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Ubisoft gave journalists a free Nexus 7 at a Watchdogs Preview event.
- Thread starter Hanmik
- Start date
It might be slightly less tolerable if they just handed them out for no reason but I believe I heard they were given out for demoing the games mobile aspects and were aloud to keep them afterwards. Sure they could have held on to them and used them for other things but regardless I am less likely to believe someone who goes out drinking with or hangs out with the developers or publishers then someone who just received a free gift that every other reviewer got. We dont even know if they were given out with the intention to sway scores. I am not saying Ubisoft isn't sincere b/c I don't know but Its PR . If gamer's are making a thing about it they would be stupid to not issue a apology regardless of how they feel on the issue. Maybe I just feel like this part of the industry is already so screwed up . We get game reviewers subtracting points for bugs and other tech issues with one game and then completely ignoring these factors in others. That happens with out any free tablets being given away. I have wrote most reviewers off a long time ago and even those I trust I know its just one persons opinion of a game.
...well I didn't think it was genuine. It was just funny and conveyed my thoughts well.
Square Triangle
Member
I don't know if it'll sway someone that much. My roommate received a free Xbox One from Microsoft with Forza, Dead Rising 3 and Ryse. He hasn't touched the system since launch and only played 10 minutes of Ryse, he doesn't like the console at all.
Is he a journo? The point isn't that it sways the persons own opinion, just that it may be seen to sway their reviews/articles. At the very least it destroys their professional credibility when everyone inevitably finds out (like now).
It doesn't have to sway them "that much" for it to matter. It has to sway them enough that the publishers keep doing it, which means they are getting a result from doing it that they find it worth doing, consistently. This should tell the consumer that the gifts and ect that the industry does give, has a noticeable impact on the press, from the industries perspective. That alone, imo, is enough for concern, cynicism, and skepticism.
TheSpoiler
Member
Your roommate isn't a journalist.
How can we trust your word? You aren't in a position to say that you wouldn't, and we definitely aren't in a position to automatically trust you to not do so.
Neuro
Member
I am not excusing it by any means, all what I am saying is that the press is always manipulated in some form or the other its not gaming specific by any means....
Having said that do people on GAF really buy into what an IGN or a Gamespot says blindly in a review, there are too many channels of information out there these days and the overall quality has steadily deteriorated over the last few years, the Kane and Lynch fiasco from last gen was only the tip of the iceberg...
A gamer who knows his games well can overlook a set of opinions that may/may not be biased because of such "gifts" and make a wise choice whether he wants to buy/play a game
I am sure many movie reviewers receive more then just free tickets.
LyleLanley
Banned
That's different, a movie reviewer needs to see the movie to write a review. A games journalist doesn't need a free tablet to write a review.
TheSpoiler
Member
Let's not get into the slippery slope of comparing two different industries.
Neuro
Member
I have many a times debated this...how does a reviewer who gets a free review copy, limited editions yada yada actually make an unbiased opinion that the game offers a value for money proposition
The difference between Ubisoft giving journalists a free copy of Watch Dogs and Ubisoft giving journalists a Nexus 7 is that the Nexus 7 isn't necessary for the journalist's coverage. It's just an expensive piece of swag.
One could make the argument that a tablet is necessary for the second-screen features or whatever, but then you could also say Ubisoft should get journalists PS4s, and big-screen TVs. Every journalist has to set boundaries for themselves, and most usually draw the line at publisher-provided copies of games.
Same here. I can't take gifts or offer them except for in very limited circumstances (company swag, usually pens or the like worth a couple bucks), with very very limited exceptions for countries where giving slightly higher value gifts is the cultural norm. If I took a tablet from a vendor, I'd probably be fired on the spot, even if I didn't end up choosing the vendor's product for other reasons.
I think the only people who don't see anything wrong with this behavior are game journalists - they're just upset that if people start yelling too loud, the gravy train will be taken away. Really, it should be taken away - I can't trust the objectivity of any game journalist who would accept such gifts, regardless of whether they believe they're being influenced or not.
