Videogame/Hardware leaks are bad?

saved me from making a terrible decision: preordering and buying TLOU2.

Why - was/is there some controversy surrounding TLOU2? What made/makes you doubt it might not be as good as 1? (Sorry for off topic Q, but am intrigued!) (I've not finished the 1st one yet, but am enjoying it)

WITHOUT SPOILERS PLEASE!! :)

They're annoying, both because they spoil things and you never know what's accurate and what isn't. There have been many cases in the past where leaks were just bullshit, leading to many people being disappointed with actual announcements. It's a lose-lose situation. If you know about things to come, you're not as excited about them when they're announced, because you already knew it was coming. If you're excited about a leak that is a lie and isn't coming, you're going to be disappointed more than you would've been otherwise.

That said, when it's whistleblowing rather than leaking, as in the leaks are alerting people about bad things to come, then it's an important type of leak that I do appreciate.

Just ignore it. I fail to see the issue. 99% of everything being posted online these days is fucking bogus. Back in the day you could actually see legitimate press releases and trailers and whatnot, now you have to dig through tons of fake news bullshit to find anything out. And never pre-order anything. Get the money and run scam. Even from big publishers these days which is quite sad. All this FOMO bullshit, I just don't get it.

Don't preorder games anyways even if you want to get it. Personally I don't hate leaks, although there is a spectrum of how big/damaging they are. I am a big fan of Hollow Knight and would be pretty devastated if Silksong leaked and I got spoiled. As long as I didnt get spoiled I wouldn't care. For stuff like switch 2 leaks I am a fan, and I wish the launch lineup would leak so I am less caught up in hype and can make an informed decision.

Leaks are a good thing imo, as it gives the company a chance to fix whatever mess they are about to push out. Once the mess is out, they're much less likely to fix anything and make it better. At the same time, I agree with you that influencers/media giving their opinion of what's gonna happen as if they saw a leak despite having no damn info on the matter is mega toxic and should be a perma ban, because I don't enjoy pointless clickbait and I think in the 1700's you'd get stoned for that.

I don't pay attention to game leaks because I don't have the money to buy new games and often don't end up getting a game until it's many years old, so I just wait for them to be released and then see what people say about them.

I really enjoy hardware leaks as entertainment. I don't buy many new things because they are expensive and I tend to keep my stuff for many years before replacing them, but I like to keep up on what is happening with new computer technology because I find it interesting and I find leaks and speculation to be enjoyable.

they wont stop showing those damn Switch 2 "leaks" and "information" news.... a lot of sites are Sony biased, they pretty much are trying to stop Switch sales (making people wait for new hardware) which are close to PS2 sales, which somehow recently they suddenly jumped from 155 to 160 million.

to me even NDS (154 million) outsold PS2.

not sure about english websites. but before the Switch Lite and the Switch OLED models. it was about the Switch Pro

leaks are good because producers (game and hardware) are generally deceptive, relying on cherry-picked content and paid 'influencer' and reviewer promotions to sell their products. leaks give us an unvarnished insight into the reality of what they're selling, and it always gives us the upper-hand in our decision making - and in rare cases, if feedback is negative enough, gives the producers a chance to change course and actually get forced to deliver a quality product in order to make a profit since they cant rely on marketing spin for a change.

I enjoy leaks...they're like dirt sheets.

Keeps the fans interested and worked so win win. I feel many such leaks are most likely orchestrated or knowingly tolerated. And I don't mind it, since I don't over-consume tech news or gaming news like i used to.

Honestly, couldnt care less for leaks as I don't care anymore for new reveals much anyway.

The new hardware is of course always interesting to see the boundary being pushed forward, BUT the tech industry is getting a bit out of touch with reality lately IMO. Moore's law is not applicable anymore, we see increase in performance, but also in price. I am still gaming on gtx1070.. And while I would like to upgrade eventually, I am stuck on the simple fact of not wanting to spend so much money on new system. I dont find effort in caring about new announcments anymore due to this.

And that goes to everything - cars? not at this price point. Motorcycles? Not at this price point. Phones? Dont be redicilous.. pushing 2k for flagships offering space landing level of technology and advertsied to use instagram.

It still is worthwile to be aware of what is going on in tech fields, what innovations are coming into play, but what do leaks matter if you wont buy the thing when it comes out? Maybe for those who can afford it, sure - but for the rest? I cant afford new car, bike, phone, pc once new tech comes out. So drooling over leaks (even in games) is useless. With games it should be made illegal to preorder anything anyway. Devs get their money and can shit out another unfinished garbage game. For tech I guess this works sort of like market research, so I woudlnt surprise if most truly are not orhactrated by the companies themselves.

This is not meant in a bad way against tech enthusiasts, so dont get me wrong. Not shitting on hobby some people have in analysing what comes out and like that. But for the regular Joe - I dont see the point.

Hardware eaks are great as far as I'm concerned - I'm enjoying finding out whatever I can about the RTX 50 series in preparation for not being able to buy one :)
Unsubstantiated rumours and fake leaks, which I get the impression a lot of the Switch 2 stuff is, obviously sucks and wastes everyone's time, though I don't mind speculation when it's presented as such.

Game leaks I'm happy to see but don't really care much about unless it's to do with the technical side of things.

By my mind, leaks are fine.

Never preorder. Period.

No, no, no. That's not a good reason. No preorder. Ever.

It's shameful they exists and the videogame journalists that use them to make articles, they hurt developers and therefore the games/gamers

Never pre-order a game period. Game leaks are often instrumentalized by the publishers to build up hype and thus no "real" leaks. As for hardware leaks they're pretty inconsequential e.g. the leaks about RTX 5000 series will not lead to more or less sales as the supply at release will be bought up by scalpers anyway.

I guess I'm kinda neutral about them, I don't seek them nor care enough to follow up too closely on any leak but they can be an entertaining exercise in speculation, specially since most leaks aren't real instead being little more than guesses pretending to be concrete info.
There's also the fact that sometimes (real) leaks ends up being all the info we have about a certain game or hardware development process, and in the case that a project gets cancelled it quite literally becomes one of the few if not the only source of information about it. So leaks can be a valuable resource for historical purposes.

Generally speaking I'm not a big fan of leaks for many reasons.
I think they tend to over-inflate the hype, which in turns leads to unrealistic/pre-set expectations and unfair disappointment from a lot of people in the actual game once it releases.
Basically it sets a lot of games up for failure before they even hit the proverbial shelf.