This might be my most stupid question yet, but what the hell:
I’m reading about the GTA VI leaks on Wikipedia, and it talks about the various impacts the leaks had, one of which was low morale amongst the developers. Why is that? The response from the internet to the GTA VI leaks in particular seemed to be positive and caused renewed excitement in the game. Everyone [seemingly] understood that it was early, non-final work, but were nevertheless impressed/excited, as far as I could tell anyway 🤷 Besides, it’s GTA, it’s not like they’re gonna break much new ground in terms of gameplay mechanics that need to be kept secret. Things were more or less set in stone in that regard in GTA III.
Why so sad?
I worked on big games that got leaked. Companies spend a shitton on marketing with the hope of making a big boom when it’s announced. We’re hoping to see our work revealed in the best way possible. When it leaks, that big announcement possibility is gone, that money is partly wasted, and what’s shown is out of our control.
Game companies are notorious for lying in their announcement trailers. So why should we care about what they want to show?
I mean, if the marketing is lying about the product, it will probably demoralize developers in a similar way and for the same reasons.