Hidden Paratextuality: Concealing the Factual Aspects of Video Games

Jan Švelch's paper introduces the concept of "hidden paratextuality," arguing that the absence of expected factual information about video games can itself carry meaning and shape how players interpret a game. Building on Gérard Genette's theory of paratexts, the author contends that game studies has focused on explicit paratexts such as trailers, manuals, patch notes, and credits, while overlooking what is conspicuously missing. The central thesis is that factual details like developer identity, price, and system requirements function as "factual paratexts" that influence interpretation, so their unavailability creates a new paratextual quality that establishes its own threshold of interpretation.

The paper supports this claim through two illustrative cases rather than systematic data. The first is Sad Satan, a crude horror game reportedly discovered on the dark web in 2015, whose anonymous origins drew substantial press coverage and a Let's Play video exceeding 1.5 million views, though the game's existence and its finder's credibility were disputed. The second is a 2016 decision by the European PlayStation Blog to stop publishing weekly price listings for PlayStation Store releases, which was widely read as an attempt to obscure regional pricing differences across European currencies. In both cases, the author argues, the missing information became the focal point of attention.

The analysis is theoretical and anecdotal in scope, focusing on a small number of documented episodes drawn from gaming and tech press rather than a defined sample or formal methodology. Its geographic and temporal frame is implicit, centered on digital storefronts and online distribution around 2015 and 2016. The paper's contribution lies in reframing absence as a meaningful paratextual signal, an argument that extends existing paratext theory into the domain of video game culture.