Tears of the Kingdom Leaks
Feb. 21st, 2023 08:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingSome Redditor whose uncle actually works at Nintendo posted a page-by-page series of photos of the (original Japanese) artbook that comes included with the special edition of Tears of the Kingdom.
A lot of big-name artists have been posting "promises" that they won't post any art that contains spoilers. Good for them, but also...
First, I looked at the leaked pages. They're neat! There are a few new character designs, but no story spoilers. The text is nothing more than design notes. "This clasp connects the two sides of her hairband," that sort of thing.
I actually wasn't all that impressed by the Tears of the Kingdom trailers, which make the game seem like a hot mess of heterogeneous elements that don't fit together. That being said, some of the new character designs are really exciting! I'm not a superfan of video game trailers to begin with, as they tend to target action-oriented 14yo boys. Meanwhile, the Tears of the Kingdom concept artwork is much more specific and interesting, and I think it invites a much broader and more diverse range of people who play games.
To put it bluntly: I didn't like the trailers, but the leaked concept art sold me on this game.
Second, the refusal of media companies to put out nothing more than one or two teaser trailers in advance of a big release is a relatively recent practice. Back before Disney bought Marvel in 2009, it was common to share all sorts of concept art, cast interviews, behind-the-scenes set photos, and so on. One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a video game fan in the 1990s and 2000s was checking out all the cool pre-release content in magazines and on official websites. In my experience, these little teaser "leaks" aren't going to diminish anyone's enjoyment. Quite the opposite, in fact!
Third, I can understand the mindset of someone who wants to go into a game completely "unspoiled," but you have to wonder. How good can a game (or movie) be if the entire experience of enjoying it would be ruined by knowing more about it?
Fourth, I think it's important to put this leak into the context of Nintendo posting a Direct video saying that they would open preorders for a special edition to drive up interest, but then the extremely limited stock was almost instantaneously bought out by scalper bots, as Nintendo's marketing people must have known it would be. Putting the $130 special edition aside, just a regular download of this game costs $70, which is absurd. I am not inclined to take Nintendo's side in any of this, nor am I amused by their weird Disneyesque attempts to create a kind of sacred space around a video game release to drive up interest.
And fifth, it's all well and good for big-name professional artists with large followings to say that they're not going to post "spoilers." Honestly, I understand that having an active online audience of tens of thousands of people necessitates certain precautions against discourse and harassment!
Still, the tail of social media interest in any given media release is a week at most. If you're an artist with a low-to-mid-range following, and you can post your work within the first three days of a release, this translates to a difference between your post getting 3,000 notes and it getting maybe 300 if you're lucky. If you're an absolute amateur like me, this is a difference between getting 3,000 notes and maybe getting 30.
If you're not an artist, I can't begin to explain how intense the pressure to drop everything and produce work quickly is. Intense, and unpleasant. It's also really disheartening to see something that was posted maybe two days earlier get an exponentially higher amount of positive feedback. Essentially: if you can't produce quality work within the magical window, it feels like your work doesn't matter.
(By the way, if your response is "you should create art for yourself," please go sit in the corner and think about why an aspiring or early-career artist might need or appreciate support.)
Meanwhile, if an artist has more concept art and other development material to work with, they can take their time and create good work on their own schedule so that it's ready to go when the magic window opens. Personally speaking, I think being able to enjoy the process of making art instead of operating on an unhinged crunch schedule is much healthier, much more sustainable, and a lot more fun.
TLDR: Maybe being able to access a wider range of information about a game before it releases is good, actually.
A lot of big-name artists have been posting "promises" that they won't post any art that contains spoilers. Good for them, but also...
First, I looked at the leaked pages. They're neat! There are a few new character designs, but no story spoilers. The text is nothing more than design notes. "This clasp connects the two sides of her hairband," that sort of thing.
I actually wasn't all that impressed by the Tears of the Kingdom trailers, which make the game seem like a hot mess of heterogeneous elements that don't fit together. That being said, some of the new character designs are really exciting! I'm not a superfan of video game trailers to begin with, as they tend to target action-oriented 14yo boys. Meanwhile, the Tears of the Kingdom concept artwork is much more specific and interesting, and I think it invites a much broader and more diverse range of people who play games.
To put it bluntly: I didn't like the trailers, but the leaked concept art sold me on this game.
Second, the refusal of media companies to put out nothing more than one or two teaser trailers in advance of a big release is a relatively recent practice. Back before Disney bought Marvel in 2009, it was common to share all sorts of concept art, cast interviews, behind-the-scenes set photos, and so on. One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a video game fan in the 1990s and 2000s was checking out all the cool pre-release content in magazines and on official websites. In my experience, these little teaser "leaks" aren't going to diminish anyone's enjoyment. Quite the opposite, in fact!
Third, I can understand the mindset of someone who wants to go into a game completely "unspoiled," but you have to wonder. How good can a game (or movie) be if the entire experience of enjoying it would be ruined by knowing more about it?
Fourth, I think it's important to put this leak into the context of Nintendo posting a Direct video saying that they would open preorders for a special edition to drive up interest, but then the extremely limited stock was almost instantaneously bought out by scalper bots, as Nintendo's marketing people must have known it would be. Putting the $130 special edition aside, just a regular download of this game costs $70, which is absurd. I am not inclined to take Nintendo's side in any of this, nor am I amused by their weird Disneyesque attempts to create a kind of sacred space around a video game release to drive up interest.
And fifth, it's all well and good for big-name professional artists with large followings to say that they're not going to post "spoilers." Honestly, I understand that having an active online audience of tens of thousands of people necessitates certain precautions against discourse and harassment!
