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Future Publishing (Edge/PC Gamer/etc) freelance writer says they alter reviews, more

https://twitter.com/RichStanton

starts 4 hours ago.

yes, twitter dot com. don't like it? great thanks for letting us know

Edge gave GTA IV [10] but the review didn’t “@CiaranMac90: @RichStanton Just give us the worst story on Future you have and get some rest!”
I’m genuinely amazed that nobody has picked up on the fact that GTA4 got a 9 which became Rockstar’s much sought-after [10] in Edge.
They control everything “@theubermod: @RichStanton Do publishers/platform holders 'pay' for covers? In either ad spend or access.”
Yes “@helloimandrew: @RichStanton do review scores in future publications sometimes magically change before it hits the self”
Homefront, less obviously. Most is Driv3rgate “@Tim__Lane: @RichStanton game that got most obviously dodgy reviews?”
Rockstar, without question. “@LittleJuiceBox1: @RichStanton Who were the dodgiest PRs for doing deals (review scores etc)?”
Yes. Future will do anything to accommodate advertisers. “@LewieP: @RichStanton have you witnessed any dodgy deals?”
PC Gamer asked me to take some photos of something very specific. A wall of concept art. I asked permission, and did so.
Valve went nuts. This wasn’t approved! Do you know what PC Gamer’s editor, Tim Edwards, did?
He denied I had ever been asked to do it. Said PCG were merely the innocent recipient. Lied, in other words. Cunt.
Yes. Then lost 2/3rds of their traffic! Idiots. “@iambeano: @RichStanton Did Future think the EDGE forum community was a waste of time?”
CVG. They deliberately misquote devs, and claim it’s a mistake after the hits “@DilutedDante: @RichStanton worst games mag/site?”
Yes I am drunk x
 

Zia

Member
Here's a good one:

Edge gave GTA IV [10] but the review didn’t “@CiaranMac90: @RichStanton Just give us the worst story on Future you have and get some rest!”

Poor Rich.
 
What a very bitter chap. This is the guy who was (understandably) a bit pissed off last week when CVG publically criticised one of his reviews but now it seems he just wants to burn his bridges. I wonder how long he was with Future - if they were so bad you'd think he would have left earlier and wouldn't have kept writing freelance articles for them. Just sounds like a butthurt journalist to me, I'd never heard of him until last week TBH.
 

Victrix

*beard*
You know how chat logs are fucking irritating and annoying and not funny?

Direct twitter quoting is exactly like that. Jesus what a mess.

That aside, woo, meltdown in public!
 
GTA3 review is the real ground zero at edge I think. Wasn't there a mass walkout of staff rumoured to be about some negative GTA story that they wouldn't pull?
 

Wedge7

Member
I'm not proud to admit it, but I love reading stuff like this. Feel sorta bad, as hes saying stuff that he'll probably end up later regretting, but damn if it isnt interesting.
 
Fucking reading Twiiter quotes, outside of twitter, is confusing as hell sometimes, fuck my brain. On topic, is this the new trend in the gaming industry now? Burning bridges and all, I mean, fuck, didn't some dude from SONY PR department did the same thing?
 

Zeroth

Member
Well, this should put to rest the debate about GTA IV's scores.
Insane how it was being debated until now.
 

Cake Boss

Banned
Do the people that buy the GTA/Halo/COD games really go to site or a mag like Edge to see review scores before they buy the games?
 

Bentendo

Member
Wow, now he's directly implying that someone from ONM tried to use the magazine to go out with teenage girls.

Chris Scullion said:
But without the writers there IS no Future mate. When you say the company's bent you're implicating us.

Rich Stanton said:
I’m not mates with someone who used ONM to ask teenage girls if they had a boyfriend. Fuck off. Future.

Chris Scullion said:
Not really sure where that came from or what you're referring to but I've made my point regardless.

DAYUM
 

Acosta

Member
Drunk twitter ranting after being fired sounds like a great idea of course.

(Future is terrible though, it's pretty well documented, but take all that with a sack of salt)
 

MormaPope

Banned
"Rich Stanton ‏@RichStanton

bmart_12: @RichStanton Any info to spill on Cod reviews/ad pressure?”

Rich Stanton ‏: Actually, no. COD always earned the reviews, good series"

What? What has Edge given CoD in the past? Anything above an 8 is bullshit.
 
"Rich Stanton ‏@RichStanton

bmart_12: @RichStanton Any info to spill on Cod reviews/ad pressure?”

Rich Stanton ‏: Actually, no. COD always earned the reviews, good series"

What? What has Edge given CoD in the past? Anything above an 8 is bullshit.

CoD - 7
CoD 2 - 7
BO - 7
MW3 - 9
MW2 - 9
 

Corto

Member
"Rich Stanton ‏@RichStanton

bmart_12: @RichStanton Any info to spill on Cod reviews/ad pressure?”

Rich Stanton ‏: Actually, no. COD always earned the reviews, good series"

What? What has Edge given CoD in the past? Anything above an 8 is bullshit.

He might be drunk, but he's not crazy.

Qrz23.jpg
 

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
Wow, now he's directly implying that someone from ONM tried to use the magazine to go out with teenage girls.

