NOTE: This is NOT a Fiction Friday Article
Jeff Gerstmann, a reviewer for Gamespot, has allegedly been canned due to pressure from Eidos over his_review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. According_to_Kotaku, an anonymous tipster says that Eidos threatened to pull their ad campaign from Gamespot, after Gerstmann gave the game an average rating score. Gamespot allegedly responded by firing Gerstmann on the spot.
There are a lot of people pointing their fingers at Eidos right now. To me, it’s perfectly natural for a company that is receiving bad press to opt out of advertising on a specific outlet that’s not reflecting favorably on their game. It happens every day in radio and television.
So if this turns out to be a true story, I’m going to point my finger at Gamespot instead. Why?
If you are in the business of reviewing video games, then you take the good with the bad. This type of situation is going to happen from time to time. The DUMBEST thing you can do is tell the world that your review scores are for sale. But, sadly, that’s exactly what Gamespot is doing with this alleged bonehead move, should the information that this debacle is based on, prove to be true.
Frankly, as the guy with the last word on this site, I am thinking more and more about adopting Penny Arcade’s ethic, of only advertising games that we’ve already played and enjoyed, instead of risking this type of stupidity. Gamespot wasn’t my first choice for gaming news and information, but today it sank to the bottom of the barrel in my book. Fortunately we don’t have to worry about it right now, since we don’t actually have any advertisers.
Gamespot: Either stand behind your people, or put the words “Paid Advertisement” in front of all of your review scores.
Now with that said, it’s only fair to also consider the possibility that Gamespot let the dude go for reasons other than the conflict of interest that they allegedly created. Maybe Jeff was chronically late to work or something. Whatever the reason, and whatever the truth is, I think Gamespot has a very small window of time right now to redeem itself.
Gamespot: Why was Jeff Gerstmann let go? If you messed up, then just do the right thing. Say you’re sorry. Reinstate the guy, like now. Then tell us exactly how many more of your review scores have been based on your bank account, so that we can put them in the proper context.
No matter what the real situation is, I think it’s a subject worthy of discussion. What do you all think about the conflict of interest in sites that provide game reviews taking money from the companies that make the games that they are reviewing?
UPDATE: Mountain Dew ads are gone from_Gamespot.
Previous coverage of this Gamespot Controversy:
![[Post to Twitter]](http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/tweet-this-small.png)
Tweet This| Related Posts:
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
9 responses so far ↓
1 Lono // Nov 30, 2007 at 1:47 pm
This is messed up if it’s true. I mean, that game sucks and if he gave it an average rating, he was helping Eidos out fer crissakes…. Man that game sucks.
Oh, and I’m cancelling my Gamespot membership. Fucking hacks.
2 mrpuggywuggy // Nov 30, 2007 at 2:03 pm
yep this is so wrong jeff gave a poor game a average score and gets the boot for it.
It shows us that all gamespot care about is $$$$
3 Lono // Nov 30, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Oh and by the way the video review that started it all cannot be found on gamespot as of 2 pm cst. FU Cnet.com (parent company).
4 keith22 // Nov 30, 2007 at 3:17 pm
i used to love jeff he was the best at gamespot dam money f=ken cnet
5 AriesDog // Nov 30, 2007 at 3:56 pm
I call shennanigans on Gamespot for firing Jeff Gerstmann for his Kane & Lynch review. Just because Eidos paid a ton of advertising and they had a movie deal in place before the game was even released, it’s not right for the business people to interefere with an honest review. The game wasn’t good. That’s the consensus from multiple reviews. It’s pretty obvious they pushed it out before it was ready. The online co-op play, which was a major promotion point in previews, was missing. More refinement was needed at every level except the graphics. This game needed more development time, plain and simple. Don’t kill the messenger Eidos.
Loonnngggg time reader of Gamespot.com but Jeff Gerstmann’s firing makes me wary of Gamespot’s reviews if the advertiser pays enough. Sorry, going to EGM and 1up.com exclusively for reviews after this. Editor-in-Chief Dan “Shoe” Hsu has gone on record in interviews saying that Ziff Davis has a “seperation of church and state” policy with regards to advertising and editorial.
6 Kanbei // Nov 30, 2007 at 6:38 pm
I am also a Loonnngggg time reader of gamespot, and I will say…
Sorry to see you leave their site man, you were the one guy that really held the whole sharade together (their other sinor editor was also good, but he left to make games a year ago i think).
I’m about to lose all respect for gamespot.
time’s tickin spot, don’t lose another reader.
7 Conflict NZ // Nov 30, 2007 at 8:04 pm
I am absolutely disgusting by this appalling display of corruption, subscription to Gamespot has been canceled. This is why I will stick to independent blogs and forums for my reviews from now on.
8 Harag // Nov 30, 2007 at 11:27 pm
every gamespot review ive ever seen (my brother lives and dies by there reviews) has been no where near my own opinion there are games that got great reviews but were absolute trash and other reviews told it like it is. ive never trusted gamespot there all about there pocket book not about the readers that the site was made for
9 Olly Newport // Dec 4, 2007 at 2:05 am
I love Jeff for his reviews…but it’s times like this where you can’t make jokes…”fired him OOOONNN THHEE SPOOTTTTTT!!!”
Leave a Comment