To be quite honest, ive heard its criticism but i think this time around they've done a real good job;
- They announced it CLOSE to completion then even confirmed its gold status and DLC later on.
- They themselves never overhyped fallout 4. With the amount of previous hoaxes this merely fuelled the hypetrain into making fallout 4 into a MASSIVE deal to alot of gamers.
- while they havent went indepth, theyve told us the features of the game outright; base building, weapon and armour crafting.. They havent just thrown random gameplay clips and mashed them with a cinematic and said "find out for yourself if you buy it"

I mean, i'd say it was perfect, fair.. Even beneficial to me; they made it clear that nothing after E3 would come around for a few months (although id still check) so i never expected anything from that; then after, the SPECIAL videos and details of the perk system, ect. Stoked my interest - but close to release - so i wasnt clawing the walls constantly for fallout 4 144 days before release.

From interviews ive seen - Todd is a geniune gamer with a genuine interest in creating games and he chose what he wouldve wanted as a gamer - not just what would bring in the most interest (which it did, regardless) - despite what ive read previously

for me is perfect, not only im going almost blind about the story (since i didnt get any major spoilers), plus the close release time got me hype alone.

i know a lot of ppl hate it bc they got almost to non gameplay trailer, but for me what i got on E3 was enough

Their marketing wasn't that bad. There are some areas they need to improve on like inventory stock and how they sell it. So far most of everything purchased regarding fallout 4 was left to the user to find.

It was/ is perfect. Slow trickles of information, but no real spoilers. They kept fans interested, while also keeping the amount of time spent on trailers to a minimum... which means more time actually working on the game. Some people don't like it, but in the long run they'll be thankful they can experience almost the entire game fresh without having witnessed it via youtube.

I think Bethesda's PR strategy has been good overall; possibly an exemplar for others to follow.But it's far from perfect, and it's very selective to suggest otherwise.

The last 3 months have been the tip of the PR strategy, and it's easy to complement it while we are riding on such a high peak; but we are forgetting the years of incessant rumors, hoaxes and general vexatiousness that followed such a prolonged silence.

I for one don't look forward to the repeated silence for the next Fallout game when the time presents itself.

I have always preferred this method. I still think they have released too much information. To me the best method would have been just have the F4 Logo and the release date nothing more except Ron Perlman doing the announcement and maybe the line War never changes.

Doing it the current way didnt really bother me. but what will really show if it was a good or bad are the sales and only time will really tell that.

Yeah I kinda glad,just wished they announced it a month before not three months.

The only thing I'm very glad is that they have not over hyped to much like say Oblivion days.

When they announce Oblivion and the video gameplay and Todd said it had dynamic shadows that you can even see shadows thru the ribcage,I was so excited and hyped.

Shadows is very important for me cause it adds depth to the enviroment as well as lighting.

I was so dissapointed with Oblivion becuase they had to remove the dynamic shadows for the enviroment ,so I never finished it and only made it to lvl 10.

Gothic 3 at that time stole the spot light for me for its dynamic shadows.

Fallout 3 was disapointed for me at first but eventually let it go cause FO universe is my most favorite game then all the games I played.

Seeing now how FO4 looks abit more awesome then FO3 in the videos, is exciting for me due its shadows and especially now that they have better lighting weather and dynamic shadows enviroments like in the video under the bridge with dogmeat.

I think the reason why they showed so much is to put the other fallouts aside. So much has changed for this game including the fact we will experience a city with blue skies.

But I agree that they showed too much. They should have showed the lone wanderer leaving the vault and meeting up with dogmeat and it should have ended there with the lines "ready to [censored] [censored] up?"

It got me pumped.

I like it for one reason: zero risk of spoilers

Hard to judge a marketing strategy until we see the results in sales.

I think they did it perfectly. The announcement trailer was great, they announced the release date less than two weeks after that, they showed us a lot at E3, then they trickled down information as they went along to keep us salivating. Now, they've gone full marketing with a commercial and merchandise (Nuka Cola Quantum at Target is a particularly nice offer, IMHO), and regular "Get excited!" postings on social media. That's not to mention Fallout Shelter, which - aside from being a fun game in and of itself - was released largely to help advertise Fallout 4.

And then there's the literal http://edge.alluremedia.com.au/m/k/2015/10/melbourne.jpg in Melbourne, Australia.

