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Tom Warren "I'm not a gaming journalist lol. Also, lighten up."

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
The result of Sony bribing IGN staff
j6B4I1D.jpg


If Sony didn't bribe IGN staff
6VnMb94.jpg
Obligatory,
ryan.png
 

Crayon

Member
I remember when Felicia Day went on a podcast saying she hated her time covering Sony because they never gave her a single thing for free, but MS showers her with endless systems so of course she is going to like MS more now. (paraphrased but exactly what she shamelessly spilled)

Mini version of this story-
I was going out with a girl who was a manager at GameStop. Long time ago. And I asked her why all of her employees were keep bringing up Xbox to people who come in to buy a PlayStation game.

She told me because the Sony rep is a dick who only comes in to make sure their shelf space looked right. And he only gave them s***** lanyards once in awhile. Meanwhile, the Xbox rep is cool and always brings them a bunch of free games.
 
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Who cares whether a social media guy is a shill or not. People should already know in 2023 that anyone with a YT or Twitter account can be shilling. My company hires bloggers with YT profiles to shill our products. $5000 + as much free products and graphic assets they need from the marketing department.

Is it any different than corporations shilling their own stuff?

PS Blog just announced the 2023 award winners and almost every aawrd was given to Spiderman 2 or Insomniac. SM2 blew away Baldurs Gate 3 and Larian.
Nintendo is probably the only one who says fuck you to influencers as modus operandis
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
We have proof that CDPR and MS have engaged in this. We have proof that Sony did some stuff with blogs about 15(?) years ago.

You don’t have any proof that anyone else is doing it.

I don't know what kind of wiretap proof you're looking for. Every time a publisher sends early exclusive copies or swag kits to streamers and influencers, they expect positive coverage in return.

Intellectually dishonest.

No Way GIF
 

Nonehxc

Member
So much so that he has already requested a permanent ban:



Maybe he can join XboxEra now, seems like a better fit for him anyway.


Haha 😅

The old 'You don't fire me, I quit!!!' ✊🏼🤨

Such weak people can't stand to be told and get upset by such inconsequential things as a ONE DAY BAN from a forum.

Hey Warren, since you like to party, why don't you come here? 🫡

We promise we'll behave and won't make you cry...much. 😇

We won't insult you or disrespect you, but be aware that we meme with bazookas here. If you can take a punch, you're gonna enjoy all the sharp wit and shit being flung around between trenches, but if you're invested in any side...well, your ass is ours. We will cut you just with jokes. 😁
Don't you dare call Sage an influencer!
:messenger_beaming:

Flatulencer. 😬
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Mini version of this story-
I was going out with a girl who was a manager at GameStop. Long time ago. And I asked her why all of her employees were keep bringing up Xbox to people who come in to buy a PlayStation game.

She told me because the Sony rep is a dick who only comes in to make sure their shelf space looked right. And he only gave them s***** lanyards once in awhile. Meanwhile, the Xbox rep is cool and always brings them a bunch of free games.
Makes sense.

Retail rep coverage goes beyond that too. Your example is supplier influencing store staff. Free games is nothing compared to the old wild west days of store/supplier relations. Decades ago, store reps looing for orders would offer store managers TVs and fishing rods if they ordered like $1000 of product or two skid or product. It was such a losey goosey thing that got cracked down on the old sales vets would say the store manager would tell them to drop off the perks at their house and the guy's garage would be full of shit every big company would offer in return for extra orders. Electronics and sporting goods were the main perks. This kind of shit disappeared about 20 years ago.

There's other real examples.

Foe example, companies either hire their own retail rep staff, or they outsource it. Either way it doesn't matter because the supplier will offer gift cards, vouchers for free lunch and free product if they can prove to the retail team supervisor they did a good job - stocking and ordering shelves or getting the store to order more product. And that involves the rep showing proof via pics or POs (purchase orders).

It's more important for suppliers to offer incentives to retail reps that are not company employees (third party hired guns) because those reps can be busy covering many companies. So to entice them to work more for Company A over Companies B & C, offer the best perks and prizes and they'll cover your shit the most as those people make around $25/hr. It's not a glamorous job, gets little recognition, doesn't pay great. Although it is a flexible kind of job well suited for people who like to be in the field and not wanting the office grind. Offer reps a $100 gift card to a restaurant or Amazon and they'll work wonders.
 
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Banjo64

cumsessed
I don't know what kind of wiretap proof you're looking for. Every time a publisher sends early exclusive copies or swag kits to streamers and influencers, they expect positive coverage in return.
Companies send review codes out to review outlets, I don’t think there’s any expectation that they have to receive positive coverage in return (although we know some companies like Sony and Bethesda can have hissie fits about this).

I don’t believe that every company does utilise streamers and influencers to be honest. Although I can think of a couple that definitely do.

Same for swag kits, there’s definitely one company that sends out a lot of ‘free’ stuff.
 
Man I hate most gaming "journalists" these days. I'm not sure why it attracts so many douche bags. Even the legit journalists like Jason Schreier are just not great humans. If you see something about Sony from Takashi Mochizuki you need to take it with a huge grain of salt as it's probably lies. Most of the guys who focus on just Microsoft like Tom Warren, Jez Corden, or Ryan McCaffrey are just basically fanboys and also seem to be annoying and have awful personalities. Kotaku gaming "journalists" basically only care about woke shit that most gamers don't give two shits about. I remember like a decade ago when John Linnemann actually came out and said he hated Microsoft in gaming and wanted to see them fail. It's just wild, why does gaming attract such horrible humans as "journalists"?
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Companies send review codes out to review outlets, I don’t think there’s any expectation that they have to receive positive coverage in return (although we know some companies like Sony and Bethesda can have hissie fits about this).

