COMMENTARY - Game Announcement Leaks Are Shit

Don’t be a dick.

By Jay Tee
07/06/21

A significant portion of games journalism as a business model thrives off of unannounced insider info, and as social media becomes more synonymous with news reporting, there appears to be a growing tendency to rely solely on this type of leak to generate clicks and attention.

The problem is, not only does this eliminate the sense of surprise for gamers tuning in to watch live reveals, but it robs creators of the chance to have their work shared on their terms. I’m not talking about simple rumour spreading here, most of which are inevitably proven wrong; I’m referring to accredited, paid journalists citing “anonymous sources” to spread word of a leak that was never intended to be publicly unveiled.

Now, to be clear, I believe that blowing the lid on gross misconduct or abhorrent work behaviour is absolutely fair game. I also think it’s fine if an interviewee reveals nuggets of info about something previously unknown, because again it’s coming direct from the source. But ignoring embargos to show clearly private, work in progress screenshots, or off screen camera footage of a reveal trailer, is just proper shit, and propagating that sort of thing is even worse.

If you’re a tester, streamer, or outlet given behind the scenes production info, and decide to just stick it on Reddit under the cloak of anonymity, that is a flagrant abuse of privilege. I genuinely feel for those teams working hard on the timing and manner of their reveals, and it must be so disheartening to have that opportunity taken away by some asshat chasing low hanging fruit.

Of course, one could argue that this problem is an inevitable one in a digital connected age, and any wide sweeping attempt to clamp down would probably lead to more alternative, fringe platforms for sharing this kind of thing. But, at the same time, as journalists, we can individually take a stance and choose not to report on this stuff. Yes it might cost clicks, but I believe that integrity should still mean something in the modern age.