Editorial: Despite Recent Controversy, Gamespot Still Hasn’t Learned
The Gamespot homepage has undergone a massive facelift yet again, courtesy of CNET’s crack advertising sales team. The site is currently promoting Propaganda’s upcoming dinosaur hunting simulator, Turok, due out on February 5 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
I have no doubt whichever one of the site’s editors has been selected to review the game is absolutely terrified right now. And it isn’t just the bite of a velociraptor, he fears.
I don’t believe that a single Gamespot reviews editor would intentionally and willingly mislead the site’s audience. But in the recent wake of Jeff Gerstmann’s controversial firing, it has become all-too-common knowledge that Gamespot editors no longer feel that they can provide readers with unsullied reviews, out of fear of the repercussions they may face from CNET’s new higher-ups.
Make no mistake, I’ve heard nothing but good things about the site’s editorial team. It did not perpetrate the recent injustice suffered by Gerstmann, but instead, fell equally as victim. But when Turok’s reviewer came to the sad realization that his job might be at stake upon seeing those ads go live yesterday, you cannot for a moment deny that all journalistic objectivity went out the window.
I personally haven’t had the opportunity to play Turok first-hand yet. For all I know, the title might be Game of the Year material. But the unfortunate reality is, we cannot pay credence to any final evaluation Gamespot bestows upon the game.
I’d like to make one thing perfectly clear: We’re not accusing Turok’s publisher, Touchstone Studios, of overstepping any boundaries by trying to influence the editorial team’s final verdict of the game. To the best of our knowledge, it has not done so. Nor do we oppose videogame companies advertising on videogaming websites or in game publications in general.
However, in firing Gerstmann, CNET has handed down to his former colleagues a mandate that rings loud and clear: The ad sales team carries more weight than the editorial team.
Here’s how we envision things playing out: Worst case scenario, the reviewer sugar-coats his review of the game in fear of finding himself otherwise terminated.
Worster case scenario, he speaks freely, and finds himself without a job the next day.
Yesterday, CNET named Ricardo Torres the new Gamespot editor-in-chief. It was a move meant to restore some of Gamespot’s lost credibility, and Greg Brannan, CNET’s vice president of content for the entertainment and lifestyle division, took the opportunity to reassure the public that everything at corporate HQ is sunshine and rainbows:
“I’m extremely confident in his [Torres] ability to maintain GameSpot’s tradition of excellence in being the most reputable and outstanding game content site on the web,” said Brannan.
A few hours later, the Turok ads began appearing, as if on cue. And suddenly, it felt as if CNET was saying “Hey, we’ve got a new editor-in-chief now, so you can all go back to respecting us. By the way, here are some very subtle messages from one of our sponsors.”
The unabashed audacity of CNET, to flaunt this in the face of both Gamespot’s audience and its own editorial team, all of whom have suffered greatly since Gerstmann’s firing, is completely unforgivable.
What the new CNET management strongmen have consistently failed to recognize is that Gamespot’s success is not predicated upon its ability to serve an overabundance of ads unto the masses. Its success is predicated upon its reputation as one of the most trustworthy sources for videogaming information in the world. These new Turok ads will only serve as a catalyst to question, yet again, the integrity of Gamespot’s reviews.
In big bold letters, one of the ads now appearing on Turokspot urges players to ‘SURVIVE: 2.05.08’
Come February, when it’s time to write his review of the game, one unlucky Gamespot editor might have to take that suggestion too literally.
Update- 12:00 PM EST 1.29.08
The Turok ads are no longer visible on the website. Whether they were pulled permanently or will be returning remains to be seen.
