Hey, devs: Stop announcing your games so early
Blizzcon happened this weekend, and it brought two major announcements with it: Diablo 5, and a new StarCraft game. Cool, exciting stuff – except the release windows that have been tacked onto them are 2029 and 2030, respectively. I instantly despaired. I don’t know if it’s my age, or if it’s the state of the world we’re currently in, but I absolutely cannot comprehend anything three or four years away from now, least of all a video game.
Blizzard was more tight-lipped about StarCraft, presumably because it’s an extra year out, but the company did share quite a lot of details about Diablo 5. We know the premise of the story, we know some of the character classes; we’ve even seen glimpses of the inventory system. And so, as you’d expect, there are already a lot of discussions going on all across the internet about what people like and dislike. Now, I love Diablo; I’ve sank thousands of hours into Diablo III and IV, and I’ll undoubtedly sink thousands more into Diablo V when it comes out. But right now? With three years to wait? No thanks, I simply do not care.
No, perhaps ‘care’ isn’t the right word. I’m glad the Diablo franchise is continuing, and I’m glad that it’s at the forefront of Blizzard’s plans. But for me, as a player – and more greater, as a person – I simply can’t fathom something that’s so far away. I don’t need to know about it. I’ve got so many more things to think about that are much more imminent or pressing. I can’t begin to get excited or look forward to it until it’s in a space of time I can actually imagine.
This isn’t just in response to Blizzard, either. They certainly aren’t the only ones announcing games too early. Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe back in 2022 that hasn’t yet seen light of day, and of course, there’s Bethesda’s ongoing promise of The Elder Scrolls VI, which was announced no less than eight years ago. And Fable, due out in 2027 after multiple delays, was officially announced all the way back in 2020.
But none of those games were announced with a release window. Knowing something is in development is fine. Putting a date on it, tying us to a particular point in the future, just doesn’t feel right – and not just because we all know that any game announced this early is likely to suffer delays for one reason or another.
Maybe this is more about me, my frame of mind and my outlook on life than it is about video game release dates. After all, I cannot imagine anything in the year 2029. Thinking so far ahead, frankly, scares me. I can’t imagine being three years older. I can’t imagine the loved ones I might have lost by then. I can’t imagine where we’ll be, economically and politically speaking – and I don’t want to. Giving your game a release window so far away forces me to reckon with all of that, and I simply can’t.
But on the other hand, maybe it’s a good thing. Maybe it’s a nice, easy way of saying that, “hey, things aren’t so bad – you’ll still be playing video games in 2029, and life will go on as normal”. And perhaps that’s the normal way of looking at things. After all, three years isn’t so long a time. 2023 feels like simply last week, and when 2029 does roll around, I imagine it’ll feel much the same.
But as is, thinking about games that are coming out in the next three or six months is enough to deal with. So let’s concentrate on the here and now if we can, please, developers. By all means give me a date if your game is out in the next several months. But beyond that? Maybe just hold off on giving it a release window until closer to the time, yeah?