I guess Chris Scullion (@scully1888) knows who he's referring to:

@RichStanton Well I'm glad someone watched it. There was nothing creepy about it, it was a public vid & I was in a relationship at the time.
@RichStanton And I'm scratching my head trying to think of an example of me asking a girl if she had a boyfriend. Sounds like exaggeration.
@RichStanton In short, I'd appreciate if you didn't make false and uneducated accusations about videos that are nearly six years old.

lol, pass the popcorn!
 
"Rich Stanton ‏@RichStanton

bmart_12: @RichStanton Any info to spill on Cod reviews/ad pressure?”

Rich Stanton ‏: Actually, no. COD always earned the reviews, good series"

What? What has Edge given CoD in the past? Anything above an 8 is bullshit.

CoD is pretty fun. Even the multiplayer. Hell, MW3 single player > Battlefield 3

It's the community that made me stop, not the game itself.
 

MormaPope

Banned
CoD - 7
CoD 2 - 7
BO - 7
MW3 - 9
MW2 - 9

tumblr_liahu9rlwv1qazkdco1_500.gif


I don't know if this dude is saying reliable stuff then. Black Ops being the worst out of those three? Take 2/Rockstar has the money to raise scores but Activision doesn't or rather won't because their games are good?
 

Trigger

Member
I've long stopped trusting mag reviews anyway. I listen to word of mouth and evaluate videos and such to see if I'd like a game.
 

Risette

A Good Citizen
Nintendo - flawless. Early access, no interest in the score. “@MDKII: @RichStanton Any other examples of good PR you’ve dealt with?”
Interesting.

Capcom, for example, push for scores - but in the right way “@cgentero: @RichStanton Were Japanese publishers just as willing to buy scores?
What I mean by that is they’d send you the game early, with meganotes to ensure you ‘got it’. Works for me. Good PR.
Maybe they forgot the manual to RE6. wwwww
 

wonzo

Banned
@RichStanton
Capcom, for example, push for scores - but in the right way “@cgentero: @RichStanton Were Japanese publishers just as willing to buy scores?

@RichStanton
What I mean by that is they’d send you the game early, with meganotes to ensure you ‘got it’. Works for me. Good PR.
"slide into a good review score"
 
CVG. They deliberately misquote devs, and claim it’s a mistake after the hits “@DilutedDante: @RichStanton worst games mag/site?”

EA: Single player Dead Space games were too scary

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/359045/ea-single-player-dead-space-games-were-too-scary/

What EA actually said

“We were doing research coming out of Dead Space 1 and 2 and we’re really proud of those products. We received feedback to understand how we can take the game out to even more consumers,” she stated.

“We were hearing feedback that they love the thriller game, but it was pretty scary, and the obvious next step was that they wanted to play with someone. So we introduced co-op into the game.

“The horror of Dead Space is still all there. It’s still true to its roots and no less scary, but people felt far more comfortable playing it with someone else than they did doing it on their own.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ea-research-said-dead-space-1-2-were-too-scary/099920

There was actually a thread about this and people were arguing that CV&G didn't misquote what EA said.
 

DTKT

Member
PC Gamer asked me to take some photos of something very specific. A wall of concept art. I asked permission, and did so.
Valve went nuts. This wasn’t approved! Do you know what PC Gamer’s editor, Tim Edwards, did?
He denied I had ever been asked to do it. Said PCG were merely the innocent recipient. Lied, in other words. Cunt.

What the fuck. That's a messed up thing to do from PC Gamer.
 

wrowa

Member
It's kind of hard to side with a guy who sounds like a total dick.

Not that I don't believe at least partly what he's says (I've got quite a few own stories to share about the relationship between publishers and the press...), but he's not a person I want to relate to.

Also, good luck finding new jobs.
 

Zia

Member
People need to read and comprehend that it's never implied that Rockstar paid for reviews. He says that scores were changed from final edit to publication, and that Rockstar's PR is heavy-handed. He also said at one point that Future is pretty hands-off with EDGE in general. From my experience doing some work for EDGE, that seems to be true.
 

iammeiam

Member
Why would Rockstar need to pay for reviews? Their games are usually of good quality.

Because a AAA game can't review as merely good, it has to review like the virgin Mary herself birthed it unto gaming to save us all from the sins of past, inferior games. It has to revolutionize gaming, redefine storytelling, and melt faces with eye-popping graphics. B-tier studios crap out good games all the time that land in the bomba bin; Rockstar delivers genre-defining Oscar-worthy tour de forces and goddammit press outlets better recognize.

(seriously I think score inflation is a big problem--having your game review as an 8 is bad, bad, bad, which means your game can't just be good, it has to be amazing, which leads to tons of pressure.)

I don't know that they outright paid for reviews, but I can easily see RS strong-arming publications that fail to be appropriately blown away by their latest.
 

StuBurns

Banned
There was actually a thread about this and people were arguing that CV&G didn't misquote what EA said.

It's a misquote, but it's not inaccurate in it's sentiment. 'Scary' and 'comfortable' are essentially the same thing in that context. If people find the game uncomfortable to play solo, and that turns them off the franchise, you can call it as scary as you like, but doing something to directly counteract that fear is making it less scary.
 
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