Video games will pander to your basest instincts whenever possible.
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00:00 So the video game industry is now bigger and more lucrative than it has ever been,
00:04 registering global revenue upwards of $180 billion last year, far outpacing the profits
00:10 generated by even Hollywood. But here's the thing, it is a very saturated market as well,
00:16 and so you're going to have to do a lot to stand out, to make people want to buy your title and
00:20 sit down and engage with it for between 30 to 100 hours. And therefore some publishers,
00:25 developers and advertisers have gotten a little desperate when it's come to getting you to play
00:29 their games. So let's take a look at them today, as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:33 and these are the 10 most desperate ways video games got you to play.
00:37 10. Bullshots and misleading trailers
00:41 Perhaps the single most nefarious way that a desperate publisher can try and entice you to
00:45 play their game is to straight up lie about it. Or if we're going to be polite, which we're not,
00:50 mislead is the term we're looking for. Now bullshots is another term that stands for
00:54 promotional images and trailers for a game which aren't in fact representative of its final release
00:59 quality. In extreme cases this might lead to something like the infamous Killzone 2 E3 2005
01:05 trailer, which was actually a target render intended for internal use only, but ended up
01:09 being used to sell both the game and the power of the PS3, absolutely inaccurately of course.
01:14 Ubisoft was also memorably dragged for their final versions of Watch Dogs and The Division,
01:19 which were severely visually downgraded from their original gameplay demos. In rarer cases,
01:24 developers might even straight up mislead the public about the content of their game,
01:28 like Hello Games over-promising what No Man's Sky would offer straight out of the box.
01:32 Whether the marketing has overstated a game's graphical or gameplay merits,
01:36 the result is almost entirely the same; frustration from players who feel that
01:40 they've been duped into spending cash on an experience different from the one that was advertised.
01:44 9. Being as edgy as humanly possible
01:48 Less deceitful, though arguably more annoying than bullshot culture, is the tendency for some
01:52 developers to make a living by pandering to the surprisingly lucrative, edgelord contingent of
01:58 players. This isn't to say that games shouldn't challenge social norms or ask provocative
02:02 questions, but far too often developers will willfully create offensive and objectionable
02:07 material simply to ride the wave of anti-PC fervour, because of course, as the saying goes,
02:12 controversy creates cash. Perhaps the most outrageous example in recent years
02:17 is Hatred, the game in which players control a mass-murdering misanthrope,
02:21 with the only goal being to slaughter as many innocent human beings as possible before he dies.
02:25 Less a game created out of artistic inspiration than a lazy attempt to cash in on reactionary
02:30 politics, Hatred was critically reviled and yet a considerable commercial success,
02:35 so the ruse unfortunately worked.
02:37 8. Promising to make up for previous failures
02:41 We're all sick and tired of corporate apologies from video game publishers who've
02:45 basically attempted to swindle players and been categorically called out for it,
02:48 and no company has more egregiously attempted to wipe the slate clean with an insincere promise to
02:53 'do better next time' than EA with their treatment of the rebooted Star Wars Battlefront franchise.
02:59 2015's Battlefront was broadly praised for its graphics and gameplay, yet many were left
03:04 colossally disappointed at the lack of release content, feeling that EA was basically milking
03:08 the cash cow in a supremely half-arsed way. But when it came time to marketing 2017's sequel,
03:14 EA held their hands up and acknowledged that the original Battlefront was a relatively
03:18 piecemeal experience on launch. They promised that Battlefront 2 would be considerably more
03:23 content-rich, with a full narrative campaign and all DLC arriving free for players.
03:28 Now everyone makes mistakes, for sure, but billion-dollar corporations aren't people,
03:32 remember? They're money-motivated behemoths, driven to see how much bad-faith behaviour they
03:37 can get away with in the pursuit of colossal profits. And so it shouldn't have been surprising
03:42 when EA's pre-release spiel about Battlefront 2 was frankly a load of toss. For starters,
03:47 the campaign was a thoroughly naff, low-effort affair, and the multiplayer was derided for its
03:51 slow progression system, which appeared to incentivise microtransactions above anything
03:56 else. Now EA did eventually work the game into better shape, but at this point the damage had
04:00 already been done. After all, as the saying goes, 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice,
04:05 shame on me'. The response to Battlefront 2 was volatile enough that an expected third game
04:11 never actually arrived, allegedly in part due to the high licensing costs involved with making Star
04:16 Wars video games in the first place. 7. Nostalgia Pandering
04:21 Ah, nostalgia. It's one hell of a drug, right? Hollywood has perhaps proven more than any other
04:26 entertainment medium the intoxicating power of dredging up people's childhoods and selling it
04:31 back to them with a shiny new lick of paint. But gaming isn't that far behind either,
04:35 with publishers well aware that raking over their legacy hits is much easier than actually coming up
04:40 with a compelling new IP or ideas. Take Sonic Mania, a game which single-handedly reversed
04:46 years and years of critical misfortune for the platformer series, and yet one which largely
04:50 functioned as a reimagining of its earlier, better entries. By creating familiar but different
04:56 remixes of the franchise's most iconic levels, Sega was able to pander to players' gravitation
05:01 towards familiar comfort food, yet offer just enough new content to not be outright self-cribbing.
