Articles - Japanese Plastic
"Jeff Gertsmann Fired Over Review"
by Matthew C.
2007.12.20
I am no fan of Jeff Gertsmann. He has a history of giving games bad reviews. That being said, Gamespot firing him is both understandable and extremely bad karma.
Gamespot should be ashamed for what it did. Gamespot has no morals and I can no longer trust them... for anything.
The story is simple... Gamespot requires companies to pay large amounts of money for reviews and advertising. Eidos ponied up the cash for a game. Jeff Gertsmann
gave that game a well deserved, however unflattering, review. Eidos then wanted Gamespot to fire Gertsmann for his bad review feeling they were betrayed and forced
to pay a large amount of money for a bad review. Gamespot's tactics are understandable. Gamespot has never been upfront about this nor will they ever be, but the
situation is still understandable... regrettable & untrustworthy, but understandable.
Gamespot and Eidos both have black eyes in the industry now.
(Why did I wait until today to write about this? Well, I'd like the companies involved and the industry at large to recognize that, after almost a month, this is not going away.
While Internet fame may be fleeting, gamers seem to take their world very seriously and have long memories. Three quick examples: (1) Are gamers buying overpriced
games from their childhood? I think they are. (2) Are people still waiting for
Duke Nukem Forever? I think they are. (3) Are gamers still waiting for U.S.
Earthbound/Mother games? I think they are.)
From Joystiq (2007-12-20):
- In response to a Gamespot forum thread, the new Gamespot Manager of Community Development said he is "eagerly anticipating the official word".
- Gamespot has halted user reviews of Kane & Lynch after a flood of 1.0 ratings lowered the game's user score to a 2.6/10.
- Destructoid has registered cashwh0re.com and changed their front page banner in support of Gerstmann.
- Gamespot employee Aaron Thomas explains why more employees aren't speaking up on the matter: "This isn't Gamespot suddenly clamping down on me or any of us here--this is how it is for anyone with a job."
- Gamespot freelancer Frank Provo: "Personally, my respect for CNet is shot, and writing for Gamespot is going to feel like a chore for quite some time going forward."
- Gamespot users are reportedly canceling paid subscriptions left and right, and planning boycotts of Gamespot and its advertisers.
- Rumor has it that Gamespot forum moderators have been told to squelch any discussion of the controversy. This seems unlikely, though, as the main discussion of the topic on the site has reached 11,110 posts as of this writing.
