Ben Kuchera was at theĀ Battlefield 4 reveal, and posted a small report about the event (which was at GDC). What struck me the most about it was this:
TheĀ Battlefield 4Ā reveal has suffered leak after leak, and in fact many of us were watching a leaked version of the trailer in the theater before the actual reveal took place. This makes the flashlights EA representatives were shining in the eyes of the press to make sure there were no hidden video recorders in the audience even sillier than they would normally be. Any damage had already been done: People knew the game in question, and were dissecting some of the content that was supposed to be a surprise.
That AAA publishers continue to insist on revealing games using showy events shown only to a select few is yet another symptom that the games industry is dinosauring itself. Imagine the amount of money that could be saved across all aspects of an industry that is closing dev shops, bankrupting publishers, and missing completely ridiculous “sales targets” if these companies would just use their existing internet channels in smart ways to reach both the news sites and their customers at the same time.
This information gets out anyway. It’s yet another instance of games publishers being tone-deaf and oblivious to the realities that surround them.