Support NeoGAF

[McBacon]

Kotaku: Electronic Arts Tests Journalists' Greed With Cash

Not one to back away from controversy, Electronic Arts today mailed out real checks payable to game reviewers for $200.

Each check, mailed in wooden boxes decorated with twin skeletons and the words Dante's Inferno, was affixed to a velvet pillow inside a box. Inside the top of the box is a welcome to the fourth circle of hell which reads:

In Dante's Inferno, Greed is a two-headed beast. Hoarding wealth feeds on beast and squandering it satiates the other. By cashing this check you succumb to avarice by harding filthy lucre, but by not cashing it, you waste it, and thereby surrender to prodigality. Make your choice and suffer the consequence for your sin. And scoff not, for consequences are imminent.

Not wanting to give in to temptation by cashing the check or using it to market Kotaku, or waste the money, we came up with a different solution. Balls in your court EA.

I'm not sure what their different solution was. Hope it involves Child's Play.

Edit: They burnt it.


From Crecente's Twitter:

@7ucky I didn't burn the money, I burned a promise of money. EA still has the cash. Let them donate it.

 

[HamPster PamPster]

Love the quote that comes with the check

I look forward to the Giantbomb mail bag vid

 

[Stinkles]

Show me some of that GTA money plz.

I imagine most of them will be left or donated to charity. But even that is complicated - lots of corporations would forbid it.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Eh, there are companies that send out "packages" to promote games that are worth far more than that.

 

[Rickard]

Fold the cheque into a paper hat, post pictures.

 

[RichardAM]

Fold the cheque into a paper hat, post pictures.

Pfft, make a plane and send it back to them.

 

[MDSLKTR]

That's actually awesome.

 

[RavenFox]

Ooh me like

 

[McBacon]

Pfft, make a plane and send it back to them.

Richard, you must make some fucking incredible paper planes.

 

[MacBosse]

Kotaku ... you fools.

Burn it? Really? Ever heard of charity?

 

[sixteen-bit]

wow

 

[stephendedalus]

or cash it and review the game poorly (honestly)?

 

[MisterHero]

Check it, spend it, and find out EA had no money to give you after all.

FEEL THE RAVAGES OF OVERDRAFTS

 

[PSGames]

That's actually awesome.

I agree.

 

[David H Wong]

Kotaku: Electronic Arts Tests Journalists' Greed With Cash

​

I'm not sure what their different solution was. Hope it involves Child's Play.

He burned it. There's an embedded video.

 

[Kittonwy]

That's not testing, it's straight-up bribing, publishers and console maker has done this before with free consoles/wine-and-dine/VIP treatment and it undoubtedly had an influence on the media and its affinity to certain publisher/console maker but this is pretty blatant.

Burning it was the right move.

 

[speculawyer]

From the subject line, I was disgusted . . . but from the full story, I was impressed.

Very clever move, EA. Well Played.

 

[BJK]

Child's Play Charity would like to pre-emptively thank EA for the glut of $200 donations it is bound to receive as a result of this promotion.

(Or at least, that's what I'd do if I had any qualms about cashing the check. That, or actually use it to literally construct an EA Money Hat.)

 

[AstroLad]

wow, props to ea for that.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Did EA hire someone new to market this game?

At every turn, they manage to outdo themselves in insanity.

 

[FFChris]

Heh, pretty clever I guess.

Edit: It was burnt?! Seriously. :lol

 

[backflip10019]

The economy is in shambles. Who the fuck wouldn't cash it?

 

[Don]

Why did they burn it?

 

[Confusion Illusion]

I suppose if they were to do lust, they would send them a hooker.

 

[itsinmyveins]

Kotaku did the right thing. Obviously giving them to charity would be an option, but then the person the check is assigned to would have to personally withdraw it first (I assume), so I definitely understand why they didn't. Anyone cashing that check in should be fired from their job on the spot.

 

[Y2Kev]

Why burn it? Cash it and then trash the game for megacoolness.

 

[skip]

now if I were EA, I'd contribute $200 to Child's Play to cover Kotaku. META-BURN!

