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[ProBusinessgamer]

I know we live in a world where sony is #1 and cant do any wrong, and im sure other companies also do the same... this is wrong in my eyes. Any way enjoy.https://gametransfers.com/sony-blacklisted-le-mondes-journalist/

 

[Ryu Hayabusa]

If it's true, it's really bad. I hope it is a mistake.

 

[Dizagaox]

Quantic Dream is not a Sony company, and they've called the writer out for it -->

 

[checkcola]

I don't know if anonymous claims should be given much weight in the first place, but I will admit to not following this story closely. Also should a journalist reporting these issues also be reviewing games from the same company? It just seems a little too entangled to me. He's obviously in contact with someone who has a beef with the company, either a legitimate beef or a axe to grind, so now I expect him to be able to review a game from the company without slant. That seems a bit messy.

Also, not having review codes doesn't prevent you from reviewing the game. Some professional reviewers just buy the games themselves, right? You don't have to play nice with any company if you follow that path.

And then the other issue, why is any company obligated in the first place to help anyone report on them? Well, I suppose the answer comes down to Metacritic aggregate scores and promotion in a general sense, but I don't really believe journalists are entitled to free stuff, access, or review copies or whatever. That's just my view on the matter.

 

[Lort]

Not a good look ...

“According to reports, this is not the first case of blacklist at Sony for a Quantic Dream title: the portal GameKult was blacklisted in a similar fashion at the times of Heavy Rain, for giving the game a 6/10 review.“

 

[nowhat]

Quantic Dream is not a Sony company, and they've called the writer out for it

It's been way too many years since my high school French, and Google Translate hasn't exactly reached Skynet status yet - would anyone care to translate those tweets?

 

[Alx]

It's been way too many years since my high school French, and Google Translate hasn't exactly reached Skynet status yet - would anyone care to translate those tweets?

"I see many surprised reactions to my tweet. Sadly, and as counter-productive as it can be, blacklisting is a very common practice in the French videogame industry"
"Sony France PR representative just texted me, telling me it's completely false that I've been blacklisted"

Later in the tweet comments, Audureau says he got the news of his blacklisting from his own internal sources at Sony.

 

[Blam]

Wow nice one Sony you're just like Disney now.

 

[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

Quantic Dream seem to have done it. That's how it reads to me. QD aren't a first party studio.

 

[BANGS]

Read the update, entire thing was redacted... this is a non-story...

 

[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

Wow nice one Sony you're just like Disney now.

Sony France confirmed they haven't blacklisted anyone.

 

[JaxBriggs]

I know we live in a world where sony is #1 and cant do any wrong

What an immature way to open a discussion.

 

[Blam]

Sony France confirmed they haven't blacklisted anyone.

Of course they would you'd never openly admit to that.

 

[BANGS]

Of course they would you'd never openly admit to that.

We have no reason to believe he was blacklisted at all though... This is just his "sources"... aka complete fabrication for attention...

 

[it_wasn't_me]

Of course they would you'd never openly admit to that.

Maybe he really isn't blacklisted at all

 

[Blam]

We have no reason to believe he was blacklisted at all though... This is just his "sources"... aka complete fabrication for attention...

Maybe he really isn't blacklisted at all

only time will tell if it was legit or not.

 

[Mahadev]

Twitter post becomes an article in a site called Gametransfers. News at 11.

 

[WaterAstro]

According to my sources, Nintendo committed seppuku, Sony committed sudoku, and Microsoft is now #1.

(Sources: My head)

This is just another social media debacle being hasty without getting the full picture.

 

[it_wasn't_me]

According to my sources, Nintendo committed seppuku, Sony committed sudoku, and Microsoft is now #1.

(Sources: My head)

This is just another social media debacle being hasty without getting the full picture.

Highly likely

 

[Unknown?]

Of course they would you'd never openly admit to that.

I sell premium tin foil! We really live in an age where journalists post stuff before doing cold hard investigation. It’s all about the green!

 

[Mahadev]

I sell premium tin foil! We really live in an age where journalists post stuff before doing cold hard investigation. It’s all about the green!

None of them are journalists anymore, not in gaming or otherwise, they're just glorified bloggers. There are some exceptions of course but they're just a drop in the ocean of clickbait and hyperbolic bullshit.

 

[Alebrije]

 

[Dunki]

The whole thing does not make any sense at all since Sony has nothing to do with whats going on at Quanticdream. And they already said they will not comment on a 3rd party developer just because they work with them. They trust them to actually follow the laws of their country and thats it.

Also I never watched it but is this true?^^

I don’t believe all the allegations against Quantic Dream. I do believe that the journalist or the “sources” watched Bright before writing the story, though. This is literally a scene from Bright.

That would be way too funny if true XD

 

[Cert.in.Death]

I haven't any idea what - much less who - to believe from this entire debacle.

Wish I spoke & understood more French.

 

[Alx]

None of them are journalists anymore, not in gaming or otherwise, they're just glorified bloggers. There are some exceptions of course but they're just a drop in the ocean of clickbait and hyperbolic bullshit.

