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| Square Enix's Upcoming Final Fantasy XV |
Last week, Square Enix had a special event for its highly anitcipated Final Fantasy XV. The event, accordingly titled Final Fantasy XV Uncovered, contained a massive amount of information about the newest entry in this fan favorite series. This event, as a fan, was an absolute blast. Being a huge Nintendo fan, soit wasn't completely profound for me to experience a big game news drop outside the typical E3 conferences, but there was something special about this.
Nintendo Directs are typically very versatile events (excluding the game specific ones), full of small bursts of information for a variety of games, similar to the E3 press conferences that happen every summer. This is a grand time for fans of the entire company and most of its IPs, but it isn't the only way that these info drops have to go, or necessarily should go.
Now, let it be made clear, I absolutely am not recommending we get rid of or even change these multi-game news events. So long as publishers aren't just blowing hot air as they sometimes do, the place for these events is still very important. I am simply here to discuss the possibility of introducing a new kind of event into the mix of the usual. I personally believe that it would be smart for Square Enix Japan to go ahead and establish "Uncovered" as a brand. This style of event could certainly apply to their other major upcoming titles, such as Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII Remake. But while Square Enix may own the literal "Uncovered" brand, the idea of an event exclusive to one game could apply to most any major game release.
The idea of events ultimately aimed at fans is brilliant. The event will definitely be viewed by loyal fans, and the developer can show them both what they have to look forward to in the actual game, as well as some additional things that they can be excited about, such as a release date, or, as was the case with Final Fantasy XV, something like an anime or a demo of the game. The event can also be viewed by prospective buyers, people who think it might interest them but aren't sure, with the information being released acting as a way of gauging their own interest in the game. And the advantage for gamers outside this fandom is that they can simply ignore that it exists, whereas during a major conference, you feel somewhat obligated to pay attention to a couple minutes about a game you don't care for in case something that excites you would come right after.
Publishers have the tools directly in front of them to excite fans and increase their own sales in a respectable manner at the same time. This tactic of giving loads of information to fans to earn a guaranteed sale is a practice that I am surprisingly happy with. The biggest plus here is that with events like this, there is enough shown off that one can actually develop an accurate confidence in the quality of the game before release, as it would be very challenging to hide if a game is bad when you are showing it off for over an hour. I am not a fan of using hype to sell a game in many cases, because it is just far too common for publishers to show off just what they need to to build hype while avoiding the display of the games problems. The possibilities for events like "Uncovered" that has been made clear to me is exciting, and I can only hope it is used well and commendably by developers and publishers in the near future.
What are your thoughts on having events dedicated to only one game? What upcoming games do you think deserve this treatment? Let me know in the comments or wherever you see fit.
Have a tremendous day.
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