Support NeoGAF

[cgcg]

Sounds like there're quite a few MS influencers in this thread.

 

[xxracerxx]

Sounds like there're quite a few MS influencers in this thread.

I don't know what you are saying.

TPBTYBM

 

[jschreier]

Oh Jason
So your colleagues are too holy to be influenced by petty cash, parties and gifts and peer pressure from their friends in marketing that they interact with every day, but those darned youtube personalities ARE susceptible?

What makes you better than them? Go on tell us how you are above it all, how you've transcended your human nature while those dirty wanabe plebs who compete with your own industry need to be set right

this is hilarious

I especially like the 'we're not talking about game junnalists right now', Major Nelson would be proud

I think your vision of my job is a lot different than reality. I live in New York City. There aren't a lot of video game parties. We don't get a lot of gifts. There's certainly no "petty cash." (where did that even come from?)

More importantly, my company works very hard to maintain the wall between business and editorial. I have no idea what ads will be on the site or how much the company is making off them. Nobody has to promise coverage to make money, because we have an entire team of smart sales people who are selling ads against the site, and none of the writers ever have to think about that.

On YouTube, things are a little bit different. I've heard rumors of companies paying for coverage, or offering to take personalities on fancy trips in exchange for the promise of X videos for Y number of weeks. (I won't go into any more on that until I do more reporting. I don't want to spread anything that isn't true.)

The bigger issues in games journalism are more subtle than "petty cash and parties" - how many news stories get written every day just because a press release went out, or because someone had to fill a story quota? How many reviewers are inclined to be more lenient on games because of their relationships with the people behind them? Those are questions I think and talk about internally all the time. Journalistic ethics are complicated.

YouTube is definitely a broader and more "direct" way of moneyhatting coverage. I'm surprised there practically aren't any gaming news outlets picking up this story.

I'll tell you the truth: I pitched something about this subject to my boss a couple of months ago, he liked it, I started doing some preliminary research, and then I got swamped with other stuff and went on vacation for a few weeks. Now I'm back, and yes, this is certainly something worth continuing to explore.

 

[Tsundere]

Sounds like there're quite a few MS influencers in this thread.

DetectiveGAF can probably find that out, search for the tag, write down all users who've got it, and then run a bot to scan the web for their info or something. lol

I'll tell you the truth: I pitched something about this subject to my boss a couple of months ago, he liked it, I started doing some preliminary research, and then I got swamped with other stuff and went on vacation for a few weeks. Now I'm back, and yes, this is certainly something worth continuing to explore.

Good stuff. I'm not saying everyone in the gaming industry (including media, etc.) are corrupt and/or are being easily influenced by companies through payouts or swag; but it's become chronic. More often than not, things are being swept under the rug and written off as "nothing worth writing about" because it would conflict with the outlet's own business practices.

 

[jschreier]

It would put half a spotlight back on their own cozy/fishy relations with publishers, so nope. I wouldn't mind being proven wrong though!

Honestly? Have you read Kotaku? I don't think we're perfect, but if you really think we're too cozy with publishers, click the friggin' link on my avatar.

 

[Inversive]

Microsoft really are the lowest of the low

 

[krypt0nian]

Microsoft really are the lowest of the low

All that work by Major Nelson down the drain.

#donthatecampaign

 

[Pelydr]

I think your vision of my job is a lot different than reality. I live in New York City. There aren't a lot of video game parties. We don't get a lot of gifts. There's certainly no "petty cash." (where did that even come from?)

More importantly, my company works very hard to maintain the wall between business and editorial. I have no idea what ads will be on the site or how much the company is making off them. Nobody has to promise coverage to make money, because we have an entire team of smart sales people who are selling ads against the site, and none of the writers ever have to think about that.

On YouTube, things are a little bit different. I've heard rumors of companies paying for coverage, or offering to take personalities on fancy trips in exchange for the promise of X videos for Y number of weeks. (I won't go into any more on that until I do more reporting. I don't want to spread anything that isn't true.)

The bigger issues in games journalism are more subtle than "petty cash and parties" - how many news stories get written every day just because a press release went out, or because someone had to fill a story quota? How many reviewers are inclined to be more lenient on games because of their relationships with the people behind them? Those are questions I think and talk about internally all the time. Journalistic ethics are complicated.


I'll tell you the truth: I pitched something about this subject to my boss a couple of months ago, he liked it, I started doing some preliminary research, and then I got swamped with other stuff and went on vacation for a few weeks. Now I'm back, and yes, this is certainly something worth continuing to explore.

