GamerSushi Asks: Can a Game Have Too Much Hype?

homefront hype

It’s only natural that, with a market so inundated with products, video games publishers are going to crank up the advertising for their game if only to push it into greater awareness with the consumers. Sometimes, though, there’s a game that takes it too far.

While most games can get on our nerves if we see them too many times of news sites or watch their commercials on TV, there’s the rare time that too much exposure can be a bad thing. For me, this phenomenon is happening with Homefront, THQ’s Korea invades America shooter. It seems that every time I go to check one of the blogs I frequent there’s something on how the game’s narrative will really get to you, or the multiplayer will revolutionize the industry, or how the game is being written by the guy who wrote Red Dawn. At first I was kind of interested in the premise, but now every time I see something about this game, it just draws out a sigh of apathy.

I’m not exactly sure why this happens, but it’s probably because at some point this amount of hype just looks like the publisher is trying too hard for attention. I’ve seen very few gameplay trailers for Homefront besides a really sloppy looking one for multiplayer that looked like Call of Duty with drivable vehicles, and everything else I see is a heavily produced video detailing the game’s background. I get that the America of the future is in a bit of trouble in this game’s universe, but I’d actually like to see some in-game footage at some point.

While Halo and Call of Duty do tend to be a bit heavy-handed when it comes to building anticipation for those games, they at least show in-game footage and things that actually get people excited about playing the game. Games like Homefront, though, rely on a barrage of fancy-looking videos and associations with big Hollywood names.

Maybe I’m just being a crotchety old pessimist, but surely I’m not the only one who’s felt this way about a game. What about you guys? Has any advertising campaign ever drawn your ire? Ever been invested in a game at first only to become disinterested because you keep getting subjected to an in-your-face hype machine? Go!

Written by

mitch@gamersushi.com Twitter: @mi7ch Gamertag: Lubeius PSN ID: Lubeius SteamID: Mister_L Origin/EA:Lube182 Currently Playing: PUBG, Rainbow 6: Siege, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Total War: Warhammer 2

7 thoughts on “GamerSushi Asks: Can a Game Have Too Much Hype?”

  1. I see what you mean Mitch, I know with every Call of Duty game I want to put a gun to my head in the months before it comes out because the press looooooooooooves COD.

  2. Dead Space 2. Wouldnt have really been super interested but the ad campaign was horrible and made me not want to play the game at all. Sure lets market it at rebellious 12 year olds! Definantly drew me away from that game.

    Im trying to think of other titles that the ads just made me go 🙁
    Iv had games that didnt like up to hype, but hype killing the game, Im having trouble thinking of many.

  3. It’s not advertised much from what I can see but Duke Nukem is suffering from a lot of fan made hype in my opinion and its putting me off somewhat.

  4. ?? This was one game that I thought was totally off the radar Mitch, and I’ve been super excited for it. I haven’t seen anything about it except a long in-game mission, lol. Basically the exact opposite experience from yours, and I absolutely can’t wait.

  5. as much as I hate having to watch the same add for the same game every time I want to read an article or watch a video it works. Then again I don’t think they (game developers/publishers) are marketing as much towards me or the “hardcore” audience because we typically buy games based off of the research I and many other “hardcore” gamers do through various review outlets and previews. If game publishers can get any coverage outside the gaming community then it was a successful add campaign. As much as I did not care for the Dead Space 2 “your mom will hate this” strategy it got media coverage outside gaming specific outlets so I would consider it successful. The most common way, as far as I can see, that publishers do this is to just advertise the crap out of a game and as much as I hate it I have never decided to not buy a game because I was sick of seeing adds on TV

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