12 Video Games That Drastically Changed Between Reveal And Release
If we don't say anything, they'll just keep doing it.
The reaction and reception to No Man's Sky proved one thing about the game industry - consumers sure do love to hype things up, and those in marketing really love showing off games in a way that doesn't remotely indicate what they'll look like in the end.
It's called a 'vertical slice'; a chunk of a game siphoned off from the full project. These 'demos' don't take into account the ongoing development of the game itself i.e. features that may get added, changes in the size of the game overall etc. - basically, they're about as indicative of the big picture as one piece of pepperoni is to a pizza.
But still, the way press and hype cycles work - consumers need to be satiated and the exposure that comes with saying something like "Here's the first look at our game!" can't be turned away. It's why we get CG trailers instead of gameplay, and why I can't point to a single modern game that released in the exact same condition as when it was first shown.
Is being lied to just a harsh reality of being a gamer? Well, sadly, it just might be...
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12. Killzone 2
Remember this? Sony really were drinking the Cool Aid back in the first couple years of the PS3's launch. Not only did they expect people to pay $600 for a 60GB model at launch, but when it came time to show off the new Killzone, they literally faked gameplay footage with a pre-rendered cutscene.
I mean, that's... that feels almost criminal at some point, doesn't it?
Sony's Jack Tretton went on to state the footage was “real gameplay everybody’s seeing out there”, before a member of Guerilla Games labelled it "a target render of what we thought would be possible on the PS3. Something we would be aiming for".
Both parties seemed determined not to admit fault (or start a lawsuit), leading to 2007 when a now in-game version of Killzone 2 looked... completely different.
Perhaps it's testament to how much social media just wasn't a thing back then, that they managed to get away with such a ridiculous stunt.