The objective is to control the timing of the hype. They want buzz, but they don't want the hype to peak today, they want it to peak in November.

Having a reason would make sense. So they show the footage to a thousands of people, but tell them not to record it, but feel free to talk about it all you want. Wouldn't the first question anyone would ask is 'Why?'. There might be a good reason, but I honestly can't think of one. Maybe they like trolling fans so they don't give a reason.

Note I'm not saying people should film it when told not to. I wouldn't and I wouldn't expect others to. But if someone does and posts it, since it's stuff that's been shown anyway (and I've even discussed with others) I'll watch it.

Why do beth even try to.cover up the leak at this point I mean once its on the Internet you can kiss the secrets good bye. Im glad it leaked why should the rest of us miss out cos we live on the other side of the planet.

The whole point of these conventions is to generate attendance, therefore developers offer up "exclusive" content for the attendees to see. There might be a valid excuse to go if you want to see Todd Howard in the flesh and be a part of the buzz, but most could care less. We all like to get our hands on something no one else has, hence the rush to buy Pipboys!

Way before the internet existed these type of events were the norm and no one worried that things would be leaked about their product. If you show no respect to the rules of the invitation, then you do not deserve to be invited back. Same thing happens with other products. We unveiled a special version of a car at our track last year and I was asked not to share any info or photos until after a specific deadline. That was their prerogative and I respected it. All journalists who attended respect it. Yes journalists got info wrong about that too, but there was enough accurate info out to negate it. BGS will release what they want us to know, and they obviously want us to know more hence the "Coming Soon" on some of the video content.

Quote of the day, have an internet cookie

All companies know that anything that they release to the outside world is going to be compromised. They know exactly what is going to happen once the put stuff outside in the real world. While they attempt to restrict it, it is a common thing in gaming. The limited amount of content that is given out and also leaked out is only hype for the upcoming game. I highly doubt that at this point, there is going to be any mindchanging as to whether or not you will get the game.

The leak isn't the problem, the problem is with a lack of content. If Fallout 4 had a good number of videos out especially gameplay videos, the leaks wouldn't be as bad. A Skyrim vid would not have needed to be leaked because there was enough content to sustain the audience until Beth got the Dev Diaries out. Unfortunately with Fallout 4, there is hardly any videos on it and the ones that are, they are very scripted and don't exactly represent the final nature of the product which will be more random and less set then what we are seeing right now.

Congrats to them for not getting caught. I don't hold it against them. Yes it is poor quality but hey, I don't have to watch it and have not. If it throws even a very tiny wrench in a marketing campaign it is generally good for us as consumers. Of course this is Bethesda. They tend to shrug off such antics and can herd cats masterfully because.... well it is fallout.

I think it's pretty wack for Bethesda to limit the gameplay footage to a select few, period. All of this secrecy of rationing out gameplay footage, playing mind games with the general public, kind of kills my buzz for buying Fallout 4 Day One.

If anything, grant attendees actual, exclusive gameplay from a working demo where people can post personal gameplay footage for everyone to see. That would sate more appetites than people going through the trouble of finding leaked footage in the first place.

Are you trying to apply morality to leaking something like this? What is so wrong with revealing a leak like this?

Asshat illegally recorded for one reason only-- clickbait

Leaking the footage when you're asked not to is disrespectful, no two ways about that. Even as fans, it's a little entitled to demand Bethesda release the footage on anything other than their own terms.

I get that they need exclusive content to drive ticket sales at the con. But there's no reason not to release that content after the con. They got to see it first and in person, that should be worth the ticket price. We haven't actually seen anything on this game since E3 and it's obvious from looking around the forums that we're running out of things to talk about from that footage. I know Bethesda has to stretch out their marketing for another 2 and a half months but come on guys, give us something. If you don't want footage from private screenings leaked put up something official for your fans to see. It's as simple as that. It doesn't have to be the same presentation. Why not show us some of the more mundane role-playing aspects on the FO4 website? It might not make it into a flashy con video but people are dying to know how the actual RPG elements of your game, like dialog options, will work. Give us something else to look at and the leak will more than likely be ignored by the majority of the fan base.

BGS is looking out for THEIR best intrests. NOT yours or mine. Sometimes their best intrest happens to coincide with ours. Sometimes not.

In the same way they look out for themselves, we as gamers need to look out for ourselves. Im sure BGS has a master plan, but peoples blind willingness to just go alone with them is bizarre. Just look at some of the rules here. Nuts.

This leaker is doing a noble deed in my humble opinion. Hes was risking the possibility of being caught and being booted or worse. Just so others could see what he or she was lucky enough to view. I vote us over them any day. Bring on the leaks.

Bethesda also wants us to buy the game on their terms as well. The least they can do, is ease up with the secrecy. From what I've seen in the footage, Fallout 4 doesn't look too different from Fallout 3, besides updated graphics. Which is not a bad thing, but not worth the trouble their going through to keep the footage a big mystery. They're going about marketing Fallout 4, the wrong way, expecting hype alone to make sells. People have a right to see what they're paying for.

Great post all around. Very interesting points.

I'd argue that they're marketing it in the perfect way, and that hype alone will certainly result in millions sold.

I prefer not to have the game spoiled before it's even released. So at this point I will avoid anything leaked. Also, there's some speculation threads on this forum that I avoid too - in case they are right!

Hype may sell units, but disappointment will eventually lose loyal fans. Bioware is just beginning to bounce back from Mass Effect 3's debacle, 3 years after the fact. It's great that Bethesda is not pulling a Watch Dogs, deceiving us false representation, though the secret footage tactics is obviously not sitting well with everyone.

i really feel bethesda should just take a page out of blizzard book and make quakecon their version of blizzcon. Make a deal with one of the cable compaines to put it up on PPV and do a payed live stream as well for those in the rest of the world, have the opening ceromony as free to see then after that close it for all bar those who brought a virtual ticket. if people dont have the virtual ticket then they just see the live blogs that the fansites would have going.then once the announcements have been made, release the footage for everyone to see.

I just find that when it comes to marketing, blizzard does it best