Few really anticipated final yr’s Sport Awards to shut with something as earth-shattering as Half-Life 3, but when that type of enormous announcement had been going to occur throughout the present, that is when it might. As a substitute, Geoff Keighley cued up a trailer for an unknown hero shooter referred to as Highguard. It did not go nice.
The social media response was immediately hostile. Highguard was acquired as a ‘another factor’ trespasser that had claimed an unearned seat of honor, though its developer didn’t pay for the slot as many assumed. The reveal has grow to be a case research in how to not announce a sport, however what actually acquired individuals labored up is what Highguard’s developer did subsequent: nothing.
I can not fault Highguard’s creators for not being actively engaged web piñatas, although. The implication of so many X posts and YouTube video titles is that it is weird, catastrophic, and scandalous that we’ve got not been showered with character trailers, deep dive articles, and developer quotes. The quietude is somewhat uncommon, however plenty of video games do not get all that, particularly self-published video games like Highguard.
And a few Highguard builders did actually put up on social media after the announcement, with certainly one of them subsequently saying: “Day 1 of being a sport dev with a public-facing sport and I acquired 75+ quote retweets personally ripping me aside, merely for being excited to share what I poured myself into for years.”
With that type of response, they might as nicely simply let the sport communicate for itself. It isn’t as if there’s any precise scandal to answer right here. There isn’t any malfeasance inherent in some former builders of Titanfall 2, Apex Legends, and different standard shooters making one other sport in that extraordinarily standard style.
The Internet 2.0 period has lasted lengthy sufficient that I’ve practically forgotten what it was like when silence was the established order. Again within the day, you did not hear from sport builders besides in occasional journal interviews and at fan conventions. They launched video games, we performed them, after which we shouted at one another about them till they launched the following one. They weren’t required to pay attention in.
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I do not suppose we’re ever headed again to that world, the place CEOs did not beef with one another on X all day or maintain Reddit AMAs to quell fan uprisings. For one factor, clamming up simply is not a privilege everybody can get pleasure from whereas chasing a dwelling in video games as we speak. Area of interest video games aren’t robotically going to be observed, by no means thoughts be featured on the finish of a giant award present, and builders from marginalized backgrounds are routinely subjected to private assaults and threats for searching for out their viewers on social media.
However in case you can say screw it and log out, it is onerous to fault it. As X particularly turns into much less and fewer tolerable, I’m wondering if we’ll see builders pull again from the ‘we hear your suggestions’ period extra usually, and simply let the shouting take its course.
On this case, anyway, the cynical assumptions and militant calls for for Highguard to clarify itself have solely made me extra excited by driving its horsies round. That is most likely simply reflexive rebelliousness towards a perceived consensus. Or possibly the silent remedy works nicely on me. (“Males will actually play Highguard as a substitute of going to remedy,” and so on.)
No matter occurs subsequent week, I actually doubt it hinges on whether or not they did or did not feed us sufficient advertising. Folks will strive it, they’re going to prefer it or they will not, and this complete non-scandal will simply scroll away in to the previous.
