GRFS GRFS GRFS
Tonight, we had midnight launch events for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. Various Red Storm folk went to various local Gamestops and hung out, signed autographs, talked to folks and generally celebrated the fact that GR:FS was, as they say, a thing.
Me, I went to the store closest to my home, which is to say the Brier Creek one. I've spent a lot of money there over the years, gotten to know some of the folks who work there, and so it was a cool thing to share. I'd never done a midnight launch, you see. They were always kind of for other people. Various games I've worked on have had various degrees of launch pomp and circumstance - anything from massive star-studded launch parties in Hollywood to "wait, that came out? Really?"
So tonight was kind of special. This game has been a long time coming, and there's a lot of blood and sweat and tears and other, possibly less identifiable fluids that went into it (OK, there was a memorable trip to Harry's New York Bar in Paris, where the fluid in question was an absinthe cocktail served up by the greatest bartender in the history of humanity, but I digress), and to see it finally real - and to see folks that eager to play it, well that meant a lot.
And the best part was, as we signed posters and game cases and discs and bandannas, that so many of the folks who were there thanked us for making the game."We know you worked hard." "I appreciate how hard you guys must have worked." "Ghost Recon was the first game I ever played online - thanks for that." "I came here straight from work." Yeah, I know it sounds corny, but that really did mean something. The understanding that a lot of people - actual people, who busted their butts for a long time to make this thing happen and deserve recognition for the long hours and late nights they put in - made this, instead of a faceless company, well, I like to think that's a good thing.
Which leads me to say this: thank you, to the folks who showed up tonight, and to the folks who are excited to play the game. It doesn't happen without you, either.
Me, I went to the store closest to my home, which is to say the Brier Creek one. I've spent a lot of money there over the years, gotten to know some of the folks who work there, and so it was a cool thing to share. I'd never done a midnight launch, you see. They were always kind of for other people. Various games I've worked on have had various degrees of launch pomp and circumstance - anything from massive star-studded launch parties in Hollywood to "wait, that came out? Really?"
So tonight was kind of special. This game has been a long time coming, and there's a lot of blood and sweat and tears and other, possibly less identifiable fluids that went into it (OK, there was a memorable trip to Harry's New York Bar in Paris, where the fluid in question was an absinthe cocktail served up by the greatest bartender in the history of humanity, but I digress), and to see it finally real - and to see folks that eager to play it, well that meant a lot.
And the best part was, as we signed posters and game cases and discs and bandannas, that so many of the folks who were there thanked us for making the game."We know you worked hard." "I appreciate how hard you guys must have worked." "Ghost Recon was the first game I ever played online - thanks for that." "I came here straight from work." Yeah, I know it sounds corny, but that really did mean something. The understanding that a lot of people - actual people, who busted their butts for a long time to make this thing happen and deserve recognition for the long hours and late nights they put in - made this, instead of a faceless company, well, I like to think that's a good thing.
Which leads me to say this: thank you, to the folks who showed up tonight, and to the folks who are excited to play the game. It doesn't happen without you, either.
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