GameSpit editorial director Jeff Gerstmann fired for having journalistic integrity?

[yllus]

Rumor: Gamespot's editorial director fired over Kane & Lynch review

So before we get going, we should make it clear that this post is still just a rumor and many of the facts behind it are still up in the air. That being said, word around game journalism's virtual water cooler is that Gamespot Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann has been fired because publisher Eidos was unhappy about his negative review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.

What is in some dispute is the reason behind the firing. The current leading theory is that Eidos, a major Gamespot advertiser (just look at the current Kane&Lynch-ified front page shown above) was unhappy with Gerstmann's review of their game and brought pressure to bear on the site to remove the longstanding editor (Eidos representatives were not immediately available for comment).

Gamespot's text review of the game is definitely very negative, and the 6/10 score rather low, but it's the video review of the game that really eviscerates it for "impossible to like" characters, a "lazy" script and excessive profanity, among other things. It does seem plausible that Eidos might not be too happy with either review, and that Gamespot might be willing to do anything to prevent losing such a large advertiser (notwithstanding the site's posted review guidelines, which state they have never "altered our verdict about any game due to advertiser pressure").

Many disagreed with Gerstmann on a number of stances and review scores he gave out (Twilight Princess's 8.8 gathering the most fury of late), but I always believed he was a bluntly honest and rather hilarious guy that GameSpot was lucky to have. As a subscriber to the GameSpot HotSpot podcast, I looked forward to hearing Jeff (gone), Rich Gallup (gone), Carrie Gouskos (gone) each week. So much for that, I guess.

Much more worrying is what this means for GameSpot's review integrity. I know, it's just a silly game website - but like in any area of journalism, we still should expect a firewall between the advertising and editorial departments. I put a good amount of trust in GS, but I guess that's now gone. IGN's always been a joke, so I can't go there. Now what?

 

[purbeast0]

Yah I just read this.

I think it's a buncha BS personally.

There was also a rumor that Miyamoto got fired from nintendo floating around ... hmmm ....

LOL

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

:thumbsdown: to Gamespot and Eidos

That game looked and played like ass and the guy called it.

 

[nycxandy]

I never liked Gamespot.

 

[Modeps]

If this is true, Gamespot's reviews will never be trusted by myself again... unfortunately, I'll have to stick to IGN and Meta.

 

[blurredvision]

Wow, that sucks if true. I always hated Jeff Gerstmann and his reviews....I felt like he was a little strict with his thoughts and feelings. They are just games, afterall.

But, regardless if I like the guy or not, Gamespot will forever be ruined if they did, in fact, fire an editorial director because a major advertiser got pissy and demanded it. I quit visiting Gamespot daily like I used to years ago (switched to IGN), but I'll stop my occassional visit if this turns out to be true.

 

[Skunkwourk]

He didn't deserve that. I also read another editor quit in protest.

 

[Finalnight]

This is starting to get on other sites, Penny Arcade did a strip on it and its on slashdot and bluesnews.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Finalnight
This is starting to get on other sites, Penny Arcade did a strip on it and its on slashdot and bluesnews.

and it's in the first reply to this thread

 

[arredondo]

This GameSpot employee who worked on those ads sees things differently. He says the Eidos gripes were cleared up a few weeks ago and that Jeff was said to be on thin ice for his unprofessionalism for quite awhile leading up to the firing:

This is what I came here to say.

I worked on the K&L ads personally, and I had a front-row seat to the whole debacle.

The ads were originally supposed to point to the GS review page, as they sometimes do. When the review came out, Eidos was understandably upset, and yes -- they did threaten to pull the whole campaign -- but they eventually simmered down and kept the campaign. They had us change the clickthrough URL from the GS review to the official site, but other than that little changed.

The ads went up and the Eidos brouhaha was settled over two weeks ago. Jeff got fired yesterday. Furthermore, I'd heard a few people tell that he'd already been skating on thin ice for "unprofessional reviews and review practices." I don't know much about that, though, so I can't say one way or the other.

My gut tells me that he got canned for larger reasons. Maybe the Eidos debacle was part of it -- I don't know. But I sincerely doubt that Eidos made Gamespot fire him. CNET doesn't kowtow to its advertisers, and I've more than once seen the higher-ups turn away big advertising dollars for the sake of the company's integrity.

I think the whole thing is likely a combination of factors, the biggest being poor timing. Gerst gets canned just two weeks after the K&L incident, so people blame it on that (especially when backed by PA, the gaming journalism equivalent to The Daily Show).

It'll be interesting to see how everything pans out, but I'm definitely gonna keep an open mind about it for now.

Penny Arcade may have jumped the gun if this is true (story from Wired at this link).

 

[abaez]

Going to gamerankings the game is getting all 60 and 70% from various other sites. I highly doubt he was harsh, it's just a crappy game. Whether or not he was fired because of the review or not, it's still a huge coincidence that it just happened to be right at the time of the review so people will think what they want anyway.

 

[yllus]

I could see Jeff being on shaky ground when it came to being viewed from higher up. He's always been a little too absolute in his statements, and has always come off as a bit of an elitist in terms of, "I've been gaming since 1921, and only we grizzled veterans really know gaming." That said, whether you agreed with his views on a game or not you could stake your life by his integrity. And he was definitely a character.

I hope he lands high up elsewhere and continues doing a podcast. I wonder what the HotSpot's theme song will be now - they can hardly use their current music since it's from Gerstmann's own band!

Penny Arcade confirms K&L is behind Gerstmann's firing:

I will tell you the Gerstmann Story as we heard it. Management claimed to have spoken to Jeff about his "tone" before, and no doubt it was this tone that created tensions between their editorial content, the direction of the site, and the carefully crafted relationships that allowed Gamespot to act as an engine of revenue creation. After Gerstmann's savage flogging of Kane & Lynch, a game whose marketing investment on Gamespot alone reached into the hundreds of thousands, Eidos (we are told) pulled hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of future advertising from the site.

