Remember when Apex Legends was shadow dropped? It's a risky move for such a high-profile game to skip all the pre-release marketing hype entirely, but it paid off, and it's clear why Respawn went that route—"photoreal PvP hero shooter" was an eyeroll-inducing prospect even back in 2019, so letting the game speak for itself short-circuited any pre-release angst.
We don't know if the strategy could have been replicated, but would it have been worse than the late Concord's legendary failure or the reaction to the recently announced Highguard, which was the final big reveal at last year's Game Awards? Viewers expecting something like 2023's Monster Hunter Wilds reveal or the one-two Matrix Unreal Engine 5 tech demo and Matrix 4 trailer in 2021 have been taking out their frustrations on Highguard.