Yes, because these are things required to do their job. I'm not going to fault a game reviewer for playing a game they received for free if writing game reviews is their job. The business that hired them to write game reviews should certainly reimburse the reviewer if they're going to force them to buy the game just to do their job.
Barrier of entry per movie is much lower compared to games, beyond that movie industry has less of a reliance on the movie press as a whole. People dont look to movie reviewers for a value per dollar purchase, but in the overall enjoyment of the movie. The perspective differences are different enough that they cant be compared.
Lalalandia
Member
You don't need to give a gift of a tablet to demo mobile features, if you wanted to demo a feature that requires the units to go with the reviewer afterwards you tell them to keep the box and you'll send a courier in X weeks. There is no way on earth this was an 'innocent' mistake, you don't give gifts to press for any purpose other than making them feel positive towards you. If you respect the press you make those clever and cheap, if you don't and want to curry favour in a deeply cynical manner you make the gift expensive and obvious.
I've worked with the press to promote products for my company and my training included long sections on why it was a really, really bad idea to do things like this. Even if it succeeds in influencing your targets it just looks awful to anyone not getting the gift which is every other member of the press. PR is about making a company look good and that includes having the foresight to consider how your efforts might be seen negatively. That no one at Ubisoft thought about how bad this would is really the part that baffles me most.
That'd be neat. Sort of dumb for Schreier to ask what can be done specifically, then not respond when someone comes up with something interesting.
I was almost hoping when opening those links that you would have digged some old crap but now. Kotaku realy deems that crap important. Not bribes..
Oh, somehow I missed that post. Sorry!
Honestly, that sounds a lot like this large post Stephen wrote for us. Have you seen it? http://kotaku.com/5957810/the-conte...e-gaming-press-and-why-theyre-sometimes-wrong
Curious to hear your thoughts.
I wouldn't really give a fuck to be quite frank. If I was some hypothetical games journalist, my content would speak for itself.
ricardokenshin
Member
Lol this game will have good reviews from journalists and poor reviews from users because not only is the game going to be shit, ubisoft kwows this and is why is giving away free stuff to "sway" opinions.
Terrible
Terrible
No prob, figured it was probably just end of the page forgetfulness.
TheSpoiler
Member
Curious to hear why you think this isn't newsworthy, but oreos are.
Watch those edges. Anyway, you aren't everyone, and that's the problem - there's more than one gaming journalist out there, and there's no way to trust'em all with this shit.
PeskyToaster
Member
Seems like if you just make a great game then you don't need to do all this other stuff. But hey, what do I know?
I just don't know what we can do to fix this kind of stuff. Boycotts? Vigilantism?
I just don't know what we can do to fix this kind of stuff. Boycotts? Vigilantism?
I've been to a LOT of preview events over the years and I can assure you that the people in attendance are not just professional journalists but hobbyists, other industry professionals, business executives, and even fans that got lucky and won an invitation. Not that professional journalists can't act in an embarrassing way, but the people you observed might not have even been members of the press.
ricardokenshin
Member
yup, either way their scores will be high because that way they secure their tickets for the next event. And, possibly, more swag for convincing purposes.
Marauder Shields
Member
Nice swag for those that got it. GGWP
shysaursoft
Member
I dunno. EA giving journalists a $200 cheque didn't exactly save Dante's Inferno or give it high scores.
I'm not sure how often you read Kotaku, but anyone who does knows that we post a healthy mix of silly and serious posts. Kotaku East often veers more toward silly, unusual, bizarre stuff. The more serious, longer, reported stuff takes a lot more time and effort, and in this case I don't believe there's much of a story for us here. I tend to lean toward writing about these game journalism controversies more often than not - much to my boss's dismay - but I don't think this is a particularly big or unusual one, especially when most of the major UK websites have already said they didn't take or keep the tablet.
ricardokenshin
Member
shysaursoft
Member
Prototype Viktor
Member
PolarGamer
Member
Easier said than done. If you are flown to events, housed in nice hotels and given dinners and drinks plus freebies, you might start to think about how you can do it again.
