According to Jeff Gerstmann, Giant Bomb was told by a 2K rep that they wouldn't be getting the same advance access to Borderlands 3 as other outlets because of the tone of their coverage of the game during E3.
>When we inquired about it we were not told 'hey, there are security concerns', we were told - and I'm paraphrasing here - but we were told by a 2K PR representative that based on the sentiment of our E3 coverage that they were going to send it to us closer to launch. So if you want to take that, I feel like that just empties a full magazine into the security concern shit and make it sound a whole lot like they wanted to micromanage reviews for a good day one metacritic. So congratulations to them for their 85 on day one!
Sounds like they really don't want certain sites having impressions of the game before release.
Makes sense. Looking at metacritic, there's only 21 reviewers, most of them no-names.
Asher Bell
of all the sites to not send a copy to why them? giant bomb barely even does reviews anymore
Jose Russell
PCGamer is gonna get blacklisted after this, I feel it
James Lewis
>actual confirmation that games websites get bonuses for servicing the publisher
guess it really wasn't about ethics in game journalism?
Levi Foster
review copies prior to release aren't "bonuses" you moron
Jordan Miller
Getting it sooner means that they could put out reviews faster ahead of the other news sites, so it's somewhat a bonus
Jaxson Gonzalez
Stop sucking publisher dick and watch how fast those review copies dry up.
Ian James
Holy fucking fear...
Brandon Ramirez
i dunno man, giant bomb is pretty critical of lots of games/companies and they still get early copies for the vast majority of games. this is 2k and randy being shitheads
Jose Campbell
Yes they are.
Jordan Cox
In what world is being provided the means with which to do your job considered a bonus?
David Ortiz
>get game early >write review >other site's don't have access and can't review >anyone looking up info about game has to go to your site >collect extra money from ads You dumb?
Luis Parker
If youre 15 and think playing shitty games in under 48 hours for a writeup is a dream job
Cameron King
exactly this. people on here act like getting games early for review is a perk when it's just the reality of the job. you're not having more fun or feeling "special" because you have to burn through a game in a couple days and write a review before release.
Michael Mitchell
>WAH, we didn't get a copy very early like others did! Fuck Giantbomb, they don't deserve early copies.
Logan Bennett
Gerstmann openly hated borderlands 2 and liked the first game. 3 seems like more of 2 so they probably were aware that he wasn't so hot on 2 at all.
Joshua Taylor
>the tone What, people like Abby who has played 4 games in her life saying "it's like borderlands" or the rest of them saying "it's like borderlands"?
Anyways they don't even review games anymore, they just do quick looks and talk about them in-depth on both podcasts which is more helpful for learning about a game than a numbered score. This game has already been hurt more by the Epic store bullshit than anything a game site can do to them.
it's probably more about how much time they've spent rightfully dunking on randy's various misadventures over the last year or so.
Luis Sanchez
Why are you defending 2K? Why are you criticizing someone who is saying something about the way they are purposefully skewing the review scores prior to release by only providing copies to outlets they deem "acceptable"?
Easton Clark
Don't forget that the way they did the review copies was setting up and providing access to unique Epic Game Store accounts that had an in-development build of BL3. So who knows what has changed between the reviewed version, and the final retail release. I assume there will be additional grind or micro-transaction bullshit.
Gabriel Turner
>ep*c exclusive >no reviews next to purchase button >no forums next to purchase button >no recourse if shit breaks except other companies platforms this is exactly why publishers and dick sucking ""journalists"" are going all in for ep*c. they'll be the gatekeepers for the early sales curve.
Brandon Rogers
Companies are not obligated to hand out free copies just because you review games.
Jacob Watson
Why wouldn't you micromanage your review copies? It's basically an advertising platform now. It's greasy for sure, but who doesn't do that? Also, places like Giant Bomb can get the same, if not more, traffic by writing up an article about how they didn't get a review copy. They still get all of THEIR clickthrough money too. There's no downside to this for either the game company or the review outlet or us - it's just one less dishonest review out there.
Gabriel Hall
>Actual shady shit done by publishers >But most anons don't seem to care because it's not getting outraged over SJWs
Fuck this place
Liam Powell
Does metacritic have any aggregate delay policy to counter it? Like they won't total up all these reviews into an overall average until X amount of time passes? It seems kinda bullshit if they don't.
Cooper Hernandez
Why would Metacritic care? I figure they would want reviews to be up as soon as possible so people can start sharing Metacritic scores to increase their own pageviews and thus revenue
Jordan Watson
Realistically no reason. Ideally, credibility, because it's pretty much being complicit with that shit. If the score's not delayed, than you control it with the early copies who all say your shit is fucking awesome. All the normies see a big shining 90 the first couple days and scoop it up. After that, everyone else can start dropping 60s right and left and it won't fucking matter. They got their sales. If everyone has to look at individual reviews the first few days instead of the aggregate, they're forced to kinda remember "this is just one faggot's opinion" when they're looking.
Oliver Morgan
If Metacritic starts doing anything that's not a direct benefit to the publishers, the publishers might stop promoting Metacritic scores when they want to brag about their games
Aiden Perry
Good. It can left up to stores to add it automatically for customer information purposes. Guess epic still wouldn't do it, but whatever. You lose twenty points off it just from having your game there to begin with.
Xavier Perry
90% of the traffic a review is going to get is going to be on the release day of a game when people google "is borderlands 3 good?". If your review isn't set to go at launch there's basically no point in even bothering. These gaming websites are hanging on by the skin of their teeth and need all the traffic they can get. Why do you think they play through on super easy and we get errors like IGN's RE 2 review? It's because the review absolutely HAS to be there when the embargo lifts.
So yes, reviewers are absolutely going to do anything to stay in publisher's good books and guarantee early copies of games.
Aiden Campbell
especially if they know you are going to talk shit anyways