Freedoms~!
I’m sure a lot of you recall the EIDOS fiasco over Gamespot’s Kane & Lynch review which after a mediocre rating had been posted saw Jeff Gerstmann suspiciously loose his job. Even though (to my knowledge) no direct confirmation was made as to the circumstances of his dismissal other GameSpot reviewers such as Frank Provo suggest the rumours could have been true and that CNet (parent company) “intends to soften the site’s tone and push for higher scores to make advertisers happy”.
Alas, I fear, the naïve, spineless, freedom of speech fearing and vain marketing & PR brains have struck again over Atari’s recently released Alone in the Dark. In this case a number of European review sites (which just happened to give the game a low scoring review) have been threatened with spontaneous legal action over the claim that each one used a pirated version. In the case of 4Players’ at least they state they purchased the game from a public retailer which brings into question Atari’s real intent.
What bugs me though (and a lot of people are thinking this is just another attempt to somehow silence poor reviews) is people entrust reviewers to give them some opinion and foresight into if they will enjoy a game or not. A role which requires simple freedom of speech, honesty and truth in order to be fulfilled. Take Big Rigs for example – if anyone tried (forced or not) to recommend me that game for anything but hilarity value I would, I’m afraid, have to kill them.
Not to mince my words too much, here as some lessons marketing & PR people, so take note:
- Forcing only good reviews does not make a good game. It’s true.
- People have opinions. Some people will dislike things which other people love and occasionally the majority will have only negative things to say – learn to be accepting and deal with it.
- If you want to be able to popularise truly good games you need to be much MUCH more flexible in giving the developer more time when it’s needed. Your “fixed deadlines” are unhelpful and ultimately unimportant. (Take Hellgate:London, I’m looking at you EA / Flagship Studios…).
- People are observant and not as stupid as you maybe hope. Each time a controversy like this flares up people DO pickup on it, which will only go to damage your creditability in the future.
No-one should be afraid of criticism, it is what enables everyone and everything to improve for the future. Assuming, that is, you have any intention to try.
