drive up pre-order numbers.

i guess that's fair. but still, even if everything is going according to schedule and they get it all done on time...Y U RELEASE CINEMATIK TRAILOR 3 YEARS BEFOR GAME COME OUT *coff*DmC*coff* (and that game ain't the only one either). i guess my real issue is hype. as i so delicately stated before, phantom pain was announced how many eons ago? and it doesn't even come out until late this year.
i think a game much like infamous second son or the last of us had great announcement time frames (if i remember this correctly). they were both announced by playstation that they were happening but the actual developers didn't release a thing until it was less than a year away

 

[Meg]

i guess that's fair. but still, even if everything is going according to schedule and they get it all done on time...Y U RELEASE CINEMATIK TRAILOR 3 YEARS BEFOR GAME COME OUT *coff*DmC*coff* (and that game ain't the only one either). i guess my real issue is hype. as i so delicately stated before, phantom pain was announced how many eons ago? and it doesn't even come out until late this year.
i think a game much like infamous second son or the last of us had great announcement time frames (if i remember this correctly). they were both announced by playstation that they were happening but the actual developers didn't release a thing until it was less than a year away

DmC was also developed by people who didn't know what they were doing and needed Capcom to step in and teach them how to make good gameplay. That didn't help development time at all.

Although, I do believe they said the the initial trailer was revealed before they had really started work on the game. So I'll give you that one.

 

[Jak]

DmC was also developed by people who didn't know what they were doing and needed Capcom to step in and teach them how to make good gameplay. That didn't help development time at all.

Although, I do believe they said the the initial trailer was revealed before they had really started work on the game. So I'll give you that one.

oooooooh. dems is fightin words. lol but i had no idea that they hadn't even started on the game yet when that trailer was released. dude, seriously, what is the rush here?

 

[ArabPikachu]

I'm with the OP on this.

Tekken X Street Fighter was announced back in 2010 but Bandai Namco hasn't announced a release date for it yet.

 

[ReaperHunter]

Last Guardian anyone? Lol but yeah announcing games super far in advanced is annoying I think the most it should be is like a year before the planned released.

 

[Dark Drakan]

It's nearly up & running but need a bit of ironing out so the next few years are used as fine tuning but things change i guess & games get cancelled only halfway done.

Heard about certain games being cancelled a couple of months before they were finished and they were just in the polishing stage before going gold.

 

[Demi-fiend]

Why?
To get that close & get cancelled, why not just release it.

Lack of advertising revenue, fear of it not selling, etc.

 

[ArabPikachu]

You think it's possible they were waiting for the next-gen systems to be exclusive to them ?

I understand what you're trying to say here since RE5 was announced in 2005 (when 7th-gen era was in its premature stage) and debuted in 2009 but still find it frustrating when the gap between a game's announcement and retail availability is more than 2 years.

 

[Demi-fiend]

Why would any of that stop something that close to release?
It seems more like a lack of faith at that point than anything.

Fine. It's a lack of faith, then. Doesn't mean that those other reasons I listed above don't count as well.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Why?
To get that close & get cancelled, why not just release it.

Many reasons usually but sometimes its internal issues and other times it's the project exceeding the costs/budget and they fear they won't make cash back or they want to use the assets for something they have more faith in. Or a publisher pulling out for whatever reason and studio not being able to afford to self publish without another publisher.

Heard of many occasions where a studio has said a project is pretty much content complete and has entered bug testing only for the project to be canned.

 

[ArabPikachu]

Despite me admitting frustration at how there are games that have +3 year time gap between announcement and retail availability, I try to look on the bright side because there's something even more frustrating to me:

Spoiler

Waiting +20 years for marriage

 

[Demi-fiend]

It's sad when it happens too.
Like Legacy of Kain Dead Sun.

You just had to remind me that I'll never be playing that game, didn't you? Thanks a lot.

 

[Demi-fiend]

It's so sad.

"WHAT HAVE I GOT TO DO TO PLAY SOUL REAVER??"

"WHAT HAVE I GOT TO DO TO MAKE SQUEENIX CARE?"