How the developers of players were deceiving. Not a “cyberpanm” one

How the developers of players were deceiving. Not a "cyberpanm" one

In the era of digital distribution and the pre -orders accompanying it, it has become even easier to provide good sales to the game: if you work on PR, money from players can start collecting already before the release. And here is the marketing department CD Projekt Red surpassed all the expectations assigned to him: he provided the project as many as 8 million pre -orders. Cyberpunk 2077 It was supposed to be the main game of the generation, and from the point of view of the hype, it happened: for two months after the release, the brainchilds of the Poles did not leave news reports, and the topics on the forums and social networks burst from posts about Cyberpank. But they only discussed there mainly not the advantages of the game – they, too, must admit, enough – and bugs and nightmarish optimization of console versions. At the same time, the audience remembered CDPR all the loud promises that remained unrealized.

In the light of recent events, we decided to recall the four more large scandals of this kind.

Killzone 2

Hello, I'm Ken Kutaragi, and now I will show you the graphone!

In the first half of the 2000s, the game graphics were still hopelessly inferior to CGI rollers, and PRA actively used this, often issuing renders for demonstrating the real capabilities of the engine. A little less often for these purposes, Kitszen's screenshots were used, the graphics in which were often much better than in the gameplay itself, where the quality of the picture was omitted to save resources. However, there was a swirling swearing: the pictures specially created in the graphic editor that imitate scenes from the game, but in reality there are nothing to do with the engine. The creators of the popular comic book Penny Arcade In 2005, they called them "bullshot"-from Bullshit (nonsense) and screenshot.

The famous scandal with the presentation of the shooter fell on the same year Killzone 2 on E3 2005. PS3 and games for her personally represented Ken Kutaragi – the Creator PlayStation. According to him, buyers of the future console had to get exactly what they showed in the video. A little later, the vice president Sony Computer Entertainment America Jack Tretton said that the shots shown in the trailer were taken from gameplay. What, of course, was not believed from the word at all: at that time the graphics in games (even PC exclusives) and did not stand nearby with such an impressive picture. But can such senior Sony employees lie down – and especially Kutaragi?

It turned out that how they could. And although the fake of the trailer exposed quite quickly, the authors of the series authors of the series Killzone posted only in 2017. According to the executive producer Guerilla Angie Smetts, a memorable video was created for internal use and only reflected the vision of the future sequel. The developers at that time had not even received the PS3 Virgin, but they believed that such a graphics quality would be achievable on the new console. And, of course, the team did not notify that the video will be used on E3, and even filed as a “demonstration of gameplay”.

Fortunately, time spent everything in places, rehabilitating “guilty” Guerilla “without guilt”. The Killzone 2 published in 2009 received enthusiastic reviews in the press, and the quality of the graphics, even if inferior to the trailer for four years ago, was still magnificent. At least against the backdrop of other console shooters.

Aliens: Colonial Marines

The story of a deafening failure Aliens: Colonial Marines The entirely and fully consists of contradictions, scandals and trials, during which the developer and publisher tried to blame each other. According to the investigation of the notorious Jason Schreyer, the authors Borderlands They did not take an active part in creating the game until 2010, and there were at least two reasons for that. Firstly, Gearbox For some reason I undertook to finalize a long-building Duke Nukem Forever, what greatly spoiled her reputation. Get involved in adventure with other people's best practices and try to collect them together in a short time-a big risk: they will ask you anyway from you. Secondly, due to the deafening success of Borderlands, the studio immediately began work on the sequel. And the development of “strangers”, meanwhile, was engaged in two teams: Timegate Studios I oversaw a single campaign, Nerv Software – Multiplayer.

The head of Gearbox Software is also a professional illusionist. That, in general, hints

The full announcement of the game took place on E3 2011. In the 11-minute video, the head of the studio Randy Pitchford poisoned pathos tales about how much he was “strangers” and with what kind of trepidation his team recreated the atmosphere inherent in the 1986 film in the game. After the trailers 2011 and 2012, it was difficult not to believe in what was said: here you have a team of paratroopers studying the dilapidated expanses of the colony, and the familiar sound of a pulsed rifle, and pitch darkness. Later Randy sang a lot of praises of the lighting system, which the developers were “very proud”, but in fact, Pitchford was terribly unhappy that Timegate had happened and instructed his team to bring everything to mind. The game by that time has already undergone several transfers, so I had to bring it to mind by the Stakhanov pace.

