Cyberpunk 2077 Killed Hype, But Elden Ring Brought It Back

thegamer.com:

Hype is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. With enough hype, a game can become iconic before a single frame of actual gameplay is ever shown to the public. Hype burns hotter than jet fuel and spreads faster than a wildfire. Once the hype train leaves the station, there’s no way to stop it. The inescapable allure of hype has been responsible for great and terrible things. As a hypeologist, I’ve seen communities rise to cultural dominance in the blink of an eye and self-destruct just as quickly, all in the name of hype. Perhaps the greatest story in hype history occurred in the space between Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring - when hype died and was brought back to life.

It’s difficult to overstate how much damage Cyberpunk 2077 did to hype culture. We’ve collectively been disappointed by highly anticipated games before, but never to this degree. Spore wasn’t exactly the technological revolution people were expecting, but it was still a well-received game. Duke Nukem Forever was a dud, but after a decade in development hell, no one should have been that surprised. No Man’s Sky is probably the closest example to Cyberpunk 2077 in terms of how big of a disappointment it was, but a space exploration game from the makers of Joe Danger can hardly compare to CD Projekt Red’s open-world follow up to The Witcher 3. Cyberpunk 2077 was a spectacular failure the likes of which have never been seen before in part because it had such an unbelievable amount of hype behind it. Even if it had been released in a more stable state, similar to what it has become today, there’s no way Cyberpunk 2077 was ever going to live up to the hype.

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Globally, hype levels dropped to an