So this is going to be a bit of a different kind of post! Rather than discussing a game or mechanic or anything like that, I want to rant a little about something that plagues all kinds of announcements but specifically video game related ones. I’m of course talking about leaks!

A leak is when information gets out that isn’t suppose to come out yet. For example, when someone manages to get some information on a big new game reveal and decides to post and talk about it before said reveal happens. It’s a bit more complicated than that I suppose but that’s a rough understanding about what leaks are. It’s when information gets out that isn’t suppose to come out. Hence, it leaks out.

As I was saying before, leaks happen with every kind of news but I want to focus on how they affect gaming news. This last weekend was EVO, the biggest fighting game tournament of the year! And as you can imagine, a lot of fighting game developers love to announce things at the event given just how many people are there. For this year’s EVO we got to see the whole Season 4 roster of DLC characters coming to Guilty Gear Strive, one of my favorite fighting games! And there were some big characters in this reveal. We got two fan favorites returning, a brand new character from the upcoming Guilty Gear anime, and the biggest surprise of all, the first every guest character for the series Lucy from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners! It was an insane announcement! …Or it would have been if it wasn’t leaked the morning of the event.

While it was still a great announcement with plenty of people getting excited, it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t a bit deflated by the leak that morning. Even the guy from Arc System Works, the developer of Guilty Gear, making the announcement had a little joking comment about the leak saying he had a bad dream that morning. And that right there is exactly why I hate when things like this leak out! It’s exciting for that one moment when you read the headline about the leak and see the info revealed but that moment is nothing compared to how exciting seeing that reveal is when it’s suppose to happen!

Admittedly, this leak was actually an accident, someone from Arc System Works accidentally posted the trailer early and people saw it before it was taken down, so it’s hard to be really upset by this. But the people who seem to love leaking information early are… I’m not going to say “the worst” since that’s a bit extreme, but they are assholes!

I just don’t get it… Why leak stuff like that out? Why ruin a reveal that people have worked so hard on? I get leaking information that might not come out otherwise, but when you’re posting what’s going to happen at the next Xbox or PlayStation event the morning that event is happening? You’re just spoiling everyone’s fun for a couple extra views or clicks!

This sort of thing sadly happens all the time, even at the latest big Xbox event. Right before the event was going to happen it was leaked that they would be showing off a new DOOM and Gears of War. Thankfully, Xbox had plenty more to show at the event but it was still upsetting when people couldn’t get nearly as excited or pop off when those reveals actually happened…

Going back to fighting games, right after Street Fighter 6 was fully shown off, there was a MASSIVE leak revealing not only all the fighters coming to the base game but all the fighters coming to the first season of DLC! Shockingly, rather than trying to erase all this leaked information, Capcom just owned the moment and basically confirmed it all. But it was clear how upset they were having to do that. Everyone who worked on all these characters had them all revealed in a slightly low quality image showing them off instead of in a big well made trailer!

As someone who absolutely adores seeing peoples reactions and hearing crowds cheer and freak out, I always hate to see when people go around leaking this stuff. It certainly doesn’t help that once the information is out there every big gaming news outlet starts to spread it around too! Making it basically impossible to avoid this information. Unlike with spoilers where news outlets do try and report on them while also warning people about said spoilers, everyone just starts posting these leaks like crazy, not caring at all about spoiling those reveals that are literally hours away!

And that’s the thing! Most of these leaks come out just hours away from the event, usually the morning of the event. What is the point of leaking that stuff out now? Again, do you really need those extra clicks and views that badly that you need to ruin this for so many people? Just be patient!

Now… Is this really such a big deal? Are leaks that big of a plague on the industry? Not really, but that doesn’t make them any less annoying! Again, I certainly understand leaking information that might not come out, like when it was leaked that Insomniac was working on a multiplayer spin off of their Spider-Man series. It was a project that got cancelled but the trailer for it, that was probably used as a pitch to the higher ups to get the green light to continue work on it, got leaked online. That’s something that makes sense! Given that we probably weren’t ever going to hear about that. Now whether it’s okay to basically steal and leak something like that out is a topic for another time, but leaking out a trailer that’s going to come out in a couple hours just to spoil the fun? That’s just a dick move.

It feels a bit weird to rant about something that I don’t feel is that big of an issue in the grand scheme of things but it’s something that really does bug me personally. It bugs me in the same way some people rush out to spoil games or movies for other people. Like, you’re just being an asshole so what’s the point?

And while I don’t think this post will inspire anyone to stop being the kind of person that spoils and leaks things, it would be nice if it helped someone change their mind! So to anyone who might have the ability to leak out some information and spoil a big surprise for everyone, stop! You’re not doing some service or justice leaking out info that’s going to get revealed in a much cooler way than some random article or video. In the end, you’re just being an asshole…

But those are just my thoughts! What are some of yours? How do you feel about leaks? Do you enjoy seeing big reveals? I’d love to hear your thoughts so don’t be shy!

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