I’m so excited right now, far more excited than I was when playing Forspoken – I can promise you that much. The reason I’m simultaneously singing, dancing in my chair, drinking coffee and trying to write (excuse the typos – one can’t be excited and check for typos) is that I get to sit down, share my opinion with you, and you dear reader have to read it. And that power level is intoxicating- please don’t go!
But on a more serious note, I’ve gathered you here today to talk about Forspoken, all press being good press, and the lack of review keys. How fun. So let’s start at the beginning, and for this tale, I think the beginning is “why reviews are good even if they aren’t.”
I write reviews, so you could assume that I consume a lot of reviews myself, and you’d be right. Somewhat. When it comes to entertainment, I only look at reviews when they are entirely opposite to the view I hold. For example, I recently sat and read a bunch of negative reviews about The Last of Us HBO Max adaptation just because I can’t believe there could be people out in the world walking among us who can’t see how magical the show is.
I don’t read those kinds of reviews because they’re informative but because I find them entertaining in the worst way. And don’t you judge me; I know you secretly do that, too; otherwise, Facebook wouldn’t exist or have users anymore.
But then there are instances when I look for reviews to inform myself. An excellent example of this would be smart home tech.
I’ve slowly been converting everything in my life to smart versions, and every time before I do, I first lose myself in a good few hours of reviews. Over time, I’ve also built up a list of people I like to read reviews from.
I read some of these people’s reviews because our likes and interests align, so if they recommend something, I’ll probably like using it as well. I watch other people because they couldn’t be more contrary to me in every single way, and I know that if they recommend something, it is not for me. By using the words and opinions of both people, I agree with and those I don’t, I can help make a more informed decision.
I firmly believe that reviews never truly make your mind up about something but instead nudge you in the direction you were already leaning. It doesn’t matter how many good words someone might write about Lawnmower Sim; it will never convince me to play the game because I have no interest in it.
Likewise, it doesn’t matter how much someone might hate Days Gone; I’m never going to not like it because it just has so many separate elements that appeal to me.
This is why I don’t believe there is ever such a thing as a bad review. Take the Razzies as an example. They are the Oscars for terrible movies, yet I’ve gone out of my way to watch many of the movies they nominate to see if they were right or wrong about it. Games are no different.
If you’re a game developer, you stand to lose nothing by sending review copies of your game out to publications because there are only a couple of outcomes, none of which should significantly affect your game.
You could send your game out, and the reviewer could love it. They can then pour their hearts out in a review expressing this love. Readers who were already going to buy the game could then feel happier in their decision to do so, or there is a chance that someone who was never planning on buying the game gets influenced to do so. A win, no matter how you cut it.
The other thing that could happen is you send your game out, and reviewers hate it. They then pour that hatred out into the world and try to express to others why they hated the game as much as they did. Readers who were, in any case, not going to buy the game will then feel more justified in their decision not to.
Alternatively, readers will now go out of their way to buy the game and play it just for the chance of proving someone and their option wrong, or once again, it reaches someone who was never in the market for the game to begin with, and they now have the option of either buying it or staying away. Either way, this is still a win because, for better or worse, you now have people talking about your game instead of just ignoring it entirely.
This brings me to Forspoken, almost 700 words later. Forspoken made headlines before the game was even released because of the lack of headlines the game was making. This was because the developers had opted to refrain from sending out review keys, which meant that no one was talking about the game leading up to its release.
This lack of conversation, mixed with the apprehension people already felt about the game, led to such a negative feeling it was almost impossible for any residual excitement to survive.
This brings me to my point, and yes, I do have one, I promise. Game developers have very little to risk by handing out review keys to publications but risk everything not doing it.
Through all the hate and disappointment that Cyberpunk 2077 received, it has managed to remain relevant and in people’s minds because, for good or bad, there is a passion there.
Unfortunately, if no one is talking about your game, there can’t be passion, and without passion, all you are left with is a dull, forgettable blip… you’re left with Forspoken.