Jeff Gerstmann fired from Gamespot.com

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Technically gaming news, but I posted it here because I feel that the focus of this post is regarding Journalism rather than video gaming. If a mod feels otherwise, feel free to move it.

If some of you are regular visitors of gamespot.com, you may already figured out the massive controversy regarding his job termination. For those who may not know, Jeff Gerstmann -- One of the Chief Editors of gamespot.com -- was fired by Cnet.com for writing a mediocre review for the game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Prior to the release of the game, Edios (The publishers of the videogame) struck an advertising deal with cnet.com. (If you visited gamespot.com the past few weeks, you may have noticed these ads)

The current theory is that Edios was not too thrilled with Gerstmann's 6.0 score. As a result, Edios pressured Cnet/Gamespot to remove Gerstmann from the staff. As of now there are no official statements from any of the party members, (Besides Gerstmann himself who confirm that he was fired, but did not explain why) so the exact details are a tad hazy.

Sickening, yes? It's pretty freaky that advertisers/publishers have this much control over journalism. Thoughts?

[TheMelodyMaker]

This is why I don't ask my closest friends or family to write a review of The Traveller's Guide; I wouldn't want to ever put them in that kind of position.

[AsianBlossom]

I was learning about this sort of thing in my social problems class. There was a whole controversy like this about that bovine growth hormone thing. The corporation that owned Fox news had an advertising deal with Monsanto, the people making the hormones, and because they didn't want to lose money from them (Monsanto makes many other products advertised on television), they just couldn't let their reporters tell the world that the growth hormone could cause cancer.

Those reporters who wanted to expose the truth to the world were fired for wanting to not deceive the public. They eventually tried filing a lawsuit, but I think they lost the case.

[ChristianKitsune]

As a journalist...it annoys me as well. ^^; When we put out our paper, it seems that we kind of cater to the Advertisers because they really help us with getting money and stuff.

It's not as bad as this though.

But advtertisers are kind of needed...but at what cost? :/

[Nate]

Jeff Gerstmann -- One of the Chief Editors of gamespot.com -- was fired by Cnet.com for writing a mediocre review for the game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.

Don't say that like it's fact. Again, while I do believe that's why Jeff was fired, it's not proven. There's a lot of evidence that seems to point to this, but there's no solid proof yet.

The current theory is that Edios was not too thrilled with Gerstmann's 6.0 score. As a result, Edios pressured Cnet/Gamespot to remove Gerstmann from the staff.

That's true, but the bigger theory is that Eidos was upset, but had nothing to do with pressuring Cnet into the firings. Rather Cnet fired Jeff in an attempt to appease Eidos.

Here's the latest news update:

First, official word of this is supposed to be released Tuesday. Whether it will be something of substance, or just the usual PR damage control, we'll see.

Second, and the BIG news. Apparently the rumor is that Pepsi has pulled advertising with GameSpot now. Source:

http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2007/12/adieu-adieu-to-you-and-you-and-dew.html

So there you go.

Now, here's my question. Obviously you all know I strongly believe the firing of Jeff was due to the Kane & Lynch thing. However, I have two questions.

First, what if it turns out that the firing was NOT due to the Kane & Lynch review, as unlikely as that may be? What will you do?

Second, what CAN Eidos, Cnet, or GameSpot say that will convince you the firing was unrelated to this? Is there anything, or will you always no matter what believe that "They're lying to us about everything?"

[Jingo Jaden]

Wow, he gave it 6,0, the critics gave it 7,0, and the USERS gave it 2,6! With 3370 votes counted as well. Now, at least on my part the users matters the most, so with that said, it is not only controversial, but also extremely fustrateing to look at.

[AsianBlossom]

2.6? Wow, that must've really been a bad game. (Note: has not even heard of the game)

[Jingo Jaden]

Going through a line of abysmal *1,0* rateings here. Some say it is worse than big rigs over the road raceing.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

You're right, Nate. I didn't mean to state it as fact. As of this moment it's unproven.