05:06 The Pokemon franchise has perhaps been most criticised for dining out on its prior successes
05:11 and failing to bring sufficient innovation, while the gaming industry's current obsession
05:14 with remakes and remasters is further indicative of the commercial viability of the past. And we,
05:19 as consumers, are certainly pretty much to blame here, because if it didn't work,
05:23 they'd stop doing it. This isn't to say that nostalgia can't be invoked in creative and
05:27 interesting ways - take Final Fantasy VII Remake's interesting new take on the original story - but
05:32 it often feels like a crutch that imagination-devoid developers lean on for easy profits.
05:37 6. Introducing Goofy Peripherals
05:40 Nothing screams desperation quite like a clunky peripheral being packaged with the latest entry
05:45 into a hit video game franchise in an attempt to salvage flagging sales. There's no single example
05:51 of this more egregious than Tony Hawk Ride, which released in 2009 as the Skate series' best days
05:56 were long behind it, and hoped to rekindle its connection with players en masse by releasing
06:01 an accompanying plastic skateboard peripheral. In the era of Guitar Hero, it wasn't a terrible
06:06 idea, even if it clearly was a Hail Mary pass to try and rescue a franchise on the commercial skids.
06:12 The end result sadly confirmed the full extent of the desperation - the skateboard peripheral was a
06:16 fiddly, unresponsive disaster, and releasing it to the tune of $120 simply hammered another nail
06:23 in the series' coffin. External peripherals are admittedly a drastic enough step that few games
06:28 even dare to implement them - the financial risk massively outweighs the potential for successful
06:32 market innovation - which really only further confirms just how desperate Activision were
06:37 on the Tony Hawk franchise. Ultimately, it won fans back not with silly, clunky,
06:42 plastic skateboards, but in a feat of nostalgic pandering, remaking the beloved first two games
06:47 in the series. 5. Releasing Things as Free-to-Play
06:51 There's perhaps no simpler way to entice somebody to play a video game than telling them that they
06:56 don't need to pay a penny to do so. As such, the free-to-play movement has flourished in recent
07:01 years, with publishers realising the lucrative potential of luring players in with no upfront
07:05 fee before charging them for all the extra stuff. Now, some games handle this much better than
07:10 others. There are many great free-to-play games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, Warframe, and so on
07:15 that don't design their gameplay in an excessively predatory or exploitative way. But there are so
07:20 many more that do the absolute bare minimum to hook addiction-prone players and then attempt to
07:25 milk them for every possible buck through pay-to-win mechanics, heavily incentivising
07:30 them to part with their real-world cash for a superior experience. The most recent free-to-play
07:35 disaster was Konami's eFootball 2022, which launched in an extremely compromised state,
07:40 all while Konami busily shilled expensive, premium DLC packs to anyone with a functioning
07:46 pair of eyeballs. Publishers are well aware that most players won't fall for these tactics,
07:50 so they're always after 'the whales', a rather dehumanising term the industry uses for big-money
07:56 power users who will drop thousands of dollars on a game, possibly while hopelessly addicted to it.
08:01 The desperation in the free-to-play market is palpable, because why bother making an artistic
08:06 game that people will gladly shell out top dollar for, when you can just exploit people's
08:10 addictive tendencies for far less effort instead?
08:13 4. Hiring Hollywood Talent
08:15 One of the easiest ways to give a video game press in the wider entertainment world is to
08:20 hire a name actor to star in it, ideally lending both their voice and likeness to play a part.
08:25 Now, this isn't to say that every celebrity role in a video game comes from a place of desperation
08:30 - Rockstar has done a consistently good job of not letting A-lister voice artists hijack their
08:34 GTA games - but GTA is also in the unique position of being among the most critically
08:39 and commercially successful IPs on the bloody planet. Even with video games being taken more
08:44 seriously by the wider world these days, for the most part it's fair to say that Hollywood actors
08:49 are hired to serve as the marketing face of a game and impress a greater sense of prestige upon it.
08:54 Take Bruce Willis in Apocalypse, or more recently Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077.
08:59 Hell, while Peter Dinklage didn't physically appear in Destiny, his voice was a major aspect
09:03 of the game's marketing, even if it ironically ended up being removed at a later date.
09:08 There's no denying that the presence of a beloved, well-known actor in a game will make just about
09:12 anybody perk up and pay attention. Take Vin Diesel's bizarre involvement in the upcoming
09:17 ARC 2, which has gotten considerably more eyes on that game than it would have otherwise had,
09:21 no matter how it turns out.
