One of the less than wonderful truths about the video game world, is that most of the time, we get wind of a game long before we’re able to get our hands on it. For the most part, if a game is announced in 2015, it isn’t going to hit store shelves until 2016 at the earliest. Square Enix and Bethesda have started to change that trend this year, thanks to the announcement of Hitman and Fallout 4 at this year’s E3. Both games are expected to be coming later this year and Square Enix CEO Phil Rogers for one, would like to see more games handled this way in the future.
Rogers sat down for an interview with Examiner.com and talked about how he would like to see the industry change in this regard. “To be honest with you, I’d like to see more of a trend where that happens. I mean there are seasonal trends where first parties are now announcing initiatives and they start tomorrow or they start tonight, and I think that’s great for consumers. I know it’s a trade show, but consumers look to E3 and that’s why the [press] conference for us was so great.”
The CEO added that he thinks it a rather significant event when a company can say “here’s a new game and you can buy it in four or five months.” Square Enix did that with Hitman, and Bethesda did it with Fallout 4 but every other big name title won’t be out until next year at least. The good news for Rogers’ company is that it could be a trend setter. Or it could be a firm that is one of the only ones to do this. Either way, it seems like a net positive for the firm. Hitman is due out December 8 and Fallout 4 is due out November 10 of 2015.