Money talks - advertisement money, that is

[Monolith]

The suits at <a href="http://www.eidos.com/">Eidos</a> say "fire him" and Jeff Gerstmann, (now former) reviewer at <a href="http://www.gamespot.com">Gamespot</a>, goes up in flames - for posting a not so positive <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/kanelynchdeadmen/review.html?sid=6182836">review</a> of the new IO Interactive title <a href="http://www.kaneandlynch.com/">"Kane & Lynch: Dead Men"</a>.

At least, that's what <a href="http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/gamespot-editor-fired-over-kane--lynch-review-328244.php">this article</a> at <a href="http://kotaku.com/">Kotaku</a> indicates.

<blockquote>We've heard an unsettling rumor today from an anonymous tipster that longtime game reviewer Jeff Gerstmann from Gamespot has been let go. That wouldn't necessarily be newsworthy, but the conditions under which he was allegedly dismissed were. According to the source, Gerstmann was fired "on the spot" due to advertiser pressure for his review of Eidos' Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. A visit to Gamespot shows that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game has taken over the site very prominently, with backgrounds and multiple banner ads all pitching Kane & Lynch. Allegedly, publisher Eidos "took issue with the review and threatened to pull its ad campaign."

Jeff's review was certainly less than glowing. He assigned the game a 6.0, otherwise known as "Fair" on the Gamespot scale. The game is currently enjoying a Metacritic score in the 65 to 69 range, which the site describes as "mixed or average reviews." According to our tipster, it wasn't necessarily the score that was reason for Gerstmann's rumored axing, but the "tone" of the review.</blockquote>He'll surely know better next time.

I know, that's no RPG news. But it's something we've suspected, or known, or whatever. We've been criticizing game journalism for exactly this for years. While an anonymous tipster can be just anybody it still looks strange that a long-time reviewer like Jeff was sacked just after posting a review that's critical towards a game whose ads were all over Gamespot.

<a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2007/20071129.jpg">Here's</a> Penny Arcade's take on that incident.

Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com">Gamebanshee</a>

 

[JarlFrank]

Hahaha, that's such a perfect example of the suckiness of game journalism.

Seriously, when review sites are listening to bribes and threats from publishers and developers, who can take them seriously anymore, especially when honest reviews are taken from the site because of things like that?

 

[Lumpy]

But dude, that guy gave an 8.8 to Twilight Princess. Fuck him.

 

[Herbert West]

I hope they choke to death on Eidos' cock. Greedy little shits they are, both GS and Eidos.

 

[thesheeep]

Can't blame Eidos. they're just doing what is usual business in this ... business.

Can blame Gamespot, though, for being one of the reasons to rightout dislike "professional" journalists.

 

[Solaris]

So marketing pressure comes to bear down on reviews huh?.....never!

Who cares whether the guy was a numpty anyway. It's a perfect example of the state of gaming journalism- (I use the term loosely)

 

[Herbert West]

Can't blame Eidos. they're just doing what is usual business in this ... business.

Can blame Gamespot, though, for being one of the reasons to rightout dislike "professional" journalists.

Edios can well be blamed. There's something like "ethics" to business too.
And Gamespot is hereby renamed to Eidos Marketing Department Frontend.

 

[thesheeep]

Edios can well be blamed. There's something like "ethics" to business too.

Is there? I doubt that.
Anyway... you may blame them if you want, but the real "turncoats" here are those that accept payment for reviews, be it directly or indirectly like Gamespot. Without them, there wouldn't be such things.

 

[Herbert West]

Is there? I doubt that.
Anyway... you may blame them if you want, but the real "turncoats" here are those that accept payment for reviews, be it directly or indirectly like Gamespot. Without them, there wouldn't be such things.

I admit that ethical behaviour in business is not commonplace. I would like it to be, or at least some common decency. In my eyes Eidos is also culpable as hell.
Gamespot mutherfuckers are responsible directly, because they backstabbed their employee, who was trying to do his job for them. It is extremely dishonourable.

It's some dirty business indeed, but exposing the rotting innards to the public eyes may do some good *hoping and praying*

 

[doctor_kaz]

I don't believe it until I see more confirmation of this. Has anyone even confirmed that the guy was fired? The review for K&L came out weeks ago.