When Aliens: Colonial Marines finally saw the light in 2013, there was no limit to the rage of gamers and journalists. The quality of the graphics (especially on the consoles) was very inferior to shown in trailers a year earlier, the AI ​​curve turned ruthless xenomorphs into blind ducklings and https://sister-site.org/lucky-mister/ cannon meat, and the bugs climbed out of all the cracks. Following the hype, raised by reporters and players raised by the revelations of a man who was a former employee of Gearbox Software. It was he who shed light on how things really were: the plot campaign was completely devoted to Timegate, and the Gearbox contribution was limited only to insignificant participation in the development of multiplayer. He called the entire six -year development cycle "disaster".

The very next day are representatives Sega (she acted as a publisher) refuted this information, saying that it was Gearbox that is responsible for the project, and the participation of other studios in the development was minimal. Pitchford himself also assured the journalists that the Timegate contribution was about 20%, Gearbox was engaged in the rest. Then the network flooded the rumor that Randy spent most of the funds allocated on “strangers” on the development of Duke Nukem Forever and Borderlands 2. The head of Gearbox denied the prosecution: according to him, he not only did not engage in the theft of money, but also invested his $ 10 million so that the game was born at all. It is curious that the actor Michael Bin, who voiced the Corporal Hicks, said in an interview with 2018 that the employees who worked on the game did not show much enthusiasm.

But whoever is really guilty of what happened, the fact of misinformation by the advertising department and Randy is evident. Subsequently, the developer for a couple with the publisher were in the bench of the defendants in the fraud case. Sega admitted that trailers did not reflect the quality of the final version, and Gearbox dumped guilty for dishonest marketing on the publisher. And let the studio have been working out with several continuations of Borderlands, the status of a “liar” (as hemers subsequently christened it) firmly entrenched in Randy Pitchford. Fiasco with "strangers" is recalled to him to this day.

No Man’s Sky

Shono Murray, the creator of the infamous No Man’s Sky, managed to arrange players thanks to charm and oratory talent.“I accurately acted according to the Molniean training manual,” Thomas Mahler described the whole situation with the game later.

Veselchak Sean Murray

According to Murray, No Man’s Sky promised dozens, if not hundreds of hours of unique experience: all thanks to a large -scale procedurally generated world, where one could endlessly investigate galactic spaces. Spectacular (and, as it became clear later, fake), the trailer was impressive no less than Sean's tales about multiplayer. Financial support from the outside Sony and victory in two nominations on The Game Awards 2014 fucked hype to the limit. But the miracle, unfortunately, did not happen – there was a very loud scandal.

The bitter truth about No Man’s Sky got out two weeks before the release: one of the users Reddit miraculously took possession of the copy of the game and shared not only the gameplay recording, but also his impressions full of disappointment. According to him, No Man’s Sky was clogged with bugs, the duration of the plot campaign was insignificant, and the multiplayer, about which Murray trumpeted to the last, was simply not in the game. History quickly reached the creator who asked the players to wait for the release with a patch accompanying him and not spoil his impressions. Alas, it was another lie: the multi -user regime did not appear, and most of the technical problems were never fixed.

The scandal with No Man’s Sky again reminded the entire industry about the problem of bullshot and fake trailers. Following this Valve , for example, I forbade the use of similar content when placing games in Steam. And the host of The Game Awards, Jeff Kili, who handed Murrey several awards, assigned his responsibility, promising only to believe the posts of gameplay, and not with staging rollers.

However, it is worth paying tribute Hello Games : After a loud exposure, the team did not dissolve in the air with the money of deceived gamers, but began to actively finish the game. After years, the multiplayer and new mechanics finally appeared in No Man’s Sky. The audience seems to have forgiven Murray, and the once “repentant” creator of The Game Awards again handed him a reward in 2020. The last achievement of the developers was a patch that optimizes the game for the needs of the new generation consoles.

Peter Molnieo

Behind Peter Molinjo, two years ago exchanging the seventh ten, the title of the main storyteller of the gaming industry was firmly fixed. And not at all because the most popular and long -playing series of the master was fantasy Fable. A series of successful releases, with a bang accepted by the public in the 90s ( Populous, Dungeon Keeper) and early 2000s ( Black & White), not in earnestly turned his head to the person who created a new genre: the simulator of God. He praised his projects worse than conceited politicians who distribute high-profile promises during election campaigns: for example, he called Fable the best game of all created ".

