How soon is too soon for a game announcement?

[y6ner]

yeah i think games should be announce around half a year before their release i understand movies they announce them really early but games are different why announce it so early lol yeah they want us to get excited even though they haven't made the game yet but they have their reasons

[starcrunch061]

 So, my question for you people is this: how far in advance is too far to announce a game, relative to its release? 

 

I'll take the old "definition of pornography" route: I can't define how far in advance is too far, but I know it when I see it...

...

...and this is too far in advance.

[zadorvp]

Well, previous posters have already mentioned several examples of "we still don't have the game years later" announcements, but I'll just mention that one point-and-click adventure game Telltale Games themselves announced and that never got released (because Activision got the rights back and are making the game releasing this year): King's Quest.

[TheYuriG]

Obviously, you want to generate some hype, but I feel that if it's too close to release, there won't be time to build up hype, and if it's too far from release, people will just forget about it till it gets closer to release, so really, what was the point of the initial announcement?

Reminds me of Titan Souls which was announced ages ago and I've only heard about it again when it was released.

I believe 6 months is enough, more than that is exaggeration IMO.

[PleaseHoldOn]

Speaking of Telltale, I love it when they reveal a new episode of a game a week or a few days before it comes out.  More developers should do that.

 

Out of nowhere, Team Ico just comes out and announces The Last Guardian on store shelves on April 27th.

Edited April 25, 2015 by PleaseHoldOn

[MStalker58]

I immediately thought of The Last Guardian when I read this topic. Also surprised that nobody has mentioned Half-Life 3. That game was originally scheduled to be released around Christmas 2007 I believe. 8 years later and fans are still waiting for any news. On topic, I agree with what most people are saying, about a year or less before release is ideal to me. Anything longer than that is unnecessary.