- 6 hours ago
Video games will pander to your basest instincts whenever possible.
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00:00So the video game industry is now bigger and more lucrative than it has ever been,
00:04registering global revenue upwards of $180 billion last year, far outpacing the profits
00:11generated by even Hollywood. But here's the thing, it is a very saturated market as well,
00:16and so you're going to have to do a lot to stand out, to make people want to buy your title and
00:20sit down and engage with it for between 30 to 100 hours. And therefore some publishers,
00:25developers and advertisers have gotten a little desperate when it's come to getting you to play
00:29their games. So let's take a look at them today, as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:33and these are the 10 most desperate ways video games got you to play.
00:3710. Bullshots and misleading trailers
00:40Perhaps the single most nefarious way that a desperate publisher can try and entice you to
00:45play their game is to straight up lie about it. Or, if we're going to be polite, which we're not,
00:50mislead is the term we're looking for. Bullshots is another term that stands for promotional images
00:55and trailers for a game which aren't in fact representative of its final release quality.
01:00In extreme cases, this might lead to something like the infamous Killzone 2 E3 2005 trailer,
01:05which was actually a target render intended for internal use only, but ended up being used to
01:10sell both the game and the power of the PS3, absolutely inaccurately of course. Ubisoft was
01:15also memorably dragged for their final versions of Watch Dogs and The Division, which were severely
01:20visually downgraded from their original gameplay demos. In rarer cases, developers might even
01:25straight up mislead the public about the content of their game, like Hello Games over-promising
01:29what No Man's Sky would offer straight out of the box. Whether the marketing has overstated a game's
01:34graphical or gameplay merits, the result is almost entirely the same. Frustration from players who
01:39feel that they've been duped into spending cash on an experience different from the one that was
01:44advertised.
01:459. Being as edgy as humanly possible
01:47Less deceitful, though arguably more annoying than bullshot culture, is the tendency for some
01:53developers to make a living by pandering to the surprisingly lucrative, edgelord contingent of
01:58players. This isn't to say that games shouldn't challenge social norms or ask provocative questions,
02:03but far too often developers will willfully create offensive and objectionable material simply to ride
02:09the wave of anti-PC fervor, because of course, as the saying goes, controversy creates cash.
02:14Perhaps the most outrageous example in recent years is Hatred, the game in which players control
02:19a mass-murdering misanthrope, with the only goal being to slaughter as many innocent human
02:23beings as possible before he dies. Less a game created out of artistic inspiration than a lazy
02:28attempt to cash in on reactionary politics, Hatred was critically reviled and yet a considerable
02:34commercial success. So the ruse, unfortunately, worked.
02:378. Promising to make up for previous failures
02:40We're all sick and tired of corporate apologies from video game publishers who've basically
02:45attempted to swindle players and been categorically called out for it. And no company has more
02:50egregiously attempted to wipe the slate clean with an insincere promise to do better next time than EA
02:55with their treatment of the rebooted Star Wars Battlefront franchise. 2015's Battlefront was broadly
03:01praised for its graphics and gameplay, yet many were left colossally disappointed at the lack
03:05of release content, feeling that EA was basically milking the cash cow in a supremely half-arsed way.
03:11But when it came time to marketing 2017's sequel, EA held their hands up and acknowledged that the
03:17original Battlefront was a relatively piecemeal experience on launch. They promised that Battlefront
03:222 would be considerably more content-rich, with a full narrative campaign and all DLC arriving free
03:28for players. Everyone makes mistakes, for sure, but billion-dollar corporations aren't people,
03:32remember? They're money-motivated behemoths, driven to see how much bad-faith behaviour they
03:37can get away with in the pursuit of colossal profits. And so, it shouldn't have been surprising
03:42when EA's pre-release spiel about Battlefront 2 was, frankly, a load of toss. For starters,
03:47the campaign was a thoroughly naff, low-effort affair, and the multiplayer was derided for its slow
03:52progression system, which appeared to incentivise microtransactions above anything else. EA did
03:57eventually work the game into better shape, but at this point, the damage had already been done.
