Why I Stopped Trusting Game Trailers Years Ago

Like many keen gamers, I’m always looking forward to the next gaming showcase event. I love getting immersed in the hype and fantasizing about upcoming game experiences. But I take these events with a grain of salt because I learned years ago that I shouldn’t trust game trailers whatsoever.

Games Don’t Always Deliver on the Trailer’s Promises

Video game trailers are crafted to give a certain first impression: that the world will be massive, that the gameplay will be epic, or that the story will be narratively flawless. Sometimes, those promises are too good to be true. It’s important to keep in mind that an idea or premise can be mind-blowing in theory, but game studios have budget and time constraints that can make it impossible to fully deliver on the core concept.

In the case of 2023’s Starfield, for example, the trailers portrayed a vast universe consisting of 1,000 planets populated with interesting characters and stories. While there is certainly no shortage of varied landscapes to explore, the verdict on whether any of that exploration truly pays off in a meaningful way is up for debate.

There can be no doubt that the developers strived to create a galactic masterpiece, but it’s also worth considering that the trailers may have oversold the final product.

Trailers Don’t Show You the Game’s Flaws

It is unfortunately the case that many games launch with bugs, glitches, or even incomplete content. It can sometimes take months or years after release for a game to reach its intended state if it ever does at all. Trailers are marketing tools, so they will always show you the best a game has to offer without making any mention of glaring flaws the studio could not address in time.

The disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077 is an infamous example of this. It had everything going for it – a widely appealing premise, the pedigree of an award-winning development team, and even Keanu Reeves. Upon release, though, so many users encountered game-breaking issues that the game was even temporarily pulled from the PlayStation Store.

Post-release hotfixes finally patched the game to the point of making it the masterpiece it always should have been, but the dichotomy between trailer quality and the game’s initial state left a bad taste in many gamers’ mouths.

Popular Franchises Don’t Always Guarantee Good Games

It’s easy to get excited when you see a beloved character or setting represented in a beautiful, modern video game. However, even a new release that’s a direct sequel to a time-honored masterpiece will not be guaranteed to be well-made, even if the trailer hits all the right notes. The same can be said for adaptations of pop culture heavy-hitters.

Case in point, the trailers for 2024’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League cumulatively received tens of millions of views and made the game seem like a fun romp with some of the most entertaining characters in recent film history. There’s no denying that DC Comics is the source of many beloved media properties, including classic video game adaptations like the Arkham Asylum series.

The trailers for Kill the Justice League did a good job of raising expectations back up to a similar level, but being part of a popular franchise was not enough to make it a worthy successor to the DC legacy. As you may have guessed by now, this is a high-profile example of a live service game that flopped.

Video game trailers are important and exciting. That’s why every Nintendo Direct, State of Play, Xbox Game Showcase and Summer Game Fest will continue to be an event worth marking on my calendar. A few disappointments won’t stop me from looking forward to the next great adventure.

Even so, I’ll keep in mind what I’ve learned about trailers looking better than actual games before I let myself get too overhyped again.