 

[Herbert West]

Update: We did get confirmation that Mr. Gerstmann is no longer with Gamespot. The circumstances in which he was terminated or left of his own accord, however, were not disclosed.

You gotta love that "The circumstances in which he was terminated". Has it come to that ?

 

[Monolith]

I don't believe it until I see more confirmation of this. Has anyone even confirmed that the guy was fired? The review for K&L came out weeks ago.

From the article I posted:
"Update: We did get confirmation that Mr. Gerstmann is no longer with Gamespot. The circumstances in which he was terminated or left of his own accord, however, were not disclosed."

When questioned GS gave out a "no comment". So we're free to speculate.

 

[doctor_kaz]

I don't know what has happened to Gamespot. Three or four years ago they were an absolutely top notch site. Since then, they have gone completely into the shitter. Especially their PC coverage, which has gotten progressively worse. Their forums became trash when they merged them with gamefaqs. Every time that they redesign their site in some way, they layout gets worse. Since Greg Kasavin left it has become even worse. Their new review system is retarded. They have lost a lot of people over the past year and a half or so. I don't know what's going on there.

I hope for Jeff's sake that he lands on his feet. Getting called into the HR office and having somebody say "you're fired" is one of the most traumatic experiences that you can have. It's possible that nobody else will hire him now.

 

[Herbert West]

That one made me smile:
http://uk.gamespot.com/users/Adam_B/sho ... 0-25233743
And this:
http://www.gamespot.com/users/TimT/show ... 0-25233420
C&C bitches, I hope it will hurt.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Definitely front page worthy news. As you say its not strictly RPG related but it confirms all our suspicions over bribes. Gamespot WERE taking bribes and Jeff was fired because he didn't give a good review.

 

[Spectacle]

Update: We did get confirmation that Mr. Gerstmann is no longer with Gamespot. The circumstances in which he was terminated or left of his own accord, however, were not disclosed.

 

[Kingston]

Money makes the world go round...

 

[Herbert West]

Update: We did get confirmation that Mr. Gerstmann is no longer with Gamespot. The circumstances in which he was terminated or left of his own accord, however, were not disclosed.

Teh win. Dark humor is better than unbroken doom&gloom

 

[obediah]

Can't blame Eidos. they're just doing what is usual business in this ... business.

Can blame Gamespot, though, for being one of the reasons to rightout dislike "professional" journalists.

Edios can well be blamed. There's something like "ethics" to business too.

Awww - there's nothing cuter than the ignorance of a child.

 

[Herbert West]

Awww - there's nothing cuter than the ignorance of a child.

Do take care to read through my posts. I'm fully aware of how it really is. I'm also aware of how it should be.

 

[Crolug]

Looks like there's a free spot on GameSpot now. Right for Mr. Corvus.E, our beloved The Escapist Reviewer, hell yes, with captial R...

 

[Cassidy]

Awww - there's nothing cuter than the ignorance of a child.

Do take care to read through my posts. I'm fully aware of how it really is. I'm also aware of how it should be.

It will probably never be like this, not in a capitalist economy. Profit always come first, if you can profit more deluding some idiots, great! Your shareholders will love you for it! If you can suck all the blood from underpaid Africans rather than unionized British workers, excellent! This is one of the parts of the formula to success. They will only care about ethics if the consumers take that into account when buying stuff, and considering the idiocy and sheep-behavior that permeates the mainstream consumerist culture, that is very unlikely.

Ethics and profit are usually inversely proportional. This is another demonstration of the wonders of a free market where mainstream consumers buy most stuff brainlessly.

 

[Herbert West]

... that is very unlikely

By all means, I agree. However that doesn't justify Eidos in the slightest, and it certainly won't stop me bitching about them

 

[Baphomet]

Great news! Maybe the guy will start a legitimate review site that caters to gamers instead of suits. It won't pull in as much as Gamespot, but the venture could very well net him more money than he made at his previous job. His name is suddenly out there all over the webs, inundated in gamer outrage. "ZOMG this guy got fired for writing honest reviews he is someone we can trust!" It's the kind of branding some would pay through the nose for.

 

[deuxhero]

That is very doubtful, he can't even write reviews for the games he isn't geting a blowjob for, notice how he says he likes the Wii TP better then the GC TP, yet at the same time gives the GC one a higher score.