Bethesda Softworks, the company behind the creation of the highly anticipated Fallout 4, is one of the most respected publishing companies in gaming right now. Having just officially announced that Fallout 4 back in June, Bethesda plans to release the game this November which is in an unprecedentedly short turnaround for a AAA title. Typically titles are announced years in advance in order to build the most awareness and hype possible for their release, but in doing so many of the surprises that await gamers get spoiled.
For example Final Fantasy XV was announced back at E3 2006 originally as Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Nearly 10 years later and the game has still yet to be released, but thanks to demos, trailers, and press conferences, players seem to have a pretty thorough understanding of the game already. This is where Bethesda differs though.
While Bethesda has shown off a decent amount of the game’s combat system already, it has kept the story tightly wrapped up and has no plans of changing that.
Bethesda’s Vice President of marketing, Pete Hines, says,
I would be stunned if we said anything else about the story ever again [prior to launch]…We’re going to let everybody experience that in the game as much as possible. But there are certain trade-offs you have to make to build some amount of awareness to what the game is offering, so you’re willing to make some sacrifices.”
Todd Howard, the game director for Fallout 4, prefers it this way simply for the fact that he hates showing an unfinished product. In an era where updates and DLC seem to complete a game rather than adding to the experience Bethesda is committed to providing a high quality, expansive, and engrossing product from day 1 that should not require any quick patches.
It’s been said that Fallout 4 is the most ambitious RPG to ever be created and coming from the guys who brought us Skyrim it definitely would be no surprise.
Is the internet and over-saturation of every bit of gaming news killing the sense of discovery and wonder that used to surround new games (and even conventions) or should we as consumers know exactly what we are investing our money in before we make a purchase? Let us know in the comments below!