 

[RavenFox]

Why did they burn it?

Sacrifice?

 

[The Blue Jihad]

Eh, there are companies that send out "packages" to promote games that are worth far more than that.

Yeah, but this is an actual check.

 

[mileS]

This game has the most fucked up marketing campaign I've ever seen. Everything they have done so far has been completely insane.

 

[SturokBGD]

now if I were EA, I'd contribute $200 to Child's Play to cover Kotaku. META-BURN!

Seriously.

 

[Roto13]

Is there anyone left who doesn't realize that EA is just trollin' for publicity? What is this, the third time they've done something this "dumb" to promote Dante's Inferno?

 

[D4Danger]

they burnt it?

They couldn't just give the money to charity instead?

 

[McBacon]

The economy is in shambles. Who the fuck wouldn't cash it?

Someone with journalistic integrity?

GAF: Video game journalism is a joke - money hats all round, no integrity, why should we trust them?
GAF: God, why didn't these idiots take money from the video game publisher?

They can't win!!

 

[PSGames]

Kotaku ... you fools.

Burn it? Really? Ever heard of charity?

Wow are you serious? Burn it instead of giving it to a good cause. What an idiot.

 

[NomarTyme]

Why did they burn it?

They're rebels w/o a cause.

 

[Jamesfrom818]

I would've framed it.

 

[Thomper]

I'm not sure what their different solution was. Hope it involves Child's Play.

That would have been a great idea. But the video shows Crecente burning the check, which... well, it's his choice in the end, but donating it to Child's Play would have indeed been a far better idea. Burning it is just useless.

That's not testing, it's straight-up bribing, publishers and console maker has done this before with free consoles/wine-and-dine/VIP treatment and it undoubtedly had an influence on the media and its affinity to certain publisher/console maker but this is pretty blatant.

I wouldn't say it's bribing, because it seems quite obvious EA wants this stuff to be known to the general audience. Most of it all, it's a PR-stunt, not a way to bribe potential reviewers of the game. And it's working: the story is blowing up on Kotaku, and they're getting loads of cheap publicity out of it right now. Even if, say, 200 people cash the check, that's only 40000 dollars spent. Taking out some proper advertisement in a magazine or on IGN would cost problably the same amount of money, if not more.

 

[squicken]

That game looks awful, but if EA wants to mail me $200, I'll go Brimstone all up in here.

 

[backflip10019]

Someone with journalistic integrity?

Journalistic integrity as far as video games go went out the window with Kane & Lynch. I say cash it and spend the money on blow.

 

[John]

Cool move, Kotaku.

 

[speculawyer]

Fold the cheque into a paper hat, post pictures.

This.

 

[Bad_Boy]

Should of gave it away for a contest to some lucky fan.

 

[HamPster PamPster]

they burnt it?

They couldn't just give the money to charity instead?

Well they had to get rid quickly before they got greedy and turned the check into an article to market and get hits for kotaku

Not wanting to give in to temptation by cashing the check or using it to market Kotaku, or waste the money, we came up with a different solution. Balls in your court EA.

If they waited until the next child's play event who knows what they would have done with it

 

[linsivvi]

Kotaku did the right thing. Obviously giving them to charity would be an option, but then the person the check is assigned to would have to personally withdraw it first (I assume), so I definitely understand why they didn't. Anyone cashing that check in should be fired from their job on the spot.

That doesn't make sense at all. Cash the check then donate it to charity. Ask the charity for a receipt as proof. Why would anyone be fired for doing this?

 

[MikeE21286]

wow, that is fucking BRILLIANT

 

[SlasherJPC]

Man talk about fucked up! Great idea! Go EA!

 

[methane47]

Golden Balls of Journalistic Integrity

 

[Stinkles]

That doesn't make sense at all. Cash the check then donate it to charity. Ask the charity for a receipt as proof. Why would anyone be fired for doing this?

Because in the US all your charitable donations are deductible, even if you don't take the deduction, therefore you already cross the line into benefitting from it.

 

[McBacon]

Polarising topic!