You work for Gawker. You work for hits, stop trying to act like you do something useful for gaming.

 

[jaypah]

I wonder what portion of the industry would still be "safe" to buy from if ALL of the skeletons rolled out of ALL of the closets? Games are a huge business and wherever there's that much money you'll almost certainly find corruption.

 

[DR3AM]

ITT people dont know how youtube works

 

[Martian]

Sounds like there're quite a few MS influencers in this thread.

Yeah because everyone that thinks that this isnt the worst thing ever, is surely paid by MS

 

[jwk94]

I love how honest Jason Schreier is. Keep doing what you're doing, man. Love your work.

 

[xxracerxx]

ITT people dont know how youtube works

Enlighten people.

 

[Marcel]

ITT people dont know how youtube works

Also ITT people who rightfully don't like payola. It's okay not to want to eat the shit with a smile regardless of someone telling you "this is how it works", "this is how it is" etc.

 

[stonesak]

Yeah because everyone that thinks that this isnt the worst thing ever, is surely paid by MS

No, just condoning unethical, illegal business practices.

 

[Takamura-San]

You work for Gawker. You work for hits, stop trying to act like you do something useful for gaming.

What website doesn't work for hits?

 

[cgcg]

Yeah because everyone that thinks that this isnt the worst thing ever, is surely paid by MS

XB1M13

 

[jayu26]

I'll tell you the truth: I pitched something about this subject to my boss a couple of months ago, he liked it, I started doing some preliminary research, and then I got swamped with other stuff and went on vacation for a few weeks. Now I'm back, and yes, this is certainly something worth continuing to explore.

Alright, I like this. Hopefully you will find it worthwhile to write about.

 

[Jack_AG]

You work for Gawker. You work for hits, stop trying to act like you do something useful for gaming.

Sensationalist articles to get hits and taking a bribe for a particular story are not the same thing. Nice tag, BTW.

 

[Pelydr]

What website doesn't work for hits?

Jason likes to act like he is doing actual journalism. Journalism is about reporting reality, not getting hits. If Jason would admit that then good for him! But he actually thinks he is important.

 

[Chobel]

Yeah because everyone that thinks that this isnt the worst thing ever, is surely paid by MS

So It has to be the worst thing ever or it's nothing? is that what you're saying?

Spoiler

XB1M13

Jason likes to act like he is doing actual journalism. Journalism is about reporting reality, not getting hits. If Jason would admit that then good for him! But he actually thinks he is important.

I'm sure you can have both.

 

[Takamura-San]

Jason likes to act like he is doing actual journalism. Journalism is about reporting reality, not getting hits. If Jason would admit that then good for him! But he actually thinks he is important.

Please quote him where he expresses how he is the bastion of games journalism.

 

[jschreier]

You work for Gawker. You work for hits, stop trying to act like you do something useful for gaming.

The sooner you realize that traffic and good work are not mutually exclusive, the sooner you'll be able to contribute to conversations like this without sounding like an asshole.

 

[todahawk]

Jason likes to act like he is doing actual journalism. Journalism is about reporting reality, not getting hits. If Jason would admit that then good for him! But he actually thinks he is important.

And what newspaper isn't trying to sell newspapers? Which online newsite isn't trying to get hits *couchCNNcough*?

 

[Fugu]

The sooner you realize that traffic and good work are not mutually exclusive, the sooner you'll be able to contribute to conversations like this without sounding like an asshole.

They're not mutually exclusive, but the two occurring in the same place is often purely incidental.

 

[Chobel]

They're not mutually exclusive, but the two occurring in the same place is often purely incidental.

[citation needed]

 

[jschreier]

They're not mutually exclusive, but the two occurring in the same place is often purely incidental.

That's not true at all. We're getting a little off-topic here, but think about the links your friends share on Facebook or Twitter. Your feed is probably filled with a variety of articles - news, editorials, viral videos, interesting longreads, and so forth. If a story resonates with people, they'll want to share it, and that's what brings in the hits. So an article's traffic is usually based on its level of interest, its packaging, and no small amount of luck. Our goals at Kotaku are pretty much to write things that are both high-quality and high-interest, then send them into the wild and hope they resonate.

 

[Respawn]

Yep, so desperate. I mean they only sold 3 million units at a profit last year.

*face palm*

When will you be upset then? When all videos on Youtube will be just big ads for the companies?

