Here’s a big gaming April Fools’ Day 2022 recap

What a cruel day for some people

Today is the day of getting tricked that your favorite franchise is coming back: only to be crushed seconds later. Fun! Here’s a gaming April Fools’ Day 2022 recap.

Gaming April Fools’ Day 2022:

Saints Row announces a “limited edition one million dollar” version that I bet someone in the world would actually buy:

https://twitter.com/SaintsRow/status/1509847085616672768

This Switch Stacker from Vooks could be a neat concept if it was real, as it lets you swap Switch carts that you plug into a dock:

https://www.vooks.net/leaked-new-nintendo-switch-stacker-store-and-play-up-to-12-game-cards-under-your-switch-dock/

2K Games “reveals” fake versions of Civ VI:

Civ fans! We’re excited to unveil 3 new editions of Civ VI. And for the first time in Civ history, we’re blatantly ignoring history! Introducing the Rapture Edition, Booyaka Edition & Baller Edition.

Now that’s what we call Civ! No joke (well, sorta) ➡️ https://t.co/UtJUH7uj0v pic.twitter.com/N2jI49Wyq0

— Sid Meier's Civilization VII (@CivGame) April 1, 2022

New Blood “delays all their games to 2023:”

The world we are living in is uncertain.
The times we are living in are unprecedented.

So it is with a heavy load that we bring you this important news: pic.twitter.com/17XH1o8WbZ

— New Blood Interactive (@NewBlood) April 1, 2022

Guilty Gear? More like Guilty Bear:

◤￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
　次世代対戦格闘ゲーム最新作
　『GUILTY BEAR』発売決定！
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿◢

徹底的にかわいさに拘ったバトルシステム⚔️
癒されるファンシーサウンド🎧
総勢20名のキャラクターが参戦🐻♪https://t.co/FvYlQKKMUD#ギルティベア#エイプリルフール pic.twitter.com/GFxD9k2gYi

— GUILTY GEAR OFFICIAL (@GUILTYGEAR_PR) March 31, 2022

Platinum Games “announces multiple games” in a strange press conference in character:

Razer shows off the “HyperSense Suit” in a Metaverse/Tron parody:

Among Us gets a “Horse Mode:”

Several games are doing googly eyes, including Overwatch and Magic Arena:

The fact that the eyes just float there is so hilarious to me for some reason.
byu/MegaMGstudios inOverwatch

HyperX Japan announces a “grass” line of products:

👩‍🏫 「少しは外に出なさい！自然と触れ合うことも大事よ！」

👦 「 👍 」

HyperX Alloy キーボード (Grass軸）
発売開始！ 🙃

詳細はリプから👇 pic.twitter.com/DzLXfCF8NV

— HyperX Japan (@HyperXJapan) April 1, 2022

The fake Sonic Frontiers limited edition is themed around a bath:

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1509547365841215496

G2 Esports “announces an Esports fast food” chain:

Read more about G2GO!, Esports' first fast-food chain. https://t.co/gUNEuT7Ftd

— G2 Esports (@G2esports) March 30, 2022

It feels like the golden era of big publishers making games that are actually real is mostly over. There’s still some people carrying on the tradition! But now it’s mostly just renders and fake commercials. I’m always so mixed on these. Some of them feel like a corporation was forced into this by higher-ups for engagement, and it shows. Some of them look like the studio is actually having a bit of fun.

In most cases, it’s free market research/metrics to see if people would actually dig something. I mean, what a perfect time to announce a fake NFT grab, then go “haha actually it was a joke!” while you get to check out those sweet metrics on whether or not people would want to buy NFTs for your game. 2022 everyone.

In any case, the tradition carries on of “why aren’t some of these real?”