Disclaimer -This post is written with the intention of reminding gamers about the announcement and launch of the past Battlefield games. To someone who has followed those games closely, this is all too familiar. The promises, the potential of an amazing game followed by a letdown, and hopefully followed by an amazing redemption, as seen with Battlefield 4. Make no mistake, even with a stable launch, Hardline and Battlefront were let downs, ask anyone who has paid the full price for the game and season pass.

I want to bring this to the attention of the community. For some, this might be very obvious. To the more gullible among us, please take a moment to read. I urge you to not disregard this simply because you disagree. Of course, as a free citizen on the internet, you are free to do whatever you want.

Before you turn on me to defend your favorite franchise, corporation, YouTubers, keep one thing in mind, they are not looking out for your interest. By design, they exist to take your money – you are a commodity to them. This does not make them evil, but you have to be careful about who you give your money to, and what you are getting in return for it. If you truly feel that the product that they are selling is worth your money then by all means, go ahead and buy it. You owe it to yourself to do your due diligence as a consumer.

A look back at the terrible launch of Battlefield 4

Remember what happened a little over two years ago, when Battlefield 4 launched. The YouTubers did their fair share of marketing for the game, and when the game launched, they along with the rest of the world saw what a terrible state it was in, and they did not waste any time making videos complaining how about the netcode is hurting the community and making Reddit posts attempting to clarify allegations of any wrong doing on their part, when in reality, there was nothing to clarify – most people who watch Jim Sterling or TotalBiscuit already know how this works.

LevelCap’s reddit post

FRANKIEonPCin1080p said in a video published on October 29, 2013, and I quote, “Battlefield 4 is here, and this game is just the best first person shooter I have ever played.”.

Think about that for a minute. On the day of the release, a popular YouTuber has said Battlefield 4 is the best first person shooter he has ever played. Even if you were to account for personal preference, that does not make any sense. Yet, the video has over 800,000+ views, with 20,000+ likes. This speaks as much about the state of Battlefield YouTubers as much as it does about the community.

I am not saying that you should hate these YouTubers. All I am saying is, please do not pledge them your loyalty, and please do not take what they have to say at face value.

The Battlefield 1 announcement

Consider the latest Battlefield announcement. We have Levelcap, Westie, Jackfrags, Xfactor all generating hype for the game. This is nothing different from what they have done in the past. When Hardline was announced, they all made sponsored videos, with titles such as “10 Things Hardline Does Better Than Battlefield 4”, and they would have been happy to make more Hardline content and milk it for what it’s worth, but the community has spoken. Oddly enough, FRANKIEonPCin1080p called out Hardline for what it is, a filler until Star Wars Battlefront came out. Turns out, Battlefront was filler until Battlefield 1 comes out.

Watch the latest videos of Levelcap, Westie and Jackfrags, and notice how many times they have uttered the words, “epic” and “amazing”, it’s actually quite silly that they are getting this excited about an 80 second trailer which shows no real gameplay, but when you think about where these YouTubers are coming from, it all makes sense.

Let’s take Westie for example, someone in his younger 20s, who in comparison with the other content creators has a relatively smaller channel, got a chance of his lifetime to be on stage when the game was announced. Do you honestly think he can be objective about anything he is ever going to say? He gets to travel, wine and dine at the expense of the publisher, and in his own words, he was gushing…and while I am happy for the opportunity he got and I am sure it will do wonders for his career, you absolutely cannot expect him to be objective with his coverage, at least for the foreseeable future till the effect of this whole thing wears off.

He claims the new jet destruction mechanics is very cool…one wonders what he knows about jet combat as an infantry player. This is yet another instance among many where he and his brethren are over analyzing details that are by and large useless to generate hype and doing some marketing for the game.

I can nitpick their nitpicking further, but you get the idea. Just listen closely to what they have to say and you realize that either intentionally or otherwise, they call everything epic. They are acting like kids, the very thing Levelcap complained about in his post 2 years ago.

Closing

It is your job to distinguish between someone who is a “gaming personality” vs. someone who is a consumer advocate, AngryJoe, TotalBiscuit being the popular ones.

In closing, put some value on your time and money. Do not be gullible enough to believe everything they say. Just wait and watch, and if you feel like what they have to offer is worth it, go ahead and buy it. Waiting a week isn’t going to kill you. This is better for your wallet and for the industry, because you sending a message that trailers just aren’t good enough, they need to back up their pre launch hype with a game that is worth your valuable time and money.