Story

What is the purpose of the initial "press any key" screen that often displays before the main content of a game?

I found some potential answers online, but I wasn't satisfied with them; they often sounded slightly apocryphal ("my brother knows a guy who works in games" sort of thing). I'm hoping there are some folks here from the gaming industry who have firsthand experience implementing these initial screens.

The possible reasons I found included:

- The screen functions as a "book cover" for your game, showing the player what the game is about - It allows for preloading without the user noticing - If multiple input devices are connected, this allows the game to infer which one the player wants to use - Some platforms may require user interaction within X seconds, and the initial screen enables this somehow (?? I am curious to know more about the mechanics of this in particular, if true)