Can a Developer be Just too Tight Lipped?

Dauntis

It seems that some developers hold properties too secretive, the complete succlusion of information kills hype, kills interest and the gaming community develops a "vaporware" or "who gives a crap" attitude. 

Is this possibly what happened to 38 Studios, so much masking and cloaking and then delivering a single player game pretty much out of nowhere after promising a big MMO?

Whatever happened to the Titan Project at Blizzard? I mean I know they are still rolling in tons of cash and there is Diablo III and all ... but really ... not even genre information after this much time?

Scottgun

It's hard to blame them considering every other developer wants to beat the other guy to the punch. I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard Burger King doesn't do research on store locations. Instead, it lets McDonald's spend the money and man-hours on potential property, demographic studies, cost-benefit, etc. and then simply builds a Burger King wherever there is a McDonald's. I tend to think something similar goes on in the game industry with the exception that since there is more variation in computer games, that if you really got something that goes out of the norm, the last thing you want is another dev to learn of it and push out their own version.  

Loktofeit

Originally posted by Dauntis

It seems that some developers hold properties too secretive, the complete succlusion of information kills hype, kills interest and the gaming community develops a "vaporware" or "who gives a crap" attitude. 

Is this possibly what happened to 38 Studios, so much masking and cloaking and then delivering a single player game pretty much out of nowhere after promising a big MMO?

Whatever happened to the Titan Project at Blizzard? I mean I know they are still rolling in tons of cash and there is Diablo III and all ... but really ... not even genre information after this much time?

38 made it completely clear from the beginning (late 2009, when they acquired BHG and partnered with EA)  that they were making the singleplayer game first and then would set into creating an MMO.

2010 Interview at RPGWatch

2010 GDC Announcement

2010 SD Comic-Con Announcement

2010 Press Release

Stopping there as I think I see why it seems 'out of nowhere' to you and probably many others.

• Most announcements were either at industry events or at comic/rpg conferences - while many gamers are familiar iwth these events they are not necessarily events that most gamers follow for gaming news.

 

• The change from Big Huge Games to 38 Studios - reading through the news and headlines, there is a rather sudden shift in late 2011 from 'Big Huge Games' and 'EA'  as the words they were capitalizing on to '38 Studios' which would make it seem to many that didn't follow earlier covereagfe that news started less than a year before the release

 

With Titan, there's nothing tight-lipped at all. They decided they're going to do another MMO so they said as much, more than likely with several different agendas behind why and when they announced it. There's no reason for them to announce anything further, especially at a time when retention is a big concern for WOW.

 

BartDaCat

Originally posted by Scottgun

It's hard to blame them considering every other developer wants to beat the other guy to the punch. I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard Burger King doesn't do research on store locations. Instead, it lets McDonald's spend the money and man-hours on potential property, demographic studies, cost-benefit, etc. and then simply builds a Burger King wherever there is a McDonald's. I tend to think something similar goes on in the game industry with the exception that since there is more variation in computer games, that if you really got something that goes out of the norm, the last thing you want is another dev to learn of it and push out their own version.  

I always got the impression that Blizzard was doing this same kind of "demographic" research when it came to the "Next Gen MMO" project now called Project Titan.

 

Look at how many potential blockbuster AAA titles have promised to be the next big thing, and look at how few of them (or none at all) actually delivered. 

 

Talk about a market research treasure trove!

Scottgun

Originally posted by BartDaCat

 

I always got the impression that Blizzard was doing this same kind of "demographic" research when it came to the "Next Gen MMO" project now called Project Titan.

 

Look at how many potential blockbuster AAA titles have promised to be the next big thing, and look at how few of them (or none at all) actually delivered. 

 

Talk about a market research treasure trove!

 Also, from the wiki on Titan, Blizzard pretty much said they let out the project name as a recruitment tool. So instead of being tight-lipped, a dev might simply have only a very broad idea of what they want to do, but want the talent to think Hey, x developer has a new project in the works, I gotta get my resume in. Or perhaps sleazier, might put out a phantom project to retain the talent so that they won't work on someone else's project.

MarL

Tight lipped is not the problem.....its over hyping to early then failing to meet your created demand.

Gamers have a semi short attention span imo, no reason to hype it like crazy 5 years out.

maplestone

If you think a developer is being too tight-lipped, you have probably already set your expectations too high.