Game Reviewers: Journalist or Slave to the Hype?

[Cameron Sampson has been working as a producer and journalist within the videogame industry for more than 6 years. He's written for both online and print media and more recently has become fed up with the whole thing after trying to start his own magazine. In this guest article, he talks about his experiences with the world of gaming journalism and its accompanying PR machine - Ed]

This past year, or few years for that matter has been telling for video game journalism. One thing is clear; we are not journalists.

On the totem pole of credibility, video game journalists are the bottom feeders, since the never-ending cycle revolves around pleasing publishers. Those that dare to oppose the cycle are either “burned” or blacklisted. However, perhaps a few have made a better situation out of it.

Jeff Gerstmann got the pink slip from CNET for Eidos pulling ads in response to his negative review on Kane and Lynch. Gerstmann gained his own audience from that incident and created Giant Bomb.

Dan Hsu caught Tecmo’s attention when an executive referred to the former EGM editor as a “stinky shoe” in response to his report on Tecmo’s practice with inviting press to hostess bars. While silly, it doesn’t seem so bad right? Well, there’s that rumor of Tecmo issuing a permanent ban on Hsu still open. Hsu, already the vocal advocate for journalism ethics, is instant ratings (or hits) for the gaming blogs. He seems to be doing well post-EGM, with his freelance and E3 correspondent gig with G4.

Let us not forget the all-time classic, Kotaku versus Sony fiasco, where Kotaku exposed their ban to the public, leaving Sony to promptly patch things up. I still say that Crecente or Bashcraft owe Sony one of their standard notes full of thank yous. That incident clearly put them over the top amongst the gaming blogosphere.

While there are other incidents, allow me to divulge my own experiences. I requested a Q&A for a Square Enix game, only to have one of their PR edit my interview questions for “better terminology.” I guess they didn’t fancy my writing style. However, Square Enix will have to settle for consolation while Sega went for the prize of ultimate screw job.

Once upon a time, the magazine’s goal was to secure a cover feature and interview for Valkyria Chronicles. I meet with the producer at E3 and he offers me his contact info. I meet with the PR at E3 and she’s interested in the new magazine. All seems to be going well with PR and the game’¦until I contact said producer for a biography piece. I’m given a reprimand from Sega PR for contacting the producer, as any and all requests should only go to them. I apologized and took note. With that, the issue is squashed, or it should’ve been. I was wrong.

What followed borders on the surreal and baffling. The interview questions I sent out, the whole interest in coverage that was proposed for three months, and the producer bio were all suddenly put to a halt. PR tells me that everyone is in “crisis mode,” and despite missing the proposed editorial deadline for the cover and feature, they were open to just having a preview piece. They never got back to me about that either. Through the subsequent dry email responses, we were assured by another rep that they wanted the public and press to be “excited about the game.” So then’¦how do you want people to get excited about something by closing off coverage? Or is it that I should be excited about the burn as much as the game? If “excited” means a first month sales of 33,000 strong and not even cracking the top 100, then I’ll need to remember this new synonym for utter disappointment. Also, one has to wonder if there’s any room for late buyers with the anime, should it tell the game’s story, soon to premiere four months too soon?

Now where’s my two-dollar TV gig? You know, I lost investors and subsequently the magazine out of that. I could really use those two dollars. I think Sega could also use the two dollars.

Facing the dilemma of an impending delay allowed me some time to reassess my role as a video game journalist. Most of you readers see us as lucky saps that get free advance games, free swag, free trips and free booze at afterparties and well’¦that’s true. From a publisher’s perspective, they feel that press should be grateful for such privileges. By giving a game a less than favorable review (or score), they feel that press is insulting the very people that have put thousands of man-hours into development.

Some PR (such as Triplepoint with Gamecyte) take matters into their own hands by creating their own review (read: viral) sites. I can’t make this stuff up; it’s all on Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer’s Sore Thumbs Blog. Some writers in our field would rather compromise their fair review and give it that higher than depicted score just to please their crowd, namely the publisher and PR. Then there’s the reviewers’ “republic of diehard gaming fans” that exert their hardcore gamer pride just to praise that universally-panned niche game with fragmented hyperbole. But hey, it’s good quote material for publishers!

What’s ridiculous were those attacking Hsu’s supposed hypocrisy. Perhaps, he didn’t always follow the straight and narrow path, which even he admits. However, he is helping to bring some sorely needed credibility to this field. He is offering his experiences to those that actually want in on this, often sanity-challenged, occupation. How can you knock him for that?

I’m also guilty of hyping up games from my previous magazine stint. It’s the best way to get noticed. Who cares about ethics when you can get loads of freebies? Then again, this may not matter if hyping is all for naught and you’re right in the doghouse if you fall out of favor with the publicist for whatever reason.

While all of this is shamefully humorous, something has to give. The publishers of the video game industry are killing their own publicity with the lack of variety of coverage and they are too, to put it simply, dumb to realize that. Print is dead, and that is a formality once EGM discontinues and 1UP possibly being left to UGO. However, can we even be certain about online when, for example, Gawker Media had to kill off a few of their blogs?

In case people have been sleeping under a rock, in North America, only Future publication magazines, Play and Game Informer will be all that’s left on the print end. I don’t see small blogs moving up through this rubble when Kotaku, Joystiq and Destructoid having enough backing, while Crispy Gamer and Giant Bomb have their veteran reputation and share of fanboys. My message to advertising agencies: that’s all left to work because you’ve been closing the door on new blood for the past eight years. Remember Polygon? US version of Gamestar? Incite? PiQ? Agencies such as Liquid, Moses Anshell or the “Microsoft” of video game advertising, Ayzenberg surely must remember them. They must remember floating out their late payments 60 days past the net 30, ignoring communication and/or cutting campaigns because they just don’t have “enough circulation”–all surefire methods to kill off a publication.

On the other hand, I will not be surprised to see resistance to any change. It’s safer for publishers to give exclusive rights to favorable media outlets if it means selling a few extra copies. Obviously, it’s safer for advertisers to stick to the “big boys” like IGN and Gamespot no matter how much revenue they keep losing, just out of reputation and the rest assured high review score.

Many writers don’t want to worry or just don’t care about the politics when it comes to the freebies. That sounds good if you have no regard for ethics, but there’s a few of us looking to bring some credibility to this whole gig at the expense of stepping on a few toes and possibly being put on a few blacklists. Some of us just want to provide some “journalism” in video game journalism. I wonder if it will ever come to fruition for anyone wanting in this kind of gig. The current state of video game journalism leaves little options for journalists to gain respect from peers outside the genre. Staying in the circle with the path of becoming a Producer or Community Manager seem to be the best bets.

If you don’t mind sticking to the status quo, you should be well off. That would consist of “being nice” to PR at all times, using Dave Halverson trademarked (and improper) hyperbole like “penultimate” and “uber” in (usually Sega) reviews, and rewriting those press releases as slammin’ reviews. For myself, no thanks.

I may be flushed out of making a magazine and from any relationship with this industry, but I’ll trade that away anytime for dignity.