09:23 3. That Sweet, Sweet Loot
09:25 The mere whisper of the word 'loot' is enough to make millions of players' ears prick up in
09:30 paired tension, so ubiquitous is the presence of glistening things for them to hoover up
09:35 after defeating an enemy. While finding currency or a new weapon and armour is nothing new for
09:39 video games, we've come a long way from the comparatively quaint days of Diablo's loot hunt.
09:44 Loot is commonplace amongst game genres these days, as publishers have discovered that few
09:48 things get players' dopamine receptors firing up like a shiny purple pick-up. While loot appears
09:53 in many great games, some are so singularly focused around their collection that it feels
09:58 tantamount to shining a laser pointer at a cat, and loot can be weaponised more nefariously in
10:03 games that feature loot boxes, where players are encouraged to develop a gambler's mindset to RNG
10:08 elements. This is particularly troubling when players are able to spend real money obtaining
10:13 or unlocking more loot boxes. No loot-driven game can survive for long unless it offers up
10:18 fun cosmetics and meaningful upgrades, but even so, these games are typically designed around
10:23 manipulating human behaviour first and foremost. They are industriously committed to maximising
10:29 player 'engagement' in order to fill their coffers, and it doesn't get much more desperate than that
10:35 when you're apparently making art. 2. Offering Pre-Order Bonuses
10:40 Pre-order bonuses are an attempt by publishers to incentivise players throwing down money for
10:45 a game before it's commercially available, and typically before reviews have been released.
10:49 This isn't to say that all pre-order bonuses are inherently bad or maliciously inclined,
10:53 but they do nevertheless feed into a wider culture of publishers trying to wring as much
10:57 money from potential customers as possible before the game has even come to market. After all,
11:02 once you've pre-ordered a game, you're probably not going to cancel it, and even if you've lost
11:07 interest in the game, you might actually forget to cancel. The bonuses range from plastic tap
11:12 figurines to multiplayer maps and in-game advantages, which won't be available to regular
11:16 players for some time if ever, and they're all conceived with the hope of parting you from your
11:20 money as soon as damn possible. Some bonuses are more controversial than others, with the gameplay
11:25 advantages proving especially divisive given their potential to create a divide between the players.
11:31 Clearly there's an exploitation of FOMO going on here as well, with publishers again manipulating
11:36 human psychology for maximum financial gain. This is all because publishers know that consumers
11:41 waiting for reviews is absolutely not in their best interest most of the time, and they will do
11:46 anything they can to get your money early. 1. If all else fails, sex sells
11:52 The oldest adage of them all, and the one that will likely never not be true as long as humans
11:57 remain sexual beings, is that sex sells, well, quite a lot. Gaming has certainly come a long
12:03 way in recent years in moving away from the excessively sexualised marketing tactics of
12:07 decades past, but it's still fair to say that many games are sold on the presence of scantily
12:12 clad individuals, and let's be honest, usually they are a woman. To be blunt, let's just say
12:16 that Dead or Alive Extreme games weren't shifting units because of their admittedly surprising
12:20 robust volleyball gameplay. We all remember the blatant fan service in the earliest Tomb Raider
12:25 games, and in a most extreme example, the cynically over-sexualised nudity-filled sports games like
12:30 BMX XXX. More recently, Final Fantasy XV made side character Cindy a comically over-sexed object of
12:37 player lust, and Soul Calibur VI offers up an Ivy so impractically clothed as to basically become a
12:42 self-parody. There's nothing inherently wrong with sexualised characters, male or female,
12:47 though it is easy to become jaded when it feels like publishers are using that sex to desperately
12:52 pander to your basest instincts and desires, when they consider you little more than a single-minded,
12:57 horny teenager. It's easy to become suspicious that this fleshy smokescreen is here to distract
13:03 from the fact that the game itself is actually lacking in the gameplay or story department.
13:07 Yet, sex continues to sell games by the bucketload, and probably always will,
13:12 while the debate about what is sex positive and what's exploitation will forever rage on as well.
13:17 And yes, before you say anything, we've noticed the thumbnail, we chose that to make a point,
13:21 and that point is that sex, like I said, continues to sell.
13:25 And there we go my friends, those were the 10 most desperate ways video games got you to play,
13:29 I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the
13:32 comments section below. As always I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter
13:36 @RetroJWithA0, or you can swing by Liv and Let's Dice where I do all of my streaming outside of
13:40 work, and it'd be great to see you over there my friend. But before I go, I just want to say one
13:45 thing. If there is one thing that I am desperate for, it is that you treat yourself with love and
13:49 respect my friend, because you deserve all the best things in life, like love, happiness and
13:53 success, and do not let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise alright, you're a massive
13:57 ledge and I want you to go out there and absolutely smash it today. I believe in you.
14:02 As always I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.