Back in May, just ahead of June’s E3 conferences, RAGE 2 was one of the many games leaked by Walmart Canada. Instead of taking offense to the leaks, Bethesda decided to lean into it. Many were skeptical, wondering why a game like RAGE needed a sequel. After getting our hands on the game at E3, we’re extremely excited for it, even honoring the game with one of our Best of E3 2018 awards.
Normally, leaks are bad for the industry. They upend carefully laid marketing plans that are designed to control and elevate the conversation in a way that’s most favorable to the developer. In this case, id Software studio director Tim Willits says that the RAGE 2 leak was actually a good thing for Bethesda, id, and Avalanche. It created conversation around RAGE 2 that may have been swallowed up by other games otherwise. The plan was always to do a pre-E3 series of teases and reveals to head off the massive E3 conversation, but the leak afforded them an additional opportunity to get people talking. “It turned out so well that a number of journalists were like, ‘You guys planned that right"'” Willits said. “No, we didn’t plan it.” Specifically, the studio knew they would be competing with another massive Bethesda game in Fallout 76.  Willits described the the next Fallout as a “55,000 ton gorilla,” another post-apocalyptic game that could could cannibalize the conversation.
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