More often than not in the Gaming Industry, a games information will be leaked at some point. Let that be a mix up by a PR Rep, or by someone that has sources on the inside. In a perfect world no game would leak by any means, but there will always be a screw up waiting to happen where the information gets out early. As a result leaks hurt the developers more than people think. They pour themselves into these projects wanting to surprise us with them and see our reactions. Positive or negative reaction aside, they want to see what people truly think. They don’t want leakers coming in and ruining the fun for everyone.
As I said above some people have inside sources that give them information that isn’t officially released. This is where it can go downhill fast. Some “leakers” love to build a base around them being able to get information early. It seems they form a God Complex and will try to have the final word on everything that happens based on the game they have leaked for. They begin to strive for attention and try to have new information everyday/weekly. They don’t care if it’s not 100% factual. The leakers just want their name circulating around the internet in any type of form, so they can gain any sort of clout.
When a leaker starts to form a base around whatever topic they are leaking, they will of course start to get a following. While most will just follow the leaker to see what they say, there are some people that will start to defend the leaker no matter what. These people will not care what you say. If it doesn’t match up to what the leaker has said then you will be dismissed. It doesn’t matter if the leaker has been wrong in the past. Incidentally if they at least have leaked one correct piece of information then that is good enough for them. People become fixated on whatever the leaker has proclaimed, and lose having an open mind.
Recently this has reached a peak with the looming announcement of Challenger Pack 5 for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Specifically two leakers have been trying their hardest to deconfirm characters. Their lists just keep growing and growing on “sources” that seem far fetched. Nintendo has been trying hard to keep the details of Challenger Pack 5 under wraps, so it seems odd that these two leakers are out here deconfirming 15 plus characters like it’s nobody’s business. While they might have true sources, it seems moot just because of how tightly Nintendo has kept Challenger Pack 5 from leaking.
Let it be known that these two leakers have leaked information before that was true, but they also have had information that was totally wrong as well. This just brings me to my point of all this. You shouldn’t follow leakers like they have all the knowledge at their fingertips. Everyone should have an open mind even if someone was right once. Have fun and talk about characters regardless if they were “deconfirmed”. You shouldn’t feel the need to stop wanting a character, because some random person said they weren’t coming. You shouldn’t stop others from talking about characters either. Time and time again, users will be talking about a character they would like and some random user will butt in and tell them it’s not possible anymore, because of what the leaker has stated.
In conclusion what I’m really trying to say is don’t blindly follow leakers. If you do just keep an open mind and accept that they could be wrong, or that they have been wrong at some point. Don’t start attacking others if they think otherwise either. Truly no one should want leaks to happen. All around leaks are bad if they are true or not. People will start to believe them and if they don’t come true people will get angry. Leaks can bring out the worst in people. Even I get angry at certain leakers, because I find them foolishly spreading lies like it’s a fact. Personally I’d rather have fun discussing the possibilities of potential characters for example than have someone over my shoulder saying they can’t happen, because a leaker said so.