04:01After all, as the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
04:07The response to Battlefront 2 was volatile enough that an expected third game never actually arrived,
04:12allegedly in part due to the high licensing costs involved with making Star Wars video games in the
04:17first place. 7. Nostalgia Pandering
04:21Ah, nostalgia. It's one hell of a drug, right? Hollywood has perhaps proven more than any other
04:26entertainment medium the intoxicating power of dredging up people's childhoods and selling it
04:31back to them with a shiny new lick of paint. But gaming isn't that far behind either, with publishers
04:36well aware that raking over their legacy hits is much easier than actually coming up with a compelling
04:41new IP or ideas. Take Sonic Mania, a game which single-handedly reversed years and years of
04:47critical misfortune for the platformer series, and yet one which largely functioned as a reimagining of
04:52its earlier better entries. By creating familiar but different remixes of the franchise's most
04:57iconic levels, Sega was able to pander to players' gravitation towards familiar comfort food,
05:02yet offer just enough new content to not be outright self-cribbing. The Pokémon franchise has
05:07perhaps been most criticised for dining out on its prior successes and failing to bring sufficient
05:12innovation, while the gaming industry's current obsession with remakes and remasters is further
05:16indicative of the commercial viability of the past. And we, as consumers, are certainly pretty much
05:21to blame here, because if it didn't work, they'd stop doing it. This isn't to say that nostalgia
05:26can't be invoked in creative and interesting ways. I mean, take Final Fantasy VII Remake's
05:30interesting new take on the original story, but it often feels like a crutch that imagination-devoid
05:35developers lean on for easy profits. 6. Introducing Goofy Peripherals
05:40Nothing screams desperation quite like a clunky peripheral being packaged with the latest entry
05:45into a hit video game franchise in an attempt to salvage flagging sales. There's no single
05:50example of this more egregious than Tony Hawk Ride, which released in 2009 as the skate series' best
05:56days were long behind it, and hoped to rekindle its connection with players en masse by releasing an
06:01accompanying plastic skateboard peripheral. In the era of Guitar Hero, it wasn't a terrible idea,
06:07even if it clearly was a Hail Mary pass to try and rescue a franchise on the commercial skids.
06:12The end result sadly confirmed the full extent of the desperation. The skateboard peripheral was a
06:16fiddly, unresponsive disaster, and releasing it to the tune of $120 simply hammered another nail in the
06:23series' coffin. External peripherals are admittedly a drastic enough step that few games even dare to
06:28implement them. I mean, the financial risk massively outweighs the potential for successful
06:32market innovation, which really only further confirms just how desperate Activision were on the
06:37Tony Hawk franchise. Ultimately, it won fans back not with silly, clunky plastic skateboards, but
06:44in a feat of nostalgic pandering, remaking the beloved first two games in the series.
06:485. Releasing Things as Free-to-Play
06:51There's perhaps no simpler way to entice somebody to play a video game than telling them that they don't
06:56need to pay a penny to do so. As such, the free-to-play movement has flourished in recent years,
07:01with publishers realising the lucrative potential of luring players in with no upfront fee before charging them
07:07for all the extra stuff. Now, some games handle this much better than others. There are many
07:11great free-to-play games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, Warframe, and so on that don't design
07:16their gameplay in an excessively predatory or exploitative way. But there are so many more that
07:21do the absolute bare minimum to hook addiction-prone players and then attempt to milk them for every
07:26possible buck through pay-to-win mechanics, heavily incentivising them to part with their real-world
07:31cash for a superior experience. And I mean, the most recent free-to-play disaster was Konami's
07:36eFootball 2022, which launched in an extremely compromised state, all while Konami busily shield
07:42expensive premium DLC packs to anyone with a functioning pair of eyeballs. Publishers are
07:47well aware that most players won't fall for these tactics, so they're always after the whales,
07:52a rather dehumanising term the industry uses for big-money power users who will drop thousands of
07:57dollars on a game, possibly while hopelessly addicted to it. The desperation in the free-to-play
08:02market is palpable, because why bother making an artistic game that people will gladly shout
08:07out top dollar for, when you can just exploit people's addictive tendencies for far less effort
08:12instead? 4. Hiring Hollywood Talent
08:15One of the easiest ways to give a video game press in the wider entertainment world is to hire a name
08:20actor to star in it, ideally lending both their voice and likeness to play a part. Now, this isn't to
08:26say that every celebrity role in a video game comes from a place of desperation. Rockstar has
08:31done a consistently good job of not letting A-lister voice artists hijack their GTA games,
08:35but GTA is also in the unique position of being among the most critically and commercially successful
08:40IPs on the bloody planet. Even with video games being taken more seriously by the wider world these
08:46days, for the most part it's fair to say that Hollywood actors are hired to serve as the marketing
08:50face of a game and impress a greater sense of prestige upon it. Take Bruce Willis in Apocalypse,
08:56or more recently Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077. Hell, while Peter Dinklage didn't physically appear
09:01in Destiny, his voice was a major aspect of the game's marketing, even if it ironically ended up
09:06being removed at a later date. There's no denying that the presence of a beloved, well-known actor in
09:11a game will make just about anybody perk up and pay attention. Take Vin Diesel's bizarre involvement in
09:16the upcoming arc too, which has gotten considerably more eyes on that game than it would have otherwise
09:21had, no matter how it turns out. 3. That Sweet Sweet Loot
09:25The mere whisper of the word loot is enough to make millions of players' ears prick up and pay attention,
09:31so ubiquitous is the presence of glistening things for them to hoover up after defeating an enemy.
