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[reptilex]

The problem is not you or us, because OF COURSE you don't trust them, reviews wether on youtube or web have because disguised advertisement for 5 years now.

The problem is stupid unopiniated people and younger generation whose brain is being eaten and conditioned to think like those reviewers without any capability for critical thinking...

 

[Jigsaah]

There are many of these videos about now, but here’s just three.

Alannah Pearce:



Lamarr Wilson:



YongYea:



So... how exactly do we trust anything that people like this say?

Now, they may claim to not be reviewers, and to not be biased, and that they are just ‘fans’ ... but it’s utterly disingenuous to claim that these influencers don’t - you know, influence - the buying habits of the general public. That’s why Msft have sent them XBox Series Xs.

How do any of them remain objective? How can any of them be critical in any way, when they get all this lovely free stuff for remaining positive? How can any of us believe anything they say about the products they’ve been gifted?

You might think it’s all fine. No problem at all.

I think this is the kind of poisonous stuff that makes the video games industry far worse than it needs to be.

Edit: I assumed this would go without saying, but apparently not : I know full well not to trust these people... but there are many others who don’t know that. That’s where the problem lies.

youtubers do this all the time. A friend of mine is a youtuber fulltime...gets all sorts of crap from el gato, blue, Marvel, DC Comics, etc for free and to make a video about. He tells me that before he accepts any deal he makes sure the company sending him the goods understand that he has to be honest with his opinion lest he lose his credibility with his audience.

I'm not saying all youtubers do this, but somebody like Yongyea tells it like it is, all the time. So I would imagine his process is at least similar to my friend's.

Bottom line...you find a reviewer you trust based on your previous experience with him. Believe it or not...100% of these people were giving opinion pieces on the gaming industry way before they got their hands on an XSX.

 

[imbrock]

You don't. Even the bigger websites basically exist on the wims of game publishers giving them early access to titles. If any of the bigger sites didn't have access to titles before embargo or didn't get access to press kits before an announce they would just crash and burn.

 

[evanft]

You don't.

 

[V4skunk]

Dunno, I believe most people just watch those YouTubers because of their charisma, and because they have entertaining content, but in reality no one with brain will just go, and purchase something just because some Internet aunt told them they should.

Yet retards are brainwashed by the TV programming daily.

 

[M1chl]

I hope you know, that most of the game reviews are free of charge.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Been playing games for over 20 years, I have played games you people wouldn't believe.
Trust in yourself.

 

[FunkMiller]

youtubers do this all the time. A friend of mine is a youtuber fulltime...gets all sorts of crap from el gato, blue, Marvel, DC Comics, etc for free and to make a video about. He tells me that before he accepts any deal he makes sure the company sending him the goods understand that he has to be honest with his opinion lest he lose his credibility with his audience.

I'm not saying all youtubers do this, but somebody like Yongyea tells it like it is, all the time. So I would imagine his process is at least similar to my friend's.

Bottom line...you find a reviewer you trust based on your previous experience with him. Believe it or not...100% of these people were giving opinion pieces on the gaming industry way before they got their hands on an XSX.

Sorry, but this sounds incredibly naive to me. Your friend is not going to be completely honest if he thinks it’ll stop the free stuff coming in, which will mean he can’t do the videos he wants, which will mean a drop in his view and income.

The entire system is set up to discourage genuine opinion. And YouTube are absolutely complicit in it.

The only people whose opinions I can even begin to trust are those whose income is independent from the need to acquire merchandise and product from the very companies they are meant to be critiquing.

 

[Azurro]

I find it hilarious, that you now all of a sudden find this sort of marketing suspicious, but were fine and dandy when it was Greg, Colin, and Geoff at their peak on all fours for Sony and still are to this day.

Sony had their little clique of "gaming journalists" they greased up, which they don't got as much now-a-days as most of the gaming scene moved on to YouTube where it is much harder to push a singular narrative like they did in the past through specific publications.

Sony simply isn't up with the times, they still think they are in the 90's and early 00'. They have the audience, but their execution for this upcoming generation, is nothing short of a failure. They managed to blue ball 110Mil PS4 owners and that takes a special kind of incompetence, Mattrick levels of incompetence. They completely lost the PR and messaging cycle for the upcoming generation.

Console war harder, you are not giving your all.

 

[taizuke]

Alannah does say in that same video she isn't going to review it. Her channel is not a review channel.

I have noticed Alannah being a champion of Gamepass for a while but GP is a terrific service and it looks like it's only going to get better.

As for YongYea he seems like a pretty level headed dude and although he is going to review it, I haven't gotten the impression he favors one company over another. I believe he has as much videos criticizing Sony as he does MS when he feels is deserved.

Haven't watched Lamar in a long time (2 years ago maybe) but even back then he got a shit ton for free. But, the dude was entertaining regardless.

I enjoy Alannah's personality and even though I'm not subscribed to her I am interested in what she has to say from time to time. I am subscribed to YongYea though for his constant coverage of the latest gaming news and takes.

At the end of the day there's no denying someone's coverage of a free product could definitely impact their judgment. But, we have to be mature about this and understand is just a business strategy.

If you feel any of these youtubers are being disingenuous then don't watch them. Just don't let it get to you.

 

[newtypepilot]

you don't.

Instead you take everything they say with a grain of salt and use your brain to draw your own conclusions

 

[Esteldan]

It can be a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

People often complain that people on YouTube are too negative but at the same time, if they're positive about a product or service offering they can be called a shill.

At the end of the day most audiences aren't stupid and so if you aren't genuine it'll likely catch up with you. Most people doing promotions are you usually pretty clear about it so as a viewer, as long as you recognise that I don't see it as a big deal.

 

[Maybe It's Medicine?]

Gamers Nexus is pretty legit afaik. Don't think they cover consoles but they will destroy any gifts or such that they receive from product manufacturers.

Humans are easily susceptible to letting emotions override the reality of a product. From those screenshots, all similar. It makes me question whether they will be objective. If Microsoft is controlling their thumbnails and content, its already seeming a bit sketchy but who knows right now.

I get the feeling that this might also just be a console wars thing, and if it were folks holding ps5s there might be more positivity in here and less cynicism. Maybe that's not the case, but general attitudes here feel much more in favor of sony than xbox.

 

[Mercenary09]

I write for a small site and while I get a ton of stuff for free for review I completely feel where anyone is coming from when they say this. I personally don't like most of these "journalists" at these bigger sites because they show bias, regularly speak about things they are misinformed about, and more. I've never felt obligated to give anything a good score or say anything positive about anything just b/c I got it for free. If someone blacklists me b/c I spoke the truth about their game/product then screw them. I also do my writing about games for free and out of passion and I'm not paid for it unlike these people at bigger sites.

 

[Alebrije]

The day a see one of those you tubers critically talking about a gif they received will believe something about them..but even then no will make a purchase decission just because an extranger says something is cool.

 

[lucius]

At least some do admit it they like that company more because they got so much free stuff from them.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

You don't.

 

[A Most Virtuous Cat]

We can't.

 

[A Most Virtuous Cat]

You don't.

Exactly, brother!

 

[hemo memo]

Well, if you are harsh they’ll cut you out of upcoming advertisement plans. This is pretty much is an advertisement for the device.

 

[SCB3]

Ok I'll be honest, I'd rather MS give out stuff to smaller channels or people like DSP, at least then it's be more honest that they're buying reviews

I hate this little clique that the gaming industry has become