I don’t believe that every company does utilise streamers and influencers to be honest. Although I can think of a couple that definitely do.

Same for swag kits, there’s definitely one company that sends out a lot of ‘free’ stuff.

Not talking about review outlets, but you already mentioned how whole website networks have been banned, lots of people are still in the "Nintendo Jail" as well that never get Nintendo content before release (eg most of the Giant Bomb crew).

I think at this point in time, Nintendo is probably the only big publisher who doesn't sent out press-kits and early access games and swags specifically to youtube and twitch streamers.

Mini version of this story-
I was going out with a girl who was a manager at GameStop. Long time ago. And I asked her why all of her employees were keep bringing up Xbox to people who come in to buy a PlayStation game.

She told me because the Sony rep is a dick who only comes in to make sure their shelf space looked right. And he only gave them s***** lanyards once in awhile. Meanwhile, the Xbox rep is cool and always brings them a bunch of free games.

That Xbox rep sounds like a pretty cool guy, NGL. 😇
 
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Crayon

Member
Makes sense.

Retail rep coverage goes beyond that too. Your example is supplier influencing store staff. There's other real examples.

Foe example, companies either hire their own retail rep staff, or they outsource it. Either way it doesn't matter because the supplier will offer gift cards, vouchers for free lunch and free product if they can prove to the retail team supervisor they did a good job - stocking and ordering shelves or getting the store to order more product. And that involves the rep showing proof via pics or POs (purchase orders).

It's more important for suppliers to offer incentives to retail reps that are not company employees (third party hired guns) because those reps can be busy covering many companies. So to entice them to work more for Company A over Companies B & C, offer the best perks and prizes and they'll cover your shit the most as those people make around $25/hr. It's not a glamorous job, gets little recognition, doesn't pay great. Although it is a flexible kind of job well suited for people who like to be in the field and not wanting the office grind. Offer reps a $100 gift card to a restaurant or Amazon and they'll work wonders.

Yeah it is not so difficult to get favor with gifts. Especially gify people couldn't afford themselves.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Man I hate most gaming "journalists" these days. I'm not sure why it attracts so many douche bags. Even the legit journalists like Jason Schreier are just not great humans. If you see something about Sony from Takashi Mochizuki you need to take it with a huge grain of salt as it's probably lies. Most of the guys who focus on just Microsoft like Tom Warren, Jez Corden, or Ryan McCaffrey are just basically fanboys and also seem to be annoying and have awful personalities. Kotaku gaming "journalists" basically only care about woke shit that most gamers don't give two shits about. I remember like a decade ago when John Linnemann actually came out and said he hated Microsoft in gaming and wanted to see them fail. It's just wild, why does gaming attract such horrible humans as "journalists"?
I think the hobby in general was always one with introverted people that lacked good social skills on average, where the outcasts from the cool kids groups found a home. Now you give some of them a sense where they can feed an ego in the medium, a platform, that all comes oozing out. They lack other 'dog eats dog' hierarchy skills for things such as sports or music growing up, so they find it in this medium. Just like a lot of people who chase social media clout that crave attention. They tend to have an aura of self-inflated importance that goes along with it.

I think at this point in time, Nintendo is probably the only big publisher who doesn't sent out press-kits and early access games and swags specifically to youtube and twitch streamers.

All these companies utilize influencers. It's free marketing.

It's when you're a grown ass man using your platform to constantly console war, where it becomes the issue we're discussing.
 
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Banjo64

cumsessed
Not talking about review outlets, but you already mentioned how whole website networks have been banned, lots of people are still in the "Nintendo Jail" as well that never get Nintendo content before release (eg most of the Giant Bomb crew).

I think at this point in time, Nintendo is probably the only big publisher who doesn't sent out press-kits and early access games and swags specifically to youtube and twitch streamers.



That Xbox rep sounds like a pretty cool guy, NGL. 😇
God bless Nintendo.

iu
 

X-Wing

Member
Well, this leak seems to be a lot more damaging to Tom Warren than to insomniac. Dude is destroying his career.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Man I hate most gaming "journalists" these days. I'm not sure why it attracts so many douche bags. Even the legit journalists like Jason Schreier are just not great humans. If you see something about Sony from Takashi Mochizuki you need to take it with a huge grain of salt as it's probably lies. Most of the guys who focus on just Microsoft like Tom Warren, Jez Corden, or Ryan McCaffrey are just basically fanboys and also seem to be annoying and have awful personalities. Kotaku gaming "journalists" basically only care about woke shit that most gamers don't give two shits about. I remember like a decade ago when John Linnemann actually came out and said he hated Microsoft in gaming and wanted to see them fail. It's just wild, why does gaming attract such horrible humans as "journalists"?
I think the hobby in general was always one with introverted people that lacked goof social skills on average found a home. Now you give some of them a sense where they can feed an ego in the medium, a platform, that all comes oozing out. They lack other 'dog eats dog' hierarchy skills for things such as sports or music growing up, so they find it in this medium. Just like a lot of people who chase social media clout that crave attention. They tend to have an aura of self-inflated importance that goes along with it.
Deepenigma summed it up very well.

I'll add to it.

When it comes to all the weird people you see on websites and social media accounts talking gaming, movies etc.... dont forget that it's social media. Free and easy to upload content. And unless they do something really heinous where the law gets involved, chances are what they say and do (as annoying and unprofessional it can be) is something that nobody can really do about it except respond in the comments section. So the weird person has safety from a keyboard tweeting all day without talking to people and saying the same stuff to them face to face.

A good chunk of odd people trying to be popular social media stars or bloggers have nothing else really going for them. So when their stardom falls they get super depressed as they got nothing else going on in life.
 
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