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Consumers lost confidence in the veracity of game reviews last year during the controversy that followed the firing of a game journalist at GameSpot. The website he worked for put pressure on him to give out a score that would please advertisers. When the guy chose to be honest about his review, they fired him. At the time I wrote this article : Game Journalists, Indie vs Owned, because this backdoor practice had been going on for a long time. Since I got into being a game journalist in ‘05 I’ve seen those that would “play along” get the good jobs. But those who choose to be honest and speak their mind have not been so ‘lucky’.
This year Eidos once again is at the center of a similar controversy. The publishers of Tomb Raider were caught in the act of attempting to fix scores on the upcoming game Tomb Raider Underworld. Over at Kotaku a spokesman from the PR firm Barrington Harvey told them:
“Just that we’re trying to get the Metacritic rating to be high, and the brand manager in the US that’s handling all of Tomb Raider has asked that we just manage the scores before the game is out, really, just to ensure that we don’t put people off buying the game, basically.” and “That’s right. We’re trying to manage the review scores at the request of Eidos.”
The writer at Kotaku responded with “What the holy hell? A request like this is not only insulting, it’s downright unethical. Basically they are asking review sites to withhold information from the public in order to fool them into buying a game with an artificially inflated Metacritic score…and they are doing it without batting an eyelid, as if this were just everyday business.”
After yet another year of noticing suspicious scores to games it is about time that the practice of interfering with journalism and trying instead to control them has come to light. There have been several instances this year where a score of 9 or 10 has been given out to games that are far from perfect. When I have sat down and played them I’ve seen everything from glitches, and shoddy controls to bad camera. Major problems in games had been glossed over. It was greed that funded these “reviews”.
Interestingly IGN has a whole section on their Wiki page about how few Ten’s they have given out, as does Gamespot. Gamespot is owned by CNET and CBS. IGN Entertainment owns and controls many sites such as GameStats, GameSpy, Rotten Tomatoes and AskMen. Rupurt Murdock’s News Corp bought IGN Entertainment for $650 million in September of ‘05. Ziff Davis media who presently still owns 1UP.com, DL.TV.com, CrankyGeeks, ExtremeTech, FileFront and GameTab.com. Ziff Davis owned and shut down the following magazines and websites; Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, Computer Gaming World, EGM2 and Expert Gamer, GMR, Official US PlayStation Magazine, Xbox Nation, PC Computing, and most recently PC Magazine also has been slated for canning.
These huge media conglomerates have both bought up many major websites and gaming magazines. Obviously there was a move to shut the open door of free speech in the games industry. They wanted the plug the marketing hole that honest independent writers make. Some of us have integrity, instead of caving into sleazy advertising campaigns. In the past the game magazines were funded on a wing and a prayer, and fueled by blood sweat and tears. Reading about the history behind these games sites and mags are tales of the American dream – or nightmare. Once they were bought out, that all changed. The unfortunate news that more long-time game and tech magazines are being shut down puts the final cork in it.
The truth is that most websites don’t pay anything for reviews. There are very few jobs for writers out there. So when someone manages to score one of these choice plums, there is no job security because of the popularity of the job. There is always a long line of people who will jump at the chance to get a game journalist career that pays. That makes it easier for pressure to be put on reviewers.
As disclosure, again this year we haven’t made a single penny. In fact the company that we choose, Commission Junction, to do our ads has a class action suit against them because they supposedly messed up links and paying people. I’ll be replacing them and all the ads soon. I don’t know if anyone has ever bought anything from a link that they clicked through from this site, but it you have please tell me because I’m curious.
The book First Person Feminist, which I thought would do so well sold exactly one copy. Games journalism isn’t a picnic. It’s not lucrative, I do it because I have been a gamer for 30 years, I have a ton of experience in gaming and talent as a writer. I write articles and reviews because I think that my perspective is important to have out there. And even though there isn’t any money coming in, the amount of hits I get is incredible and is the reward in itself.
Would I ever sell out? I’d like to think that I wouldn’t. But I would never lie to my readers. Even I have a price. It would take a lot of money to get me to shut up. A lot of money.
Geek Woman Speaks
I'm Geek Woman, a freelance video games journalist and author. Please buy my book First Person Feminist, by clicking the Book Tab above. I write honest game reviews and editorials. I interview women in the games industry, female gamer clans, and gamers. I provide articles about women in video games, as well as technology and gadgets. Grab my RSS Feed, follow me on Twitter.com/geekwoman
Note : Unless mentioned otherwise, all games I review are rented from Gamefly.
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