Everybody wants to know something new about their anticipated game, so much so that they seek out any crumbs of news that they can find online. Meanwhile, there are who understand this desire and try to use it as a means to gain a quick fame, establishing themselves as the hotspot for new information, i.e. leakers. However, with all of our excitements to learn more about a game, we sometimes forget how those leaks affect they creators and Overwatch 2 is the latest example that highlights this.
According to Overwatch 2 Game Director, Kaplan in an interview with Kotaku Australia,
“Leaks are very interesting in that they have more of a moral impact on the team than anything else. It’s extremely demoralising. You feel totally deflated,” Kaplan told Kotaku Australia at Blizzcon.
“When you’re trying so hard to deliver something for somebody and to have it be spoiled in a way that’s not coherent, that’s the part that bothers us the most, where people are not given all the information and all of the context that they need to understand what we’re doing.”
“They take such care to make the art look beautiful, and then we get some crappy version of what the art looks like … and then people are like, ‘I don’t know it doesn’t look that good’ and we’re like, no it does, it looks amazing! It’s just a crappy screenshot that someone took, so it can be a bit demoralising,” he said.
In the past, I too was an avid seeker of leaks, I wanted to know everything about the game that I was looking forward to playing. So much so that I disregarded the people who made the games and how they could be feeling it. I never gave it a second thought.
It’s really not that difficult to put yourselves in their shoes. Just imagine working on something for years, carefully trying to not leak it in order to see the fans surprised faces and reaction, to be able to covey the message exactly how you want it, only to learn that a shitty image had leaked online, stealing your thunder from under your feet.
And honestly it’s not worth it. The people who leak these things aren’t even remembered by name most of the time and gain no monetary value. It’s all a quick buzz to gain attention or clicks with actual ramifications. However, leaks are next to impossible to prevent. Once someone knows something they shouldn’t, that news spreads like wildfire. It’s not even about been spoiled yourself, the team behind these games also gain to lose in this situation. I just thought I’d highlight this news to keep in mind the next time you decide to share a leak online.
