Fallout 4 Teaser Site Is A Hoax
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
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Atlus also just did a similar thing with Persona. It wasn't an ARG, but it was a teaser site with several subtle clues as to what would be announced. And then they went and announced three different things, one of which was what everyone wanted. Beamdog also did a thing last year (or was it the year before?) where they did a countdown in the lead up to the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition reveal. Again, not an AGR, but a similar style. I think the problem with these kind of countdown/teases, though, is that your audience automatically assumes it's the game that they've been clamouring for, and if it turns out to be something different, you'll have disappointed a lot of people. It's not always a good marketing strategy, which is why I think companies are very reluctant to use a style like this.Aerosteam said:
Pfft, New Vegas. Fallout 3 GOTY all the way!Colt47 said:
Actually, I'll probably wind up starting new games in both, and then not completing either, because that's what I do.Properly OT: I don't really see the point of this. I mean, why would you go through all of the time and effort to create a hoax like this, only to end it early? I don't see the payoff. So a few people on the internet thought it was going to be a legitimate announcement, and a few enthusiast pressers thought it would be worth reporting on: is that good enough? Is it honestly just attention seeking? If it were me, I'd want more.
I've also seen a couple of people say that Bethesda should hire whoever set this up. I'm actually of the opposite mind: if you couldn't even see this thing through to the end of the countdown, or come up with a better end than a "Rick roll," then you'd be kind of bad at marketing. Just my two cents. It's Canadian currency, so take them for what they're worth (which, I believe, is around 0.05 under par).
I'm now very curious why they didn't go all the way to the end of the countdown. At some point they abandoned their plan -- I wonder why? Maybe Bethesda stepped in?
I'm following "falloutfanbase" on tumblr. and she (plus the rest of her followers/fans) has been all over this. There are SO MANY people pissed over this, but I'm just disappointed. I know Bethesda and Zenimax didn't have anything to do with this but only acknowledging the website's existence to say "It ain't us, guys" THE DAY BEFORE the creator pulls this just made me sad.Andy Chalk said:Fallout 4 Teaser Site Is A Hoax
The Fallout 4 teaser site at thesurvivor2299.com has been revealed as a hoax.
It was the outcome nobody wanted, which is probably why it was the one we were bound to get: The teaser site at thesurvivor2299.com, with its exciting story of what appeared to be an attack on a Vault by the mysterious forces of the Black Row, has turned out to be a fake. Yesterday evening, the site dropped it's encoded messages in favor of a link to the 2009 YouTube video "Tunnel Snakes Rule [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ximxe4XtU]," and today it's a sad violin, accompanied by a tip-of-the-hat message to the /r/Fallout community on Reddit.
It's a disappointing end to a promising tale, not because it means that a Fallout 4 announcement isn't imminent (although that's unfortunate too) but because it's such a weak ending to a remarkably strong setup. To put so much effort into crafting such an elaborate scheme and then end it like this seems a real waste.
Then again, it's not my hoax to judge, and it was a lot of fun while it lasted. And so I say thank you, whoever you are, for the good times. It wasn't the destination we'd hoped for, but it sure was an entertaining ride.
Source: thesurvivor2299.com [http://thesurvivor2299.com/]
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More than anything, it's a bit of weird justice that they now won't be able to announce any true Fallout 4 news for a while.
Free publicity. It gives them something to take to the investors and say "See? Look how big the next games gonna be. We've gotta dump truckloads of funds into this game."CezarIgnat said:
I bet you anything this is a hoax within a hoax, and it actually is real and Bethesda tricked us this whole time
Regardless of if this is fake or not, I think we're due a new Fallout now that Skyrim has all of its DLC's and GOTY Editions out.
They'll probably start rumbling about it after their horror game is released.
They'll probably start rumbling about it after their horror game is released.