Same thing as ftp and dlc, at first people were: "Just don't buy it if you don't like it", then they realized those early little things would bring over great changes in the industry. For the worse.

Now everything's being exploited and monetized, even in full retail games, games you pay $60 for. People have to realize that when there's something bad going on, as little as it may be, you just don't turn around as if it doesn't concern you or as if it's not a big deal.

It's not a big deal yet.

Great post.

 

[atomsk]

I'm just one dude with a few thousand subs, but I felt the need to sum up my thoughts

Hopefully some of the bigger youtubers will chime in, AngryJoe, Boogie, etc

 

[Mr. Luchador]

I'm just one dude with a few thousand subs, but I felt the need to sum up my thoughts

Hopefully some of the bigger youtubers will chime in, AngryJoe, Boogie, etc

Before I click this, are you being paid by Microsoft?

 

[Orayn]

Before I click this, are you being paid by Microsoft?

This is the only result on his channel for "XB1M13."

 

[atomsk]

This is the only result on his channel for "XB1M13."

That's precisely the idea, so people who search for it will at least see someone taking about what is actually going on

edit: also, I'm the dude who wrote the song Xboned, so uh, make of that what you will

 

[Orayn]

I don't know if Mr. Luchador was joking or serious, just saying that it's not hard to find out if you're suspicious. You need to put that in the title as per Machinima's rules for the promotion, so it's possible to at least find out who's trying to make some Xbone bucks.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

I was joking, but perhaps it was ill timed as a lot of people are now going to be very suspicious of every video now!

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Are people seriously attacking Jason of all people about integrity? Dude does solid work, and one of the few solid reads on Kotaku. Direct your hatred elsewhere, people.

 

[Night_Trekker]

Smart if you think deception and misleading people is smart.

That's most marketing, though.

 

[8-bit Hero]

Paying for positive reviews. Microsoft hits another low.

 

[Demon Ice]

I don't understand it. MS has all this money. They spend sooooo much on advertising, on moneyhats, on that ridiculous farce of a launch party, on all these crazy extravagant events.


Why don't they use some of that money to put less shitty hardware in the XB1


Then they won't have to pay people to say nice things about it.


I will never understand.

 

[eddfromtheriver]

smart, but smells of desperation

Pretty much.

 

[tengiants]

That's most marketing, though.

If you can find a way to measure this, let me know. If it's "most" as you say (assuming "most" means >50%), then it's not much greater than 50%, but wouldn't be surprised because there is a lot of corruption on the planet.

Many products are honestly marketed through appropriate channels. I will continue to support those, and only those if I can help it.

 

[dzukela]

The xbox team, finding new ways to unsell me on their products.

It doesn't count then.

 

[Bungie]

This is great for the whole copyright thing going on, smart & helpful way to use your money Microsoft!

 

[3rdamention]

You work for Gawker. You work for hits, stop trying to act like you do something useful for gaming.

Pelydr

mediocrity at its best

(Today, 06:59 PM)

 

[NoirVisage]

This is the only result on his channel for "XB1M13."

Dude deserves his 3000! He is promoting, kinda..

 

[bishoptl]

You work for Gawker. You work for hits, stop trying to act like you do something useful for gaming.

Dude, stop being a jackass.

 

[IsntChrisL]

You owe me $5, Microsoft.

 

[UnluckyKate]

I don't understand it. MS has all this money. They spend sooooo much on advertising, on moneyhats, on that ridiculous farce of a launch party, on all these crazy extravagant events.


Why don't they use some of that money to put less shitty hardware in the XB1


Then they won't have to pay people to say nice things about it.


I will never understand.

Sony had 3 console to support this year
Nintendo had 2
Microsoft had 1. And yet, they buy games instead of making them. They throw their money at anything but the good things for the gamers

 

[atomsk]

You owe me $5, Microsoft.

You deserve it. Good stuff.

 

[statham]

Paying for positive reviews. Microsoft hits another low.

Sony would never do that.
oh wait.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sony-pays-for-fake-reviews/

http://www.seattlepi.com/ae/movies/article/Sony-settles-suit-over-fake-movie-reviews-1179773.php

even this was sad.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/sony-and-the-fake-psp-blog/186

 

[rokkerkory]

This is smart strategy. It's not really a new business tactic however.

I don't know why some of you are mad over this lol

Imagine some of you forum warriors getting kick back just for posting positive news about your fav console. What's the big deal. You'd do it regardless anyways.