I don’t think it’s being held ransom by an ARG, I think if it wasn’t for the ARG, we wouldn’t be getting anything from HG at all, they’d just be their usual quiet selves and deliver content when ready.
Before the game released we got very little info from HG directly except for the obligated press junkets and ad trails they had to do as part of their deal with Sony.
I think most people’s frustration is coming from expectations they have of what is, at least to me, the new media standard. Which is, tease, tease, tease, show, show, show, give, give, give, ad nauseam. Marketers are too busy trying to make noise above the rabble and get noticed that even youtube algorithms are changing to match it.
Which is to say that, your idea or vision having a unique voice that captures the interest and imagination of people without having to scream about it is hard, really hard, but dammit we all want to be millionaires and psychology studies have shown our greedy hearts the shortcut; turn entertainment into a drug. Just be super loud, invasive and easily accessible and keep the rumor mill and news mill running, we’ll make great day one sales which is all the shareholders care about it, after which we’ll turn our back on all its criticism and start fleshing out a sequel.
So I’m glad with the ARG, in fact I’d be just as happy to get nothing from HG at all until NEXT releases.
I guess HG came to a decision, do we pay the same type of mindsets that are corrupting all aspects of life, in this case the greedy old school dinosaur marketers, or do we pay this passionate company doing creative new and engaging things with advertising that doesn’t use human psychology against the population to sell more selfie sticks or cheap tricks?
It’s safe to say HG went with the types of people they’d like to see colonise space.
For more of an in depth discussion on Hello Games, their approach to advertising and marketing, this old interview from 2016 should shed some light
In short, their stance on marketing is “overall, we don’t give it that much thought at all.”