Why do developers announce games so early?

[Drakul]

It's something that's bugged me for a while. I'm fine with games being announced early if there is a steady stream of information because it gives me something to read or watch when I feel like checking out the game.
It's when games are announced and then it's just silence that annoys me. Red Dead Redemption and Fable III are the two currently annoying me with their silences.

I know it's all about getting people interested but it doesn't always work. I'm sure a lot of people have heard of a game, become really interested in it but because of the lack of information, they eventually grew bored and moved on.

I think games should be announced closer to completion or, if they must announce it early in development, a steady dribble of information wouldn't be asking too much.
A good example is GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony. Since it was announced we have had a nice steady stream of info. Screenshots, previews, a trailer once a week. RDR on the other hand was announced, we got a debut trailer, a fistfull of screenshots and a promise that we'd get "more info soon". I'm still waiting for that info.

When I want to check out RDR or F3, I'm left reading the GameFAQs boards which are either almost dead or filled with 50 topics about the same subject.

Thoughts? Is anyone else going through an info drought with a game they are interested in?

[Emperor Smeat]

Its all about hype and trying to get people intrested as early as possible. It makes people begin to think about a certain game and then either do a normal flow of info releases or the occasional piece of information. Smaller hyped games try to send out info when they know competition will be at its slowest or not bother if a game like Modern Warfare 2 is coming and would steal all the spotlight regardless of what information is shown.

Look at the upcoming Zelda game, all Nintendo released was 1 poster and the hype it generated was huge (or even news about an image being released during E3).

[Fignuts]

Final Fantasy XIII has been incredibly annoying in this regard.

[Kalyx triaD]

I agree in certain degrees...

For instance: I wouldn't announce a game in a big fanfare if I knew we were only in pre-prod and nothing new would be released in a while. I would, however, say in some interview that, "Oh yeah, we got this game in development. You'll hear more about that later, though." Something small, like an aside. When a publisher - and believe me it's the fucking publishers pushing this - announce a new game in a full blown reveal (like EA with Superman Returns) only for a dead space in between news... it blows.

[Kalyx triaD]

In short, fuck publishers. They ruin shit, they fucked the current game industry.

[Kalyx triaD]

For me anyway.