7 Times Marketing Spoiled Major Video Game Moments
Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
When it comes to mascot adventure games, the Ratchet and Clank series often stands out when it comes to interesting characters and wacky worlds. Going Commando, which released on PS2 in 2003, had a fun story, full of twists and turns.
However, if you were paying attention to the game’s early trailers, one of the biggest story points wouldn’t have been so much of a surprise.
Multiple trailers, most of which can no longer be found, spoiled events that didn’t occur until at least half way through the game.
The thief’s identity and gender are kept secret in the game until the mid-way point, but it’s revealed in the pre-release trailers, and the purpose of the experiment that the story focuses on is spoiled, and that isn’t revealed in-game until moments before the final boss fight.
Of course, there’s no emotional weight that’s lost by these reveals, but the game and story would surely have been more enjoyable if certain moments had been kept quiet.
7 Times Marketing Spoiled Major Video Game Moments
Mass Effect II
Much of the appeal of the Mass Effect series is how you can mould your own story through relationships and dialogue choices. However, there’s still plenty of big, scripted story moments that your adventure is built around.
Whether they’re praised or criticized, like the ending of a certain third game, most of the surprising moments are kept under wraps. However, there was one trailer for Mass Effect II that unnecessarily spoiled an important moment.
The game’s ‘Fight for the Lost‘ campaign focused on some specific characters, in an attempt to get fans invested in their stories. However, it was revealed in one trailer that Garrus was to return and that he was Archangel.
If you go into the game blind, you don’t know that Garrus is even in the game, and the identity of Archangel isn’t revealed until Shepard meets him. For a reveal involving such a widely loved character to be spoiled before the game was out is pretty disappointing.
7 Times Marketing Spoiled Major Video Game Moments
Final Fantasy VII
Arguably the worst offender of them all, Final Fantasy VII’s most emotional moment was spoiled in its very first trailer. The trailer in question spoils the tear-jerking death of Aerith by showing Cloud laying her down in the water as she dies.
If you were watching the trailer for the first time, you’d probably assume that the death came early in the game and was the flashpoint that allowed the story to focus on Cloud. You’d be wrong, though.
The crushing moment actually comes a bit way through the game and it doesn’t quite have the impact it would have had if you’d previously seen the offending trailer.
It’s still undeniably a great moment, but it was a strange decision to spoil it in such a way in the first trailer anyone would have seen.
7 Times Marketing Spoiled Major Video Game Moments
Far Cry 4
While much of the fun in the Far Cry series comes from the the over-the-top action and hunting for wild animals, the story is actually far more important than in many other first-person shooters.
Ever since Vaas cemented his place as one of the best villains of the last decade, in Far Cry 3, maniacal bad guys have become one of the series’ selling points. Following Vaas was Pagan Min, who was the vicious dictator who ruled Kyrat.
He’s doesn’t appear that often in the game’s story, but he steals the show whenever he does. From the moment you meet him and try to flee his compound, he’s someone to be feared.
However, Far Cry 4’s story trailer showed that your relationship doesn’t always remain one based on fear. In the trailer, Min is shown leaning against a door frame talking to your character calmly, the way he’s acting noticeably changed.
The door he’s leaning against is to the shrine you’re searching for throughout the game, and the scene is from the very end of the game. There’s even another, since deleted trailer that shows even more of the shrine and features a segment of Min’s final speech.
7 Times Marketing Spoiled Major Video Game Moments
Shadow of the Colossus
Shadow of the Colossus’ story is undeniably poignant. As you explore the fascinating world, taking on the colossi that inhabit it, you begin to think about your actions.
However, there is another storyline that focuses on your character and his dying wife. You head out on your adventure so that you can save her.
While you’d always expect to save her eventually, you certainly wouldn’t want to see the scene in which it happens before you play. Well, if you saw one of the pre-release trailers, that exact moment would have been spoiled for you.
Also, the trailer, which has since been taken down, shows your character with Ico like horns, tying it to the developer’s other game. That moment takes place right at the end of the game and, in conjunction with the reveal of Mono waking up, essentially ruins the whole central story for anyone who cannot forget the trailer.
7 Times Marketing Spoiled Major Video Game Moments
Marvel’s Spider-Man
For the most part, Insomniac’s recent PS4 exclusive Spider-Man handled its villains pretty well. The obvious but slow burn rise of Dr. Octavius and the focus on Martin Li/Mister Negative made the story interesting, and made Peter Parker’s relationships with them more compelling, but the reveal of the Sinister Six didn’t have the impact it could have done.
The game’s E3 2018 trailer saw Spidey himself taking on Rhino, Scorpion, Mister Negative, Vulture, and Electro on a rooftop, before he’s taken down and looks up to see someone else.
While the final member was somewhat shrouded in mystery, the fact that we’d be fighting the whole Sinister Six at once would have been a great surprise.
The Sinister Six also makes up most of the game’s villains, with you facing them individually in other parts of the game. The scene in which you fight all of them is one of the game’s best and most pivotal scenes, so it would have been great to see that for ourselves for the first time.
7 Times Marketing Spoiled Major Video Game Moments
Final Fantasy XV
With Final Fantasy having such a long and troubled development cycle, it will come as no surprise that more than a few moments were revealed ahead of release.
From the early trailers that showed off locations and features (such as Chocobo riding) that would have been nice surprises, to the later ones that showed off particular moments, not a lot was left secret before fans got their hands on the game.
There were a couple of trailers that stood out, however, when it came to spoiling moments.
One of the biggest offenders was the Altissia Walkthrough trailer that showed the whole of the game’s only real city location, which would have been nice to explore yourself.
Then there was another, nearly hour long trailer that showed most of the first three chapters of the game. There simply wasn’t any need to show so much of the game, especially considering how long we were having to wait for it to actually release.
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