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Halo Dev Reminds Fans That CG Trailers Are Often Used First And Foremost To Recruit Staff

That flashy CG trailer with zero gameplay probably isn't actually made for you.

8 Comments

They're a common feature at most big gaming events: flashy, hype-building trailer reveals for games that are still years away from being released, most often featuring little to no actual gameplay. While these kinds of trailers often draw criticism from gamers for advertising a product that doesn't exist, it turns out these reveals serve another purpose--as a recruitment tool to attract talented developers to the projects.

This titbit of industry information was tweeted by David Ellis, a developer on a game that faced this exact situation when it was announced three years ago--Halo Infinite. Rather than showing off actual gameplay, Halo Infinite was announced at E3 2018 with a video that Microsoft described as a "thrilling engine demo."

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Last year we saw similar announcements for big Microsoft titles Fable 4 and the Perfect Dark reboot. As Microsoft's gaming strategy increasingly pivots towards Xbox Game Pass over individual game sales, it's unlikely that these early trailers are designed to push pre-sales, meaning it's more likely to be part of a recruiting strategy.

Most recently, a new Wolverine game by Insomniac Games was announced with a tauntingly brief animated trailer, which was most likely the inspiration for Ellis's enlightening tweet. A quote retweet from gaming PR specialist Jacqui Collins added that a CG trailer is a better announcement for a new game than having the details leaked through a recruiting push.

So next time you think a game is being announced way too early, remember that trailer may not actually be designed for you--but it's done that way for a very good reason.

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Cappy

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Very cool, I’d not have thought of that, but it makes perfect sense. No better way I can think of to get the word spread wide for recruitment.

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nintendians

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Edited By nintendians

that's cool, but if it was a old game we fans know since the n64 era (perfect dark) bringing it to the modern era, "we" but mostly me - i want a better looking/sensitivity and hip fire sprinting speed than the previous game (perfect dark zero (not the perfect dark 64 remade into a hd game with better 3d models for xbox 360 live arcade which still have that suckish ads aim movement like it was on the n64) had or has.

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Just1MoHr

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Edited By Just1MoHr

CG trailers are used to lie to the consumer & the recruits! They are useless & a waste of money, I never buy a game based on trailer & you are wasting my time if you reveal your game to me with a trailer....total waste!

Games nowadays have the power to stand on their own without a CG trailer & if you show me a trailer instead...I smell something fishy & am weary way in advance!

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lonewolf1044

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@just1mohr: Movie companies do it too but not in all cases they are useless. These trailers are used to get customers excited and sadly some of the trailers could be said to sucker people in buying an game that may nothing but hype and no substance. I rely on demos if available and multiple reviews.

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Sindred

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It's not like Insomniac hasn't delivered on visuals before.

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ezio899

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Halo dev reminds players that they shat the bed since halo wars 2/halo 5 and can't be competent enough to get the game out of dev hell without releasing it in parts that they can actually finish. I was super excited for Halo infinite. But so far it's been a shit show and I honestly have zero hope for it now.

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Carpetfluff

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I'm sorry, but E3 showcases are, especially these days, more for the public than the industry and that trailer was clearly so MS could tout a game that was nowhere near ready to be shown to potential customers.

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lonewolf1044

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@Carpetfluff: They are not the only ones to be clear as there are plenty of other companies that do the same. MS does screw up every now and then and for some they are screwing now outside of the gaming field with Win 11. But they still still pull in billions of dollars so they just keep doing what they do.

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