Should games publishers be obligated to provide free early access to their games to journalists?

I imagine we’ll find out how Borderlands 3 sells soon enough

The only people who get mad about reviewers getting free copies of games have to be literal teenagers. It's like being mad that QA gets to play the game before you

what kind of faggot actually listens to what a games journalist writes?

Normalfags.

I don’t mind that they do, it’s the incessant whining and pearl-clutching when they don’t that bothers me

every single review of the game will sound exactly the same anyway, BL3 isn't a game where "your mileage may vary". if you liked BL2 it's just more of that like years and years of game industry advancement never happened. it improves nothing and the writing is actually worse than ever.

if you like BL2 you were already going to buy it like the dog you are. so all these leftie rags all have near-unanimous and samey praise for it

It’s a fucking miracle Borderlands 3 isn’t some shitty Destiny knock-off full of mtx and $30 expansions.

Considering most people work for a living, I give gifts to everyone "that I know", including people I don't particularly like

I give gifts to my friends and family.

I don’t deny my product to people who might not like it.

I've seen literally no positive reviews of it. All of them have said the same shit you have said, and they were all from the so called "leftie rags". In short, you're a retard.

Not a good sign. If 2K thinks their own game sucks, why would I drop $60 on it?

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$60 is virtually zero money at all for even tiny press outlets.
The difference between having a review at launch vs a week later is a matter of $10k or more at places like Polygon, and they're even willing to forego that sometimes.

Is this GOTY?

if you're a drooling mongoloid who likes Tommy Wiseau impressions and shit jokes, yes

Yeah I'm thinking your seething.
GOTY inbound !

Fuck off, Randy. I don't need to deal with you today.

You'll be dealing with me for the rest of the year once the reviews come in.

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god what an awful year

Ikr.
Once Borderlands 3 comes out it's gonna save the year.

I know it's fun to hate gearbox, but that's actually a legit concern because a lot of recent pirate releases are from leaked preview / early access copies.

They're letting hundreds of streamers play the game tomorrow though, and they've literally had that lead to security leaks before.
Remember? When they sent thugs to some Youtuber's house?

they should make demos and let people decide on their own.

It's just 60$
Why not pay.

why pay when I could pirate

They'd do that if they want the game to sell like shit.
Or they could pour millions into marketing, paid eceleb shills, and game the review system to eke out a decent metacritic.

>denuvo
See you next year moron lmao

not in a hurry to play the sameshit3

No, Cadence of Hyrule was. An infinitely replayable action RPG/rhythm heaven wick slick graphics and sick beats, with both turn-based Journalist mode for casual retards and an endless skill ceiling on the normal music mode with competitive leaderboards and seed tracking meta-gaming.

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Even though I seriously loathe the way BL3 handled their PC fanbase, I loathe video game "journalists" even more. These are the entitled niggers who wanted sekiro to be easier so they can play it which defeats the whole purpose of the game. They're not entitled to shit and if they raise this big of a fuss over not getting their way then I applaud the devs.

Cadence of what?
Never heard of it.
Keep up the cope.

no

I guess that's exactly the reason. with streamers you can do that kind of stuff, but it would be harder with gaming sites because it's less clear on who would be responsible in case something happens.

No it's usually a red flag when review copies are not given out but there does not need to be any obligation to give them out.

>selfies
>in the bathroom

Nah, but conversely if you give a review copy you can't blacklist people if you do give a review copy and they don't like the game. That just leads to access journalism, which this industry is rampant with.

Never seen you around here.
You must think your important.
Back to seddit

Or it's just them trying to game the system by not sending the game to outlets that gave them negative E3 preview coverage (or worse, outlets that reported on Randy's various crimes).
Their PR guy literally admitted that this was the reason, "security" is an excuse.

No, not doing so is incredibly based. In fact, I'd argue giving early copies to journos is a kind of implicit corruption. If a journo gives a bad review then they are less likely to get an early review copy next time. So it sets up a relationship where the journo writes a glorified advertorial for the game and in exchange gets an early copy of the next one. Journos will whine and cry about not getting them, but they're literally complaining about losing their privilege. They should be forced to get it day one and pay $60 like everyone else and give every journo an equal chance to review the game at the same time instead of rags like Kotoku and Polygon getting a leg up on independent reviewers by getting it early.

Not having reviews on launch day is bad for consumers, and it encourages reviewers to speed through the game.
Assuming the game has things to like about it, it is in the developer's best interest to give early copies so the greatest number of reviewers have a chance to enjoy the game.
Every other industry works like this too (film, tech, etc.). The ethical concerns you bring up are big factors, but it's a risk people are willing to take to the benefit of consumers, as well as developers and publishers.