Molino promised to release RPG, which will give an unprecedented experience. Players, they say, will be able to create families, plant trees and observe their growth, and the children of the murdered enemies after reaching a certain age will certainly want to get even with a protagonist. As a result, none of this was implemented. Some time later, Molinjo even turned to fans at the official forum with an apology. This is how he explained his empty communication: “Everything that I was talking about was in development, but in the end it remained overboard. For example, three years ago I talked about growing trees. But when the team began to implement this feature, it became clear that it greatly loads the processor. ". (Fable was developed for Xbox – approx. Ed.)

Looking ahead, we note that one of the distinguishing features of Moligne will subsequently become the habit of shifting guilt to others: either the journalists did not understand him, then the publisher ruined the game with his excessive intervention. Nevertheless, Fable was warmly accepted by the public – the enchanting atmosphere of the fantasy world, coupled with an explanatory battleship and the excellent console on the standards of the console, forced the audience to forgive the storyteller Molnie. Although the sediment, of course, remained.

How can these eyes lie?

Peter became a little later – and it all started with ambitious Project Milo for then still preparing to launch the controller Kinect. Chapter Lionhead Studios again began to give out loud promises, positioning the project as something unique to the industry. In a memorable promotional ring (below), one could watch how a real girl communicates with the virtual boy Milo, and he reacts quite vividly, depicting emotions and answering questions. Of course, such an impressive presentation could not help but warm up interest in the future device. However Microsoft For some reason, she personally lowered all the works of the PR managers to a well-known place a couple of months before the release of Kinect. It turned out that the Project Milo was just a technological demo, which they were not going to turn into a game and release into the market.

Molinjo all this time repeated that he was working on the game, and when the truth was revealed – he made excuses for a long time, explaining what happened that the management of Microsoft (by that time, the company had already owned Lioned Studios) in the need to release the game. Say, the authorities did not fully believe in the success of the project. A little later in an interview IGN He even stated that the employer hung noodles on his ears, and the “air trade” became the same shock for him as for the public. However, after the story with Fable and her sequel, about which Moligne also lied with three boxes, the audience was less and less believed by the beautiful stories of Peter.

Finally, the words of Molinjo lost their weight in 2013, when his paths with Microsoft dispersed and the game designer founded a new studio 22cans. Since the former employer remained the rights to Fable, Peter decided again to try his luck with the next simulator of God. Money for the future Godus Molinya collected on Kickstarter , According to the already proven scheme, distributing promises to the right and left to gamers (and in this case also to depositors). To heat the interest, the head of the studio decided on a creative experiment, releasing the game Curiosity – What’s Inside The Cube? Gamers had to make out a giant cube in it, and the one who would do this first was promised a reward.

About five million people took part in a social experiment, and Brian Henderson became the winner – he relied on a special status in Godus and a free tour of the developers' office. As the winner later said, the game did not cause much enthusiasm, and later the studio completely stopped in touch, so Henderson did not receive any privileges over other gamers. Molinjo explained this by the dismissal of an employee who was responsible for contact with the winner.

The situation with Godus turned out to be no better: in the "best traditions" of Peter, most of the promises, including multiplayer, was never realized. As one of the creators later said, the release of the game in the form in which it was presented at Kickstarter, was not possible in principle. According to Molinjo, he began to write threats on the network, so in a big interview to The Guardian, the gamemeracker snapped down to never communicate with the press and not tell about his projects. And, of course, Peter laid the blame for gamers and journalists: they say, you just have to share their public ideas, as they are immediately regarded as promises. Later, the journalist The Guardian noted: “An hour after the publication, we found that the day before our conversation, Molinjo gave an interview to the Rock Paper Shotgun portal, where he also promised not to communicate with the press. Another unfulfilled promise ".

As for Godus, a weak demand, in many ways due to the lack of a multi -user component, led to the fact that the developers themselves very quickly forgot about their brainchild. I did not correct the situation and later the spin-off Godus Wars , which gamers smashed to fluff for dull gameplay.

Of course, this text does not exhaust all the crawlers that the gaming developers allowed themselves in the history of the industry – we paid attention only to the most resonant cases of recent years.

And what examples of the most egregious switches are remembered by you?

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