Still, the tail of social media interest in any given media release is a week at most. If you're an artist with a low-to-mid-range following, and you can post your work within the first three days of a release, this translates to a difference between your post getting 3,000 notes and it getting maybe 300 if you're lucky. If you're an absolute amateur like me, this is a difference between getting 3,000 notes and maybe getting 30.
If you're not an artist, I can't begin to explain how intense the pressure to drop everything and produce work quickly is. Intense, and unpleasant. It's also really disheartening to see something that was posted maybe two days earlier get an exponentially higher amount of positive feedback. Essentially: if you can't produce quality work within the magical window, it feels like your work doesn't matter.
(By the way, if your response is "you should create art for yourself," please go sit in the corner and think about why an aspiring or early-career artist might need or appreciate support.)
Meanwhile, if an artist has more concept art and other development material to work with, they can take their time and create good work on their own schedule so that it's ready to go when the magic window opens. Personally speaking, I think being able to enjoy the process of making art instead of operating on an unhinged crunch schedule is much healthier, much more sustainable, and a lot more fun.
TLDR: Maybe being able to access a wider range of information about a game before it releases is good, actually.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-22 09:37 am (UTC)Oh, I could not agree MORE. Somehow all the pre-release content published in magazines and online made each upcoming release feel like a big event - even if the release itself was a relatively small title. It was always exciting to watch a game develop from like two grainy pre-alpha screenshots to a full release complete with glossy, A4-size ads published in the very same magazine that first shared those preliminary screenshots.
Maybe hindsight is 20/20 et al, but I can't remember anyone having a problem with the glut of pre-release content we had back then. I wonder why media companies even felt the need to change this. I'll have to read into it!
no subject
Date: 2023-02-23 02:16 pm (UTC)The rise of the current spoiler conversation closely parallels the rise of a hyper-capitalist internet-based entertainment infrastructure that means we all have an enormous glut of options all of the time. Every day brings a rush of new stuff, and the goal of the entertainment corporations is to keep you watching more and more of it, largely without discretion or critical thought. Just hit “play” on the next thing. It’ll be fine.
Viewed through this lens “unspoiled vs. hyper-spoiled” is just two ways to look at the exact same thing: a relationship between art and the audience that is purely about consumption. To want to know everything about a work (the hyper-spoiled approach) and to want to know nothing about it (the unspoiled approach) perversely end up at the exact same place. The work has little value beyond its ability to act as a conduit for story and information. Aesthetics are of secondary importance to what happens, and narrative is of secondary importance to data points masquerading as plot.
Basically, what she said:
https://www.vox.com/culture/22934014/spoilers-capitalism-mordew-hyper-spoiled
I also think that social media marketing people are masters at generating "fear of missing out" anxiety. From what I understand, a lot of investment capital for future projects is based on the preorder numbers of previous projects, and fomo anxiety is a great way to drive preorder sales.
And then, on top of that, I get the sense that using spoiler culture to create harmless divisions within fandom is a useful way of keeping "consumers" in line so that your IP doesn't spiral out of your control. With this last bit, though, I could just be delusional, as I'm not sure marketing people are really capable of playing that sort of 4D chess.
With Disney in particular, I understand why it's necessary for them to protect their IP, especially the IP associated with their big animated movies. The concept art and other development material that goes into those projects is gorgeous and astounding, and I think they're (rightly) afraid that unused ideas are going to be poached.
At the same time, you don't see Studio Ghibli worrying about that sort of thing, and it's wild to me that Nintendo is now operating under the same mindset.
Once again, sorry for the long reply! It's just, I really loved your response, and I've been thinking about this for the past two days. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!
no subject
Date: 2023-02-27 04:27 am (UTC)That essay was an excellent read! I found myself nodding along with quite a lot of it, especially the section you excerpted. I really never considered the possibility of any causal relationship with modern capitalism and modern spoiler culture - but now that it's been pointed out to me, I don't think I can unsee it. It makes a lot of sense.
You're absolutely right about modern socmed-marketing generating FOMO anxiety as a strategy to drive sales - pre-sales, even. As someone who used to work in like a GameStop, your point about companies constantly pushing preorders is one that is hahah oh gosh all too familiar to me. The extent to which companies prioritize preorders these days is just astounding. You know, similar to how I don't remember the folks of fifteen or so years ago being so avoidant of pre-release 'spoilers' like leaks etc., nor do I recall preorder culture being so prevalent fifteen years ago, either.
If memory serves, only the titles that were expected to sell by the millions were preorderable back then. If you wanted, I dunno, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials And Tribulations or some other relatively smaller/unknown release, you just had to walk in to your local on launch day and hope with fingers crisscrossed that it'd be on the shelves. These days, though, you can place a preorder on pretty much any upcoming game either in store or via the internet - and preorders aren't even limited to games themselves any more, but can be placed on merchandise like scale figures, t-shirts, and in one particularly egregious example, Nintendo Switch decals (like, tacky stickers you'd plaster on your Joy-Cons only to regret having done a few years later, the sort that if you leave them on too long and then try to pull off will only leave a very sticky residue around the console plastic). TL;DR - It amazes me how rampant if not aggressive preorder culture has become, although I suspect that's a discussion for another time, hahah.
Back to the topic of pre-release content, though, Disney's want to protect their IPs is understandable. And thinking about how many BOTW-clones were released by other video game companies following the success of the actual Breath Of The Wild, I can understand that Nintendo might want to be similarly protective of their own, especially when their own is one of the most anticipated games of the year.
You definitely don't see smaller devs and studios being so secretive, though. If anything, I love how happily transparent so many indie developers are about their upcoming projects. In an age so very dominated with spoiler aversion and a grim dearth of pre-release material, it's awesome to see all those Twitter accounts and blogs set up by indie teams to document and share conceptual sketches, preliminary renders, etc. - all ahead of release. :D