Molly ✧

Before I worked in games I used to think this. Let me help you understand why studios NEED to announce games 'too early' sometimes ✌🏾 1. Funding. Sometimes, teasers are aimed at investors or publishers confidence. If that YouTube view count gets high enough, and the comments are popping then the Directors can secure a higher investment or justify that wild ass requested budget. 2. Attracting Talent. If you want the top swordsmen in the world at your studio, you gotta respect they are good enough to work anywhere. So the best Artists, Designers, Coders etc need to see something exciting to decide to move to a new city to help turn a good game into a great one. 3. Countering Leaks. Sometimes a 12 second game teaser is there to set the tone. This is always gonna affect sentiment better than a blurry leak of an unfinished model with the first YouTube comment being "yo wtf, this looks like ass!?!" 4. Controlling Expectations. If a studio is working on something new, they want to make sure their fans don't spend 4 years 'anticipating' the wrong game. I ain't tryna hear you and your friends saying "I can't wait for SpaceHunter 2" if I'm making "Ninja Legend". The backlash could be a headache. 5. Market Positioning. Announcing "big comic action game" signals to competitors that my project exists too, so they need to avoid an identical style and gimme space so our release timing doesn't conflict. Obviously there's other reasons too, like building hype, building a community, or just getting lucky enough to secure a Game Awards slot - but you get the idea. Videogame cycles aren't like Film cycles so you sometimes need to move early. Hope this helps 🤝🏾