Here’s Why I’m Pissed About “Puddles” In A Game I’m Not Even Going To Play (And You Should Be, Too)...

In case you’ve missed it, let me get you up to speed on the Marvel’s Spider-Man puddle controversy:
- Insomniac Games, the American game development studio behind titles such as Spyro and the Ratchet & Clank series, is currently developing the much hyped “Marvel’s Spider-Man”, a PS4 exclusive set to release on Friday, September 7th.
- At E3 2018, Insomniac released a screenshot of what consumers were reasonably led to believe was in-game footage (no disclaimer that the footage was not in-game footage)
- Shortly thereafter, Twitter user @spiydaman tweeted a comparison of the E3 footage alongside the actual in-game footage (below)
- The internet proceeded to explode with a controversy dubbed “Puddlegate”
- Most large news outlets begin mocking the outrage.

As you can see, not only are the puddles clearly smaller, more dull and less impressive in the release photo, the lighting is completely different, especially on Spiderman’s head, back, leg and shoulders, and the suit is far less crisp.
“Okay, so why are you so upset about puddles, Killa?”
Great. Question.
I’m not. I don’t give a shit about puddles in this game, especially since I have absolutely no plans to buy it. However, what I do care about, is video game development studios operating with integrity — and everyone else should, too.
It’s stunning that people defend Insomniac touching this photo up to the degree they have, just to hype it at one of the biggest, most exciting gaming expos of the year (E3), knowing it’s going to drive pre-orders (and sales), while also knowing the in-game graphics aren’t even close, and then trying to tell us there is no visual downgrade:

So, I ask myself, “how could people possibly fall for this? How can people defend this?” Oh, that’s right, it’s because gamers are evidently (and generally speaking), the most gullible, most forgiving, most forgetting, easily tricked consumers in the entertainment industry. We’re like goldfish crack addicts fiending for our next hit.
“Damn, Killa! That’s a bold claim!”
Yes it is, let’s talk about it. Remember when:
- Gamers didn’t learn anything about being egregiously misled by No Man’s Sky, and blindly jumped aboard the hype train? And to this day, gamers still throw their money at development studios without a second thought?
- The internet had a seizure over “Pay for Power” lootboxes in Battlefront II, which forced EA to revert the system? And yet, the game still sold over 9 million copies.
- Monolith, the developer of “Shadow of War” admitted that their microtransaction system “undermined the heart of their game”, and pulled them after 6 months — and after they raked in millions?
- Rockstar Games stopped focusing on single player content in GTA5, and decided to focus almost exclusively on online content because that’s where they’ve earned over $500MM in microtransaction sales?
- Activision patented technology to manipulate players into making in-game microtransaction purchases? And it didn’t slow their momentum one bit?
- Microsoft broke their ankles backpedaling on Xbox One? And was forced to rescind their original plans for region lock, online only play, and digital only play?
- Destiny 2 released with almost no endgame content, lost 78% of its playerbase within 3 weeks, and scheduled a paid DLC to drop only 4 months later to add the content it should have included at release?
- Bluehole decided to add microtransactions to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ before actually fixing the optimization and bugs plaguing the game, all of which the playerbase had been screaming about?
- Mass Effect: Andromeda, a AAA game — and one of the most hyped games of 2017 — released with “alarming” facial animations?
- Cloud Imperium Games, developers of Star Citizen, was going to charge viewers $20 for digital access to “CitizenCon”, despite the studio raising $190MM+ from it’s kickstarter campaign?
- EA sold you the same “entirely new” Madden (and other sports franchise games) game each year, instead of updating rosters with content updates?
- “Early Access” games such as Rust, H1Z1, and DayZ stayed in Early Access for YEARS despite raising absurd sums of money and moving development forward at a glacial pace?
- The MMORPG scene was flooded with Free-to-Play, Pay-to-Win “cash grab” ports of failed Western and Korean games such as Archeage, Blade & Soul, Black Desert Online, Bless Online?

Oh, you don’t? Well, I do. Vividly.
“But, Killa — touching up a photo is very different than abusive microtransactions, hype and Early Access scams!”
Yes, and no. Yes, because the scale is different. No, and most alarmingly — it’s coming from the same lack of respect for our time and money, and the infuriating presumptions that we’re too stupid to notice we’ve been duped, that we will be OK with it, and/or we will forget it before the next time. In short, they think we are idiots. And they’re probably right, which is why they keep doing it.
“But Killa — movie studios touch up advertisements all the time!”
Yep, they do. And yes, they cherry pick the best scenes for trailers, but what they don’t do is show Sofia Vergara in the trailer knowing you’re going to show up to find out it’s actually Roseanne Barr, then tell us it’s not a visual downgrade. That’s a Russian nesting doll of insults.
“But Killa — the game is still in development! Things are subject to change!”
Yeah, I mean, I guess except the part where as things move this close to release, the development improves, not degrades. I’m glad the game is coming out this week, given another few months of “development” at this pace, and it’d probably degrade to a voxel based Minecraft clone.

“But Killa — this type of marketing has gone on FOREVER!”
This is easily the laziest, and most ignorant of arguments. Just because something has always happened, doesn’t mean it should keep happening. Anyone subscribing to this logical fallacy clearly believes the earth is the center of the solar system, women shouldn’t have the right to vote, and African Americans should still be counted as 3/5ths of a person. But it’s not. They do. And they aren’t. Because someone was like, “Uhhh, WTF?”
What’s equally frustrating is that I’m mostly alone in my fire and brimstone railing against what I see as a small part of a larger issue with the interaction between many game development studios and gamers.
As a community we have a twisted BDSM, Stockholm Syndrome love affair with development studios where we shower them with money to ride roughshod over us, and then thank them for the opportunity to be relieved of our money.
It’s an abusive relationship where they come home from the bar drunk, slap us around a little bit, apologize in the morning for the bruises, and we’re either too dumb, afraid or powerless to leave.
In an industry where money talks, too many gamers are too beholden to certain franchises or titles to vote with their dollar, so they provide bad actors with a stamp of approval and unwittingly (or wittingly) reinforce the behavior, which leads to the bad guys seeing exactly how far they can push us next time. That’s how we end up with our resident abominations, EA and Activision.
It’s unfortunate that so many are unwilling to address these small transgressions (or worse, defend them), and instead choose to wait until it builds to a fever pitch before leaping into the fray with righteous indignation to rage against the machine, and pretend they’ve been on the right side of history.
To wrap up my rant, I suggest you all think long and hard about how you’re spending your gaming money, who you’re spending it with, and what they’re providing in return. Vote with your dollar. Call bullshit when you see it. Praise the good guys. Be vocal. Demand quality. Don’t settle.
And if you can’t pull yourself away, and you’ve gotta feed the bad guy machine, well…you do you, fam, but at least go into it eyes-wide-open.