The papers behind the original allegations against QD (Le Monde, Mediapart, Canard Enchaîné) are the most professional among the French press. They definitely cross-check their sources. Now among the several things that appear in those allegations, some could be anecdotal (racist/sexist jokes), others seem to have been solved already or under study (company resources used to host such content, shady HR manipulations), and others are par for the course (crunch and bad management). In the end it's understandable that QD would complain about getting a bad image, while it doesn't have to be false either.
Audureau as a Le Monde journalist is quite respected too, and I don't doubt that he has sources at Sony telling him he was blacklisted. Maybe those sources were wrong/misinterpreted something, or Sony quickly backpedaled to avoid escalation. But it's definitely not a "some guy on Twitter said..." situation.

 

[solis74]

Not a good look ...

“According to reports, this is not the first case of blacklist at Sony for a Quantic Dream title: the portal GameKult was blacklisted in a similar fashion at the times of Heavy Rain, for giving the game a 6/10 review.“

did this actually happen?

 

[Alx]

did this actually happen?

That is what Gamekult claims anyway. A founder of the website, who had already left by the time of the Heavy Rain case, commented then that it was quite common actually (just like Audureau stated in his tweet), they got blacklisted from most publishers in his time, but it usually doesn't go public.
http://n4g.com/news/470886/gamekult-co-founder-responds-to-sony-blacklist

 

[jinnosuke]

It's very common to be blacklisted and to be threatening by publishers. The worst was Sony during the 2000 (in France)

 

[STEaMkb]

nm

 

[Alx]

particularly after observing the same journalist repeatedly conflating Sony with Quantic Dream.

The original articles (hereand here) are quite clear about the relative status of Quantic Dream and Sony. They barely mention Sony actually, except for "Sony, which has been publishing and funding projects at QD for the past 10 years, and the Video Games Syndicate, declined to comment for the moment".
Then he mentioned being blacklisted by Sony, because that's what his sources at Sony apparently told him. And while that may have been misreported, I don't see any reason to make it up since all that stuff wasn't even about Sony to begin with.

 

[Dunki]

The original articles (hereand here) are quite clear about the relative status of Quantic Dream and Sony. They barely mention Sony actually, except for "Sony, which has been publishing and funding projects at QD for the past 10 years, and the Video Games Syndicate, declined to comment for the moment".
Then he mentioned being blacklisted by Sony, because that's what his sources at Sony apparently told him. And while that may have been misreported, I don't see any reason to make it up since all that stuff wasn't even about Sony to begin with.

It makes his story look stronger though and he already had some backlash after QD and Sony's statement,

 

[oldergamer]

I know for a fact Sony America blacklist games/developers (or have in the past) Working at a publisher years ago we were warned not to sign games by some developers as sony said " we wont allow anything from that developer on our platform". That/those dev studios went under of course. A few would only publish in europe as games couldnt be refused in that region.

 

[oldergamer]

Sony would also refuse to publish a a game that didnt release on thier platform at the same time. However tjis was many years ago i should note. They may not operate this way today.

 

[Dunki]

I know for a fact Sony America blacklist games/developers (or have in the past) Working at a publisher years ago we were warned not to sign games by some developers as sony said " we wont allow anything from that developer on our platform". That/those dev studios went under of course. A few would only publish in europe as games couldnt be refused in that region.

Was this still in the PS3 Era? Sony was real different then.

As for games. It is their right to do so in the end. Buit blacklisting this guy just makes no fucking sense here.

 

[BANGS]

Sony would also refuse to publish a a game that didnt release on thier platform at the same time.

Well that's just good business sense. I don't see how that's something to even mention here...

 

[Not Drake]

Sony would also refuse to publish a a game that didnt release on thier platform at the same time. However tjis was many years ago i should note. They may not operate this way today.

This is the first time I've heard of this which is odd considering a similar release date parity clause Microsoft used was a common knowledge. Sony always seemed much more open about that during PS3 lifespan and they were releasing various games that were already out on 360 (Bioshock, Limbo, Braid, Lost Planet, Overlord to name a few of the earlier ones). I'm not saying what you're telling is false. It's just not very well proven. You're pointing out various practices, but never really point to a game or a developer that was affected.

 

[oldergamer]

This is the first time I've heard of this which is odd considering a similar release date parity clause Microsoft used was a common knowledge. Sony always seemed much more open about that during PS3 lifespan and they were releasing various games that were already out on 360 (Bioshock, Limbo, Braid, Lost Planet, Overlord to name a few of the earlier ones). I'm not saying what you're telling is false. It's just not very well proven. You're pointing out various practices, but never really point to a game or a developer that was affected.

I'm going back to the PS2 days with what I described. PS3 was handled differently. I could name one studio, we were looking at publishing cel damage from Pseudo Interactive on PS2. Sony America told us unless the game was changed from the xbox release, they wouldn't approve it. It did ship at a later date on PS2, possibly with more content or characters. However it had to be enhanced to some extent. I could name others if I thought about it some more

Anyway, it's a footnote in history at this point.