Management has another story, of course: management always has another story. But it's the firm belief internally that Jeff was sacrificed. And it had to be Jeff, at least, we believe, precisely because of his stature and longevity. It made for a dramatic public execution that left the editorial staff in disarray. Would that it were only about the 6.0 - at least then you'd know how to score something if you wanted to keep your Goddamned job. No, this was worse: the more nebulous "tone" would be the guide. I assume it was designed to terrify them.

 

[randay]

since this forum was created i have decided that people put too much stock into reviews scores.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: randay
since this forum was created i have decided that people put too much stock into reviews scores.

You must not visit many other game forums, then.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: randay
since this forum was created i have decided that people put too much stock into reviews scores.

Would you buy a car just because you thought it looked cool?

 

[randay]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: randay
since this forum was created i have decided that people put too much stock into reviews scores.

You must not visit many other game forums, then.

i really dont.

 

[randay]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: randay
since this forum was created i have decided that people put too much stock into reviews scores.

Would you buy a car just because you thought it looked cool?

If i had enough money to buy at least 1 car a month, as in I made 800,000 a month, or uh like 10000 an hour.... sure? I know what you mean but its a poor analogy.

also im talking about the score only, the number itself. i think the number is kind of useless. i usually focus on game mechanics and screenshots(for the pretty games), and determine for myself whether I would like the game or not. i couldnt care less about the reviewers own opinions on the game. i just want the facts

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: randay

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: randay
since this forum was created i have decided that people put too much stock into reviews scores.

Would you buy a car just because you thought it looked cool?

If i had enough money to buy at least 1 car a month, as in I made 800,000 a month, or uh like 10000 an hour.... sure? I know what you mean but its a poor analogy.

also im talking about the score only, the number itself. i think the number is kind of useless. i usually focus on game mechanics and screenshots(for the pretty games), and determine for myself whether I would like the game or not. i couldnt care less about the reviewers own opinions on the game. i just want the facts

I dont understand--then why not just go the that particular game's commercial website, watcha gameplay video or visit the wiki entry for the factual information? If that's just what you're just after, I mean. It seems a little absurd to depend on something that is completely subjective, like a video game review, if this is the cases.

Also, are you including console games in this as well? What kind of facts are you after other than frame rate, because there are not system requirements on a console (unless we're looking at particulars like Eye of Judement which comes with and requires the Sony camera).

 

[randay]

Originally posted by: warcrow

I dont understand--then why not just go the that particular game's commercial website, watcha gameplay video or visit the wiki entry for the factual information? If that's just what you're just after, I mean. It seems a little absurd to depend on something that is completely subjective, like a video game review, if this is the cases.

Also, are you including console games in this as well? What kind of facts are you after other than frame rate, because there are not system requirements on a console (unless we're looking at particulars like Eye of Judement which comes with and requires the Sony camera).

I dont know where you got all that from, so Ill just say: Yes.

 

[BD2003]

More often than not, I find myself agreeing with most reveiwers. Reviewers who more often than not, agree with each other. So I'd say those "opinions" are generally quite valuable.

Its been a while since I've surfed gamespot because their site is so ugly and user-unfriendly, but to be honest, this doesnt surprise me. When a site whores themselves out to the point that theyre completely transformed like that, when a review is not only unfavorable but downright negative, there are going to be a lot of unhappy people, and someone is going to lose their job.

I'm sure the reality of the situation is more complicated than that, but perception is everything, and I've lost whatever remaining faith I had in Gamespot and their reviews. It can't be completely unrelated since theyve edited the written review and deleted the video review of the game.

On the other hand, regardless of the "true" motivations, I do think its pretty humorous how the firing of this reviewer in this context has put a magnifying glass on what a POS the game is.

The only thing accomplished by eidos at the end of the day is spiteful revenge, at the expense of gamespot's credibility. Bravo, douchebags.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: randay

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: randay
since this forum was created i have decided that people put too much stock into reviews scores.

Would you buy a car just because you thought it looked cool?

If i had enough money to buy at least 1 car a month, as in I made 800,000 a month, or uh like 10000 an hour.... sure? I know what you mean but its a poor analogy.

also im talking about the score only, the number itself. i think the number is kind of useless. i usually focus on game mechanics and screenshots(for the pretty games), and determine for myself whether I would like the game or not. i couldnt care less about the reviewers own opinions on the game. i just want the facts

Unlike with movies, I think games are a bit less subjective in terms of reviews. Also, many sites use a numbering system for various categories as opposed to giving it 1-5 stars or two thumbs up.

If a game gets rated with high marks for graphics and sound but horrible marks for fun/gameplay it's a pretty safe bet that I'd rather not risk $50... but I might have been fooled if all I did was look at the pretty pictures and movies posted. If I hear reviewers across the board saying that it's a really fun game then it's hard for a screenshot or a movie clip to convey that.

 

[tuteja1986]

I have been reading gamespot review since 1998 and i am a fan of gamespot. The site went hay wire after Greg K left. Also most people that hate jeff is because of his Zelda TP review. You would know he was the 1st editor to give 100/100 to game and that was a Zelda link to the past. Well i think gamespot reputation is over.

 

[flashbacck]

Eidos caught making up review scores : http://kotaku.com/gaming/kane-...iews-scores-329529.php

 

[Wildog]

idiots

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: flashbacck
Eidos caught making up review scores : http://kotaku.com/gaming/kane-...iews-scores-329529.php

Thats just shameful. As if the situation wasnt ridiculous enough to begin with.

Looking at the site now - the quotes are still up, but theyve removed the stars. Guilty as charged.