Question Of The Week: Do You Like Game Trailers?

Question: Do You Like Game Trailers?

Answer: I thought about this yesterday after the Grand Theft Auto 6 second trailer came out yesterday, and we had a discussion on it on the evening stream. I think Game Trailers are in a weird state right now. With the influx of streamers and content creators, the trailer is really just showing off the game in some fashion and it’s really the creators that do the heavy lifting.

Let’s take the GTA 6 trailer for example. This second trailer just showed clips of cutscenes. It did nothing to excite me or want me to play the game more. In fact it actually diminished my excitement of the game, as it just felt like I was watching parts of a movie with no context.

Trailers should help the audience understand the game and get excited for it, by showing off the product in a way to entice you to buy the product. It’s not to actually give details of characters or locations to explain the game’s mechanics, and this trailer did none of that. It just showed us cutscenes of characters we don’t know and have no connection with. I have no idea who or why things are happening, no context for what’s the motivation behind anything happening on screen.

Like I said, it hindered my excitement of wanting to play the game, because it just made me realize that the setting of Vice City is no longer special. Back in 2001 it was a time capsule of the 1980’s and helped transport me like a time machine to an era I didn’t really get to fully live in. Instead it just showed off Florida. Regular real life Florida. A place I can go visit right now if I decide to jump in the car and drive for a few hours. The trailer just killed most of the “hype” for this game for me.

That’s not to say that I don’t want to play it, and I definitely will play it day one, but that trailer took the energy and hype and told me “here is something that you’ll play in over a year”. Which really doesn’t help matters. Why should I care about anything that I can’t see or play for over a year. The game is delayed until the end of May 2026, with it most likely delayed yet again till around September or October of 2026 (this is using history to tell us, since most GTA games get delayed many times, and usually release in September or October)

I don’t need or want trailers from games, beside an initial single “here is the type of game or genre of game we are making, this is gameplay”. That’s it. Why would I want to watch several cutscenes of a game that I have no clue what the game is even going to play like. For all I know, GTA 6 could be a side scroller (obviously not, but it could be, because the trailers still haven’t shown any gameplay). Take the Metal Gear Solid 2 trailer for example, showing us Solid Snake looking rad and pumping us up for an insanely cool game, and then saddling us with Raiden the entire game in one of the biggest baits and switches ever.

Trailers do nothing for me, it’s all mostly false marketing to spoil surprises and give drip feed content to continue the news cycle and stay relevant for years instead of just releasing the game. That’s the dour and dark thinking, but honestly, I’m just tired of seeing trailers for games I know I’m going to buy. This will be the biggest game release ever, only one that could be eclipsed by Half-Life 3, but even then, that wouldn’t be a multi-platform/console game, so this really is the biggest release of a game ever. It’s so anticipated for years, that everyone will buy it no matter what. It doesn’t need marketing at all.

So, to answer the question; Do You Like Game Trailers? No. No I don’t. I think they are necessary to showcase what the game looks like, how it plays and introduce people to the characters they will play as and interact with. But besides a quick 15 second clip of “Here is what genre it is, and here are some quick clips of what the gameplay looks like”, I already know within a handful of seconds if a game is going to be something I want to play or not. I’ve been playing games long enough to make an initial judgement on the game, and if it’s worth my time and money.