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Popular Gamespot Reviewer Fired Over Kane and Lynch Review?
A very interesting story has been zipping across the Internets today concerning video game "journalism" and review scores. According to the rumor, Jeff Gerstmann, a very popular and well known editor at Gamespot, was fired because he gave the game Kane and Lynch a score of 6.0. Eidos, which just happened to have an enormous marketing campaign plastered all over the Gamespot site right now, was not too pleased with his review and demanded the score to be changed.
But why would Eidos want the score changed so badly? Well it seems that Cnet, the owner of Gamespot, promised a certain "type" of score in exchange for their marketing dollars and that "understanding" didn't come through. Of course, Cnet didn't exactly promise a specific score, but rather a "positive tone" to the review. Gerstmann refused to change his score/review so he was fired. No official word has been made at Gamespot, and no word from Gerstmann so this is all hearsay and speculation at this point, but Gerstmann has not been on the site or in his regular Gamespot segments for several days now.
Could this rumor be true? Who knows ... but it should be pointed out that Gamespot has changed scores in the past. Last year Gamespot reviewed Company of Heroes and gave it an 8.9, but a few days later changed their score to a 9.0 and gave the game an "Editors' Choice" award (the official word is that they changed the score because of an SLI issue that was fixed, but that seems a bit too convenient).
But the real question is this, do gaming publications trade good reviews for exclusive access, marketing dollars, behind-the-scene interviews? Could the influx in thousands of dollars in ad revenue in any way shape and form affect the so-called "game reviews" that you read? I mean, what are the chances that upsetting one of the few big-game publishers in the industry could possibly hurt your chances at future access to their games and content?
(Please note, the previous paragraph should be read with a tone of heavy sarcasm to get the full effect. Thank you.)
All I have to say is this -- Gamespot Perfect Dark Zero review ... final score, 9.0 and an Editors' Choice award during the launch of the Xbox 360 and an enormous Microsoft marketing campaign at Gamespot. Amazing coincidence ... or was Perfect Dark Zero, the launch title for the Xbox 360, just that good of a game. You decide.
Oh yes, bonus fun at Penny Arcade with their take on the rumor.
Well it sucks in that his firing pretty much puts GameSpot's balls into the hands of advertisers (Like they weren't there already though).
On the other hand, in some small way I am happy in that the Twilight Princess score is that much less legitimate.
Posted by PatMan33 at November 30, 2007 1:22 AMNice to see some journalist integrity on the part of Gamespot's reviewers.
The sad part will be when Mr. Gerstmann has to pay his mortgage...
Posted by Danzik at November 30, 2007 1:45 AMPenny Arcade? They're just as shill like. How about them targeting reviewers who gave Assassins Creed a 'low' score (7), saying how wrong they were and saying that reviews don't mean jack.
Oh the irony,
* Penny Arcade took part in the AC ad sales and ad creation on their site
* they've been raving about the game in their editorial content for a long while
* they've done at least one comic about it
No matter how anyone spins it, Penny Arcade had a vested interest in Assassin's Creed and Ubisoft. The very same guys, Gabe and Tycho, who wrote/drew/talked glowingly about Assassin's Creed. The very same Gabe who attacked other reviewers' credibility to defend Assassin's Creed.
Posted by Martin T at November 30, 2007 8:45 AMThis is just horrible, although it's good in a way because it helps highlight the issue. I've been losing trust for game journalism for some time now. GFW have been talking a lot about publishers demanding high scores for certain games, they wrote about it on GamaSutra too (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1542/pr_and_the_game_media_how_pr_.php)
Gametrailers.com gave Halo 3 a 9.8. PCG US gave Crysis 98% and Hellgate 89%, both of which were exclusive reviews. Publishers using their influence to get favourable scores can't be allowed to be a (secret) norm of the industry! It's insane!
Sad to see Jeff go, even if GS was on the decline. I wonder how publishers will think about him reviewing other games for other sites in the future, if he has a future.
Nice to see you posting really up to date new though. Now, if we could only get that podcast (=
Posted by teo at November 30, 2007 8:56 AMLooks like Gamespot is paying for their epic shysterism:
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/kanelynchdeadmen/players.html?tag=readerreviews%3Balluser
Nice to see some good old fashioned protest going on. I can see this being extremely bad for Gamespot's future.
Posted by Krakow Sam at November 30, 2007 9:31 AMgamespot about this rumor: THIS IS BLASTEMY! THIS IS MADNESS!
gamingsteve: THIS IS A RUMOR!
xenomorph, yes I agree that this is a rumor, but what I wanted to point out was that this sort of practice has been happening in the game industry for years. Nobody will ever confirm it and good reviews are never explicitly asked for, but you definitely hear about if afterwards if you don't give the "expected" review.
Expect to hear a lot about this in the upcoming weeks and all about this dirty little practice.
Posted by Gaming Steve at November 30, 2007 12:09 PMHahaha :D
Reviewing games is not a job anyways.
Posted by PikMini at November 30, 2007 5:40 PMwow. This is insane. It is ridiculous. When I go to these sites and look for reviews I am hoping for honesty and then this happens.
My favorite site:
www.talkvideogames.com
was fired because gave "Kane and Lynch" a 6?!
Eidos are serious?
Posted by Backgammon at December 9, 2007 9:26 AMjust linked here from gnome's lair, where they have the video of the review, and it looks like he was slating the game on purpose! was this bad review actually a protest?
Posted by Daniel McElhinney at December 10, 2007 8:34 PMPlease keep your comments relevant to this entry: inappropriate or purely promotional comments may be removed. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.