Gamespot editor fired over negative review?

Gerard

Gerard

Gerard

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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.

Gerstmann has been no stranger to controversial reviews, as his scores of 10 for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and 8.8 for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess had sensitive internet users up in arms. It's now possible that many bitter fanboys may have had their wishes for his firing granted.

As our tipster points out, if the rumor is true, it could point to a distressing precedent at Gamespot and parent company CNet. "As writers of what is supposed to be objective content, this is our worst nightmare coming to life," wrote the tipster.

Our efforts to confirm the story with Gamespot hasn't proved successful. Our current requests with PR, Gerstmann and other CNet contacts have either gone unanswered or yielded a "no comment."

http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/gamespot-editor-fired-over-kane--lynch-review-328244.php

gamespot credability = down the crapper if true :eek:
 
so gamespot who review games, in order to make money, let companies advertise on their website. these companies also make games that gamespot would review. in order not to **** off advertisers, gamespot would bend the truth on certain reviews in favour for the companies who fund them, otherwise risk losing money from said ****** off company.

if true its a serious credibility dent for them, and as it is a fact that they are funded in the manner mentioned, it is of no surprise for a business to take care of its financial responsibilities instead of its moral sensibilities. no surprise at all.

Their user reviews paint the most accurate detail regarding games.
 
I try not to pay too much attention to official reviews. I try to go more by user feedback on sites.

Doing this, I have been put off Assassins Creed, after reading up on 360 peoples feedback of the game.

Its no different than hardware reviews. I try to take those with a pinch of salt too.

If this rumour turns out to be true, Gamespot will have put themselves in an awkward position, and any user worth their salt would forget about them.
 
Fair play to the reviewer, hes just doing his job really. The thing that bugs me though is what do Eidos hope to achieve from this, not only will GameSpots credibility be challenged but theirs too. If they make a carp game its their problem, not the reviewers. Maybe they should have spent less money on the ad campaign and more on the development work.
 
The best reviews are always personal ones. I haven't trusted review sites/magazines in years, specially now that everything has become so commercial.

If this is indeed true that gamespot have fired a long standing writer because one of their sponsors told them to then they can kiss good bye to any credibility they had. Specially considering a large majority of gamers, specially those that have been gaming since the early days will no stand for that sort of behavior, its very un-"gamer" like.

The silly thing is though, Kane and Lynch is dire, its starts off ok, but then "for me atleast" got stupidly hard and frustrating to the point of me just not bothering to play it anymore.
 
Awful news. Was thinking about getting a GameSpot sub next week as well. Won't be doing that anymore.

Hopefully 1UP will snap him up.
 
There is/was a discussion on this recently here. It's definetly showing that Gamespot are indeed influenced by money. I kinda agree with MoratJG though, lots of people will be up in arms at the moment but in about a month no one will care / remember.
 
I always use Metacritic when judging future games purchases, you get a really good mix of both user and commercial reviews on one handy site
 
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