Why do Developers keep their Games secret?

Most of the time I think it's just to keep things under wraps until they have a pretty good idea of exactly how the game's going to go. Remember what happened when Gabe Newell swore up and down that Half-Life 2 was coming at a certain date and then when the date came he was forced to admit that that was a false statement? The entire gaming universe practically spontaneously combusted.

It's an absolute PR disaster for developers to hype up a game only to have things that they say turn out not to be true. Best to just keep quiet until you know that the things you're promising will actually come true.

Most of the time I think it's just to keep things under wraps until they have a pretty good idea of exactly how the game's going to go. Remember what happened when Gabe Newell swore up and down that Half-Life 2 was coming at a certain date and then when the date came he was forced to admit that that was a false statement? The entire gaming universe practically spontaneously combusted.

It's an absolute PR disaster for developers to hype up a game only to have things that they say turn out not to be true. Best to just keep quiet until you know that the things you're promising will actually come true.

GabuEx

Yeah,plus if you show a game too early it can be still really disappointing and even if the finished version is great it won´t get the sme attention.People are sich of waiting after a while too.Some of the planned stuff is often kicked out of games because they can´t realise it...look at Halo 2,Fable or some other games.Plus if you have a really good new idea it could be stolen by other companies.Look at the last Zelda and Okami,who was in development since years.

Because of US....thats why.

I'm not even gonna say "gamers", but rather, the most Vocal members of the gaming community can literally put a damper on the perception of a game before it's released....especially when these vocal members feed on hype, and rather enjoying the games as they actually release, are always looking for the next best thing.......and of course there are those who are biased to a specific platform who are always looking for the next rumor or hyped announcement as some sort of notch in the belt to make their system look better or will attempt to put down a game on a competing platform before it's even out.

In terms of the general public, I think if a game's existence is announced too soon before it's release, and the gaming community can become apathetic waiting for it, especially as other "fresher" announcements are made.....words begin to get thrown around like "vaporware" etc.
This actually happened to HL2, which was officially announced just a year and a half before it's release (which compared to other games is a small amount of time between announcement and release), when compared to the wait of other games a year and a half has been nothing......the mistake Valve made is originally saying the game would release 6 months from the announcement, when it actually took 18 months after the announcement before it was in gamers hands.....of course lucky for Valve with the numerous awards and sales the game actually lived up to the hype, but there are other games that aren't so lucky.

Announce a game to close to release, and it might not have enough time to build attention and it could get lost in a sea of other announcements.

....then of course there is the factor of delays.

I personally prefer to see a game actually release at most a year after it's announcement....with just the basic information release...mainly, what the theme of the game is and what platform it's confirmed for, an in-game trailer or short demo to actually show gameplay, and a handful of screenshots to highlight the game.

Of course, some developers are also at fault for feeding into this.....such as with cutscene trailers claimed to be "in game", fake or doctored screenshots, and of course viral marketing.

Because they will turn coat 17 times and change the gameplays completely in the meanwhile...rather say 1 consistant message than always contradict yourself, credibility.

Devs are not exactly a model of seriousness, of consistancy or anything remotedly logical.

It also amuse me to no end to see someone say that WE are guilty. US? Leeching logic here, I am not working because my neighbor is on the welfare! LOL. "US", vocal peoples, are guilty of affecting these devs, and that is it. They listen to the vocal minorities and this is the only thing you can really accuse on the vocal minorities. The "bashing" argument is totally illogical, if the game is solid, the more bashing it get, the more publicity it gets, and some peoples will defend it, logically, and it will increase the sells. LOL, why not accuse the dog next door as well for the failing of a videogame company? You can't seriously accuse someone of not promoting a game which is "trash"? If you count on that, then you deserve what happen to you.