I'm sorry, and I will probably receive a warning for this, but:
The Half Life 3 trademark thing robbed me of any hope for these "announcements"
*Paranoid voice* THEY'RE ALL LIARS
The Half Life 3 trademark thing robbed me of any hope for these "announcements"
*Paranoid voice* THEY'RE ALL LIARS
Well the best hoaxes are the ones that are the most convincing, I guess. People like these little games when companies announce games, Bethesda announced that they're basically done with Skyrim a few months ago and the timing was just right for an announcement like this. Like so many others, I'm more ticked off at Bethesda for just letting it go on with no announcement.
I really see no good reason to not call it out as a hoax, I know some people have pointed out some dubious marketing reasons, but someone simply talking about a product doesn't make them any more money, in this case, as there is no product for anyone to buy. Letting someone else screw around with your trademarks and pseudo-impersonate your company to make an unauthorized announcement is much more damaging than any bump in people talking about your company, and it will inspire others to do similar hoaxes.
I really see no good reason to not call it out as a hoax, I know some people have pointed out some dubious marketing reasons, but someone simply talking about a product doesn't make them any more money, in this case, as there is no product for anyone to buy. Letting someone else screw around with your trademarks and pseudo-impersonate your company to make an unauthorized announcement is much more damaging than any bump in people talking about your company, and it will inspire others to do similar hoaxes.
Heh. Heh heh. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!
*Applauds* Bravo you crazy son of a *****! Finally had me going there, too... xD
I won't lie, I'm sad about this news, but... Damn, this dude did a damn fine job at stringing us along. Damn fine.
Now time for the conspiracy theories saying that the hoax is a hoax! xD
*Applauds* Bravo you crazy son of a *****! Finally had me going there, too... xD
I won't lie, I'm sad about this news, but... Damn, this dude did a damn fine job at stringing us along. Damn fine.
Now time for the conspiracy theories saying that the hoax is a hoax! xD
He gave it up for two reasons.
One, people found out who he was, a polish web designer.
Two, Bethesda secretly sent him a DMCA letter.
I knew it was a fake from the moment there was a specific message decoded that I knew Bethesda would never have anyone write, and sounded more like something out of that Rage game Id made than Fallout.
One, people found out who he was, a polish web designer.
Two, Bethesda secretly sent him a DMCA letter.
I knew it was a fake from the moment there was a specific message decoded that I knew Bethesda would never have anyone write, and sounded more like something out of that Rage game Id made than Fallout.
I'm not even mad. The less they dump the better because all of that speculation, a pregame nonsense becomes one giant tedious circle-jerk.
Pretty much this. The enormous response this got is a sure sign to investors that there's interest in the franchise- and where there's interest, there's money to be made.Psychobabble said:
Marketing is a dirty science, but a necessary one.
I'm not annoyed either, mainly because I never felt this was a legit Bethesda venture. I had figured it was an elaborate fan made promotion for a new mod or something. Too bad it turned out to just be someone's "Hey internet, pull my finger" sort of prank. I'm not saying it wasn't amusing, it just seems like a large waste of effort for so little pay off.Icehearted said:I'm not even mad. The less they dump the better because all of that speculation, a pregame nonsense becomes one giant tedious circle-jerk.
I am not surprised, once one of the previous articles here mentioned that the site wasn't registered the same way as previous Bethesda titles I became incredibly suspicious so when I saw any updates here it only briefly came back to memory before I forgot about it again.
I dunno, mate. Judging by all the tears I'm seeing here and elsewhere I'd say that if this guy was out to troll he's done so rather successfully.Psychobabble said:I'm not annoyed either, mainly because I never felt this was a legit Bethesda venture. I had figured it was an elaborate fan made promotion for a new mod or something. Too bad it turned out to just be someone's "Hey internet, pull my finger" sort of prank. I'm not saying it wasn't amusing, it just seems like a large waste of effort for so little pay off.Icehearted said:I'm not even mad. The less they dump the better because all of that speculation, a pregame nonsense becomes one giant tedious circle-jerk.
If anything this is also a good hallmark against gaming "journalism" since they were largely responsible for inflating this bubble to begin with.
/golfclap