09:36While finding currency or a new weapon and armour is nothing new for video games,
09:40we've come a long way from the comparatively quaint days of Diablo's loot hunt. Loot is commonplace
09:45amongst game genres these days, as publishers have discovered that few things get players'
09:49dopamine receptors firing up like a shiny purple pick-up. While loot appears in many great games,
09:54some are so singularly focused around their collection that it feels tantamount to shining
09:59a laser pointer at a cat, and loot can be weaponised more nefariously in games that feature loot boxes,
10:04where players are encouraged to develop a gambler's mindset to RNG elements.
10:09This is particularly troubling when players are able to spend real money obtaining or unlocking
10:14more loot boxes. No loot-driven game can survive for long unless it offers up fun cosmetics and
10:19meaningful upgrades, but even so, these games are typically designed around manipulating human
10:24behaviour first and foremost. They are industriously committed to maximising player engagement in order
10:31to fill their coffers, and it doesn't get much more desperate than that when you're apparently making
10:36art. 2. Offering Pre-Order Bonuses
10:40Pre-order bonuses are an attempt by publishers to incentivise players throwing down money for a game
10:45before it's commercially available, and typically before reviews have been released. This isn't to
10:50say that all pre-order bonuses are inherently bad or maliciously inclined, but they do nevertheless feed
10:55into a wider culture of publishers trying to wring as much money from potential customers as possible
11:01to come to market. After all, once you've pre-ordered a game, you're probably not going to cancel it,
11:06and even if you've lost interest in the game, you might actually forget
11:12figurines to multiplayer maps and in-game advantages, which won't be available to regular
11:16players for some time, if ever, and they're all conceived with the hope of parting you from your
11:20money as soon as damn possible. Some bonuses are more controversial than others, with the gameplay
11:25advantages proving especially divisive given their potential to create a divide between the players.
11:31Clearly there's an exploitation of FOMO going on here as well, with publishers again manipulating human
11:36psychology for maximum financial gain. This is all because publishers know that consumers waiting for
11:42reviews is absolutely not in their best interest most of the time, and they will do anything they can
11:47to get your money early. 1. If all else fails, sex sells
11:52The oldest adage of them all, and the one that will likely never not be true as long as humans remain
11:57sexual beings, is that sex sells. Well, quite a lot. Gaming has certainly come a long way in recent
12:03years in moving away from the excessively sexualised marketing tactics of decades past, but it's still
12:08fair to say that many games are sold on the presence of scantily clad individuals, and let's be honest,
12:13usually they are a woman. To be blunt, let's just say that dead or alive extreme games weren't
12:18shifting units because of their admittedly surprising robust volleyball gameplay.
12:21We all remember the blatant fan service in the earliest Tomb Raider games, and in a most extreme
12:26example, the cynically over-sexualised nudity-filled sports games like BMXXXX. More recently,
12:32Final Fantasy XV made side character Cindy a comically over-sexed object of player lust,
12:37and Soul Calibur VI offers up an ivy so impractically clothed as to basic instincts and desires.
12:43When they consider you little more than a single-minded horny teenager, it's easy to
12:47become suspicious that this fleshy smokescreen is here to distract from the fact that the game
12:52itself is actually lacking in the gameplay or story department. Yet, sex continues to sell games
12:57by the bucket load and probably always will, while the debate about what is sex positive and what's
13:02exploitation will forever rage on as well. And yes, before you say anything, we've noticed the
13:07thumbnail, we chose that to make a point. And that point is that sex, like I said, continues to sell.
13:13And there we go my friends, those were the 10 most desperate ways video games got you to play. I hope
13:17that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments
13:20section below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter at
13:24RetroJWithAZero, or you can swing by Liv and Let's Dice where I do all of my streaming outside of
13:28work, and it'd be great to see you over there my friend. But before I go, I just want to say one thing.
13:33If there is one thing that I am desperate for, it is that you treat yourself with love and respect,
13:38my friend, because you deserve all the best things in life, like love, happiness and success,
13:42and do not let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise, alright? You're a massive ledge,
13:46and I want you to go out there and absolutely smash it today. I believe in you. As always,
13:50I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
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