Most importantly, the announcement-to-release window was just over five months. These days, games are announced sometimes years before they come out, and the ones that aren't are often yearly releases (CoD, Assassin's Creed, sports games, etc.).

So, yeah. I like what they've done. It is, to me, the best marketing anyone's ever done for a game.

Usually, I view the withholding of information by game developers/publishers as a bad sign, especially if this persists until release.

However, since Bethesda has yet to disappoint me, I believe that they are doing this in an effort to surprise us with Fallout 4, in a good way.

I believe Bethesda is hiding specific things like gameplay features and/or map size from us so that we'll be that much more impressed when it releases.

If this really is their intention, as I believe it is, then I have absolutely no problems with it.

Personally, I didn't need any marketing--knowing it was coming out was enough to guarantee my purchase and get me extremely hyped. I'd love to see more just to scratch my Fallout itch until I can actually play it, but they've already got my money.

For people who are not within the established fan base, I don't know whether or not the marketing campaign is doing its job. E3 was a big blast of info that got attention, but it has been pretty quiet since then if you weren't actively following it.

I'm sure they have plans to ramp up the PR around and after the release date. They've probably already hooked the people who would've pre-ordered, so a bunch of post-release videos, good reviews, and word of mouth will do the job for the wider audience once the game is available.

I think they've done really well.. It does make me wonder how people who've never played previous bethesda games view it though.

Right, because for me all they really had to say was "Fallout 4. November 10, 2015!" and I would've preordered, lol

i agree, the factions, main story, map size the huge amount of content, dense city areas, i totally agree, todd howard always talks about the overall game experience, the waiting for the next installment, the anticipation, finally getting the game and just being amazed, spoilers have been kept to a minimun.

I think divulging too much information is worse than hardly showing anything, as you can always hold fire on the purchase and wait for reviews. What they've shown is enough, maybe a little too much even. I don't read many articles on game sites anymore, especially as it's so close now.

I personally feel that their marketing was terrible. Bethesda could announced Fallout 4 via a tweet 2 days before launch and still sold 1,000,000+ copies on day one. There was very little point in announcing the game 5 months in advance when all they've been willing to show us is the E3 gameplay, a series of cartoon vignettes, and 14 seconds of gameplay focusing on one perk. MrMattyPlays is a perfect example of what this marketing campaign has done to the fans; we've spent hours anolyzing and speculating about literally seconds of footage.

I think they've done a great job with marketing. It's funny how unbelievable I thought it was that they weren't announcing the game when it was almost definitely in development, but after the E3 reveal it all made sense

On a side note, what does everyone think of the big Fallout 4 posters that have been appearing everywhere (at least in Brisbane, on buses and billboards)? They went with the image of Vault-Boy doing a thumbs up, but I think it would've been more effective to show a suit of power armour or the Sole Survivor with a wasteland background. Perhaps Vault-Boy is iconic enough to be effective, but it hardly showcases what Fallout 4 is about to pedestrians who have never heard of the game.

Does anyone else love Todd Howard and would buy anything hes selling? Im not gay but.... I get this feeling.

lol and that is good it show how much free time ppl have, and how much they want this game. Im not defending Bethesda, but lets be real, is the first time in at least 15 year we going to do WOW look that monstor or wow look that place. Even Witcher 3 show every [censored] city and monster before release so every time u came across something u know the attack and the abilities of the monster.

Fan and players in general got use to planing ahead. And really that kill the whole idea of getting something new and be surprise by it.

Lol another example is Blizzard im big fan of that companies, but every time a expansion for wow come out or a game come out they show sooooo much during beta or trow website that when i get the game i only really get exited about cinematics, and lately they tent to show the Cinematic 2 or 3 months early. is More i got Legacy of the Void and i already know what every new unit do since every wiki have a full list from Beta.

"It's more than a feelin'. Woah a woah a woah"

Nah, Todd's job is easy when he has a team like BGS. I know some don't agree, but I've never been let down by a BGS game. Sure we may question some decisions on the direction they've taken some games but overall I've had *a lot* of fun playing their works.

I dunno, that seems a little too vague. I at least want to see a small demonstration of new features and how it looks/plays so I at least know what I'm about to drop $60+ on.