Video game marketing over many years has accustomed people to get excited over upcoming releases, to getting hyped over something that doesn't exist yet.
They want you to feel that the experience they will provide is one that you cannot afford to miss.
I'm here to tell you that there are experiences that you can absolutely miss and be better off. Do not allow some marketing team to curate your life experiences, and definitely do not allow them to compromise your ethics.
This is not a lesson I'm just now learning because Avalanche and Warner Bros. are unscrupulous enough to cut a deal with Rowling.
I learned this lesson when I bought SimCity on launch day in 2013, and it has been reinforced again and again as major publishers have put out lemon after lemon, confident that they'll still sell because of their marketing.
That doesn't mean I never play games; it means I'm more selective, and I don't rush to buy based on anticipated experiences.
Judging by at least one review, everything I said about games releasing as lemons applies just as well to Hogwarts Legacy.
@maxissakitsune Maybe this is just me, but part of the marketing is coaxing journalists into giving glowing reviews so that it looks good on their accolades trailer. Hogwarts did this with IGN where, despite a 9/10, it was still criticized in the review itself.
Bethesda for years has had big marketing pushes and still release lemons (Fallout 76 and its "16x detail" claim sticks out in my mind).
Maxwell (it/its)
Professor Renderer