Gamertell

EGM editor in chief Dan Hsu has a typically blunt editorial up at 1up, detailing the ways in which game publishers respond to less than favorable reviews. Hsu calls out Midway, Sony’s sports department, and most recently, Ubisoft for pulling coverage after lackluster review scores (in Ubisoft’s case, mediocre reviews of Assassin’s Creed). He goes on to describe EGM’s policy on publisher pressure (bottom line - they don’t shy away from brutal honesty) and the magazine’s tougher-than-average previews. From the tone of the piece, the implication is that publishers are getting bolder - now they’re pulling coverage on top of pulling ads.

From his article:

“Gamemakers have been taking issue with our reviews for as long as EGM’s been around (almost 19 years now). It goes with the territory: Be honest and tough with your critiques, and you’re going to piss just about everybody off at some point.”

It’s a ballsy move in our post “Gerstmanngate” era of tenuous ties between pressuring publishers and the enthusiast press (who depend on ad revenue from publishers). Kudos to Hsu for putting it out there and sticking to his guns.

Read [1up] Via [Kotaku]