Where is the BULLY Community headed?
Something I don’t see a lot of people talking about is where the BULLY Community will be in a few years from now. There’s a lot of factors at play, so I’ll do my best to summarize most of that in this Tumblr post.
What if a sequel comes out? We’ve seen quite a few of small hints here and there of Bully 2 being in the works. Sam Houser has expressed interest in working on a sequel. Yan2295 claimed on GTAForums and on Twitter that Bully 2 is in the making and is supposed to be the next Rockstar game after Red Dead Redemption 2.
We also saw some alleged Bully 2 concept art from around 2012 - 2013. Shawn Lee mentioned in 2008 that he had been brought back to compose the soundtrack for a sequel “in the not so distant future”.
The hints are there, but there’s currently nothing concrete for us to accept as a definitive sign of a sequel really being in the works.
As for the community, a sequel would mean a lot more views and followers for people like me, TheNathanNS, SimonBestia, and DeadPoolXYZ. There would also be an influx of new faces in the YouTube content creation side of the fanbase.
This could be a great thing, and a terrible thing. Clickbait channels like MrBossFTW would obviously want a slice of the pie, so we would have to expect an abundance of clickbait channels.
It would also, at least partially, play out in the community’s favor. A bunch of new creative minds joining the fanbase would mean that we could see a lot of interesting new YouTube channels and modders.
We would need to learn from the mistake the GTA community made. Do NOT push the deceptive filler-content to the top. Condemn it for what it is and focus on pushing the new creative personalities to where they deserve to be.
I don’t put a lot of stock in people, but I do think that the Bully fanbase would do the right thing. Maybe I’m just being a bit too optimistic, but the potential is there either way.
What if people stop making videos about BULLY? Contrary to what some people say about me, Nathan, and Simon “keeping the fanbase alive”, I find it hard to believe that the community wouldn’t move on without us.
BULLY doesn’t need us. Nor does the fanbase. Lots of people were making YouTube videos about the game years before TheNathanNS, Governmentman123, and I came along. You’d see the exact same thing if we stopped making videos.
The fact that we get views is indicative of the fanbase already being alive. Let’s be honest, without a demand there wouldn’t be a supply. The audience would simply be on some other person’s BULLY channel if I were to suddenly vanish. The same goes for anybody else.
The fact that my channel has remained the most popular BULLY YouTube channel for 2 - 3 years isn’t because I suddenly created an interest in the game on YouTube. The interest was already there since channels like LiTtLeBaStEd and gamerzworld were making PS2 BULLY videos.
What if a sequel never comes out? Then the fanbase will slowly fizzle out over time.
Right now I’d say that the community is remaining pretty strong. It’s no way near as active as say the GTA fanbase, but it’s a tight-knit little community held together by a strong common interest. Bullshit pulls us apart, but the thing that brought us together in the first place keeps us not too far apart.
A lack of future games would obviously mean that there’d be less of an incentive for people to join the community, but it’s not something that would immediately kill off the fanbase. You would’ve seen a dead community a very long time ago if that was actually the case considering that we have only seen occasional re-releases of the original game since 2006.
It’s clear by now that the community remains passionate about the BULLY franchise. We’re always clamoring for more, and we have been since 2006. The ball is, and has been since 2008, in Rockstar’s court. The fate of the community is entirely up to them.
It’s hard to not let optimism and wishful thinking make you naive when you’re constantly looking for new information on a possible sequel, so I’ll leave you with this piece of advice...
Expressing your desire for a sequel and your appreciation for the original game is never a bad sign in Rockstar’s eyes. Like I said, if there’s a demand there’s a supply. A supply is not guaranteed in this case, but it’s made more likely by the fanbase eagerly anticipating a sequel.
Let Rockstar know that you still care. Let them know that you still want to see a sequel. They’re an entertainment company, so seeing their customers remain entertained over a decade since the release of the original BULLY is something that will make a sequel a bit more likely, but be careful not to let optimism mislead you.
Like I said, there’s lots of things that separate us in the BULLY community. Let’s not forget the thing that brought us all together in the first place.
- SWEGTA
