10 Times Video Game Publishers Insulted Their Fans

4. In-Engine Gameplay Vs. The Real Deal

Xbox One Reveal
Ubisoft

We get it, exhibitions the size of E3 are too important to leave up to chance. Everything needs to go swimmingly if attendees are to buy into whatever your next big IP or sequel is. However, when that eagerness to impress results in disingenuous first showings and gameplay debuts that will never look that good in finished form, just don't bother sharing it at all.

Or are we to assume that publishers wouldn't think we'd notice that games like Watch Dogs went from displaying best-in-class visuals to good-but-not-mindblowing in the transition from kitchen to dinner plate?

Far be it from us to accuse those parties of intentionally deceiving its customers, but nothing short of a blind man could say, hand on heart, that they didn't notice the huge dip in graphical fidelity that struck Ubisoft's Chicago-set action-adventure or Gearbox's ill-fated Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Long story short: don't stay quiet about this stuff and hope nobody will notice. They will, and they'll be far less likely to complain if such changes are made crystal clear prior to the last second.

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Contributor

Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.