TheSpoiler
Member
Why can't this be part of the serious posts?
Oh, because most websites didn't take it. We should all forgive Ubisoft for throwing in some obvious sway-swag because many of the journalist reported that they denied a brand-spankin' new tablet.
East posts silly stuff, but as you said, Kotaku is a mix, and there's no reason not to find another angle on this story.
Nah, that argument would be silly. However, your outlet DID expect PS4s from Sony for review purposes don't they? For the sake of argument, why would the Nexus 7 be any different? The tablet could just go to the outlet for use for any second screen functions for that game and future games from every company.
shysaursoft
Member
The side of the story few are considering: wine and dine or press events don't even need to be directly funded by the publisher. A magazine or website can send their writers to an event on their own dime, then claim that cost back later from the publisher as part of an extended advertising deal or such, thus removing "conflict of interest", right?
There are a billion ways to influence editorial, giving some writers a tablet is the most blatant and obvious - and wrong - but there are far more nefarious dealings going on every day. Ones we're likely to never hear about until serious corruption investigations occur, and those usually happen on a level we, Joe Q Public, rarely hear about.
SenjutsuSage
Banned
So what? So they're trying to butter the journalists up by giving them free stuff. I'm sure this isn't exactly unprecedented. This happens. If the journalist has any sort of integrity, they can still give a fair and honest critique of the game even while keeping it.
Any journalist that allows themselves to get pressured, or is so afraid of being pressured or criticized that they give their free gift away for no other reason other than to maintain some false sense of legitimacy with people on the internet, is being ridiculous. Kudos for those who give theirs away to a good cause, but they're being way too ridiculous otherwise.
Any journalist that allows themselves to get pressured, or is so afraid of being pressured or criticized that they give their free gift away for no other reason other than to maintain some false sense of legitimacy with people on the internet, is being ridiculous. Kudos for those who give theirs away to a good cause, but they're being way too ridiculous otherwise.
Companies handing out swag at press events is not a story. It happens all the time, in every field. (You should see some of the stuff that gets given to journalists at tech events, like $2,000 laptops.)
There's definitely room for bigger-picture stuff about games journalism on Kotaku, but we've covered that a lot, like in the Totilo article I posted earlier. We've also got a newly-formed sub-site by Nathan Grayson that I think will cover a lot of territory that GAF will enjoy.
We got early PS4s so we could review the PS4. We were reviewing that particular product. Plus, that was more about getting the system early than getting it free. We're lucky enough to be in a position that the company could pay for that stuff if necessary. (Also, Kotaku turned down personal PS4 engravings at the Sony event.)
BurnOutBrighter
Banned
6/10 should've been a Galaxy S5
Ubi isn't new to the "game".... First they dupe all the Journo's with their flashy E3 tease 2 years ago, which they all bought hook line and sinker. As a reward for all the Journo's great press for 2 years on a fraudulent video and no one calling Ubi out on it, they get a free tablet.
It's like a dog does a trick, he gets a treat as his reward...no different then what we have here. On the real I don't buy games until I read the "real reviews" on boards like Gaf etc. due to these shady practices becoming more transparent in regards to reviewers.
It's like a dog does a trick, he gets a treat as his reward...no different then what we have here. On the real I don't buy games until I read the "real reviews" on boards like Gaf etc. due to these shady practices becoming more transparent in regards to reviewers.
BurnOutBrighter
Banned
That doesn't matter.
The fact that you accepted a gift at a preview event creates the perception of a conflict of interest. And perception is enough to put your integrity in doubt. No matter how many times you say it doesn't affect you, the fact is it looks like it might affect you. And that's everything.