Gamertell

Accusations that one gaming publication or another has been paid off by a developer or publisher have existed for as long as the gaming media itself.  Recently, though, it looks to be a truthful statement at CNET-owned Gamespot. Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann, who has been with the site for roughly a decade, was recently fired concerning his review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men to which he gave a negative review and a score of 6.0 out of 10, and even more so for the video version of such, which is far more scathing, and no longer available on Gamespot (though can be viewed on YouTube.

Apparently Gerstmann’s review seriously ruffled the feathers of Eidos executives, who had invested heavily in K&L ads on the site, as well as Gamespot’s advertising team, who had reportedly aggressively pushed for the sale of said ads. According to anonymous comments across the Internet by supposed Gamespot employees, he was locked out of his office and told to leave the premises with no prior notice.

The news first broke out via the latest Penny Arcade comic.  According to a post made by an alleged CNET ad team member on Forumopolis, Gerstmann was let go due to “unprofessional reviews and review practices” as that individual puts it.  CNET has since released an official statement on the issue.

GameSpot takes its editorial integrity extremely seriously. For over a decade, GameSpot and the many members of its editorial team have produced thousands of unbiased reviews that have been a valuable resource for the gaming community. At CNET Networks, we stand behind the editorial content that our teams produce on a daily basis.

However, responses handed out by people involved with and/or researching the story are singing a different and far less vague tune.

An anonymous commenter who referred to himself as “gamespot” on Valleywag who claims to be a Gamespot employee was fairly sure it was specifically over the K&L review.

I was in the meeting where Josh Larson [Executive Editor replacement for now Electronic Arts employee Greg Kasavin] was trying to explain this firing and the guy had absolutely no response to any of the criticisms we were sending his way. He kept dodging the question, saying that there were “multiple instances of tone” in the reviews that he hadn’t been happy about, but that wasn’t Jeff’s problem since we all vet every review. He also implied that “AAA” titles deserved more attention when they were being reviewed, which sounded to all of us that he was implying that they should get higher scores, especially since those titles are usually more highly advertised on our site.

While, on its own, its accuracy could be questionable, the statement of moderator on Gamespot’s message board in response to the scandal appears to lend credence to that employee’s testimony.

People, don’t direct your anger at Gamespot. This is CNet’s meddling. Gamespot consists just of the editorial, news, community, and development teams. It’s CNet’s marketing that puts the ads up. CNet’s marketing that complained. CNet is who can fire their EIC.

An interesting fact that has been reported since, relating to a change in management at CNET that occurred a month ago.  Since the end of October, Stephen Colvin, the former CEO of Dennis Publishing, which publishes magazines such as Maxim, Blender, and Stuff: publications whose editorial practices are incongruent with those of Gamespot’s up till most recently, as a source reported to 1UP that “New management has no idea how to deal with games editorial.”

My comments will be very short: If this is all confirmed (as if we’ll ever get an official confirmation) then I will say it’s a damned shame that a site that I used to read religiously and what helped inspire me to seek out a gig much like the one I’m currently writing for had to shamelessly sacrifice their credibility.

Read [Kane & Lynch Review]  Also Read [Penny Arcade]  Also Read [GameIndustry.Biz]  Also Read [Valleywag]  Also Read [Game|Life]  Also Read [1UP]  Watch [Gerstmann’s Review on YouTube]