And Jaden, the only reason why the game has such a low score by the users is because tons of people decided to start rating it a 1.0 after Jeff got fired. i.e. They're trolling. It's not as bad of a game as they're saying it is. People are just mad that he's fired.

First, what if it turns out that the firing was NOT due to the Kane & Lynch review, as unlikely as that may be? What will you do?

Second, what CAN Eidos, Cnet, or GameSpot say that will convince you the firing was unrelated to this? Is there anything, or will you always no matter what believe that "They're lying to us about everything?"

Well what they say may be true, but I'd also like to hear official word from Mr. Gerstmann himself as to why he got fired.

Edit: This was found on the gamespot forums, written by someone who seems to be an employee. Swearing is altered.

[quote]Latest info depicting the bigger picturearound this incident:

The main problem here is that no one in the entire editorial team was aware that this was about to occur, least of all Gerstmann. We're very clear in our review policies that all reviews are vetted by the entire team before they go live - everything that goes up is the product of an entire team's output. Our freelancers are especially guilty of making snide comments, but those are always yanked before the review goes live, because everyone in the office reads these reviews and makes sure they're up to our standards before they get put up.
If there was a problem with his reviews, then it would've been a problem with the entire team. Firing him without telling anyone implies that anyone else on this team can be fired at the drop of a hat as well, because none of us are writing any differently or meaner or less professionally than we were two years ago before the management changed. I'm sure management wants to spin this as the G-Man being unprofessional to take away from the egg on their face that results after a ten-year employee gets locked out of his office and told to leave the premises and then no one communicates anything to us about it until the next day.


Also, despite the fact that this occured two weeks ago, there was no way they were going to fire him then]

[Jingo Jaden]

Of course I have not tested the game yet, and to be fair it looks pretty mediocre from what I have seen. However when a game has a lower user rateing than big rigs I tend to stay away from it. *Big rigs has 3,3 by the users*. Now the review compared to the actual in game videos I have seem would at least make me think that the review Jeff posted is fair. Then again, I have not played it. So far Kane and Lynch has the second worst user score of any game I have seen, superman 64 surpassing it with 2,5. XD

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Like I said, the users are purposefully rating the game that low because they're upset over Mr. Gertmann's termination. Most of these people voting have never even played the game. They pretty much just trolling the system.

Overall, the game got a 68 on Metacritic

Anyway, moving on to the topic at hand. This isn't about game reviews, this is about journalism.

[termyt]

Journalism has forever been embroiled in a dilemma of ethics versus profit. Without profit, the paper folds and everyone’s out of a job. Without the freedom to speak the truth, the paper’s work is tainted and untrustworthy and deserves to fold.

In a healthy market place, if Eidos pulled their advertisement, another would happily jump in knowing they are advertising on an ethical and honest place that people trust – and thus will trust their advertisements as well.

That’s not the world we live in, though.

If Gerstmann’s posting was an honest and fair review and he was fired because an advertiser did not like it, that is clearly an ethical problem on the part of GameStop. I would stop supporting it in any way. If I was a game developer, I would refuse to provide them with advance copies of my games. If I were an advertiser, I would pull my ads.

However, since we are looking at ethics, I’d like to point out that you’ve missed another clear ethical violation here.

The second article posted appeared to be written by someone who works in the review department at GameSpot. I say “appears” because the article is anonymous but shows inside information. Not only is the article anonymous, it makes very grave and wide spread accusations of misconduct within GameSpot without providing any evidence to back up its claims. Rather, it appears to be the vitriolic musings of a disgruntled employee. For a journalist to stoop to such a level with no apparent motive other than to damage the credibility of his employer is as grave a violation of ethics as the one he is accusing his employer of.

Whistle blowing is an important and critical responsibility of all employees, do not misread me here. If your employer is violating ethics (and especially laws), it is your duty to report them to the proper authorities. If you do so, you will undoubtedly become the focus of much scrutiny, so you had best be prepared to back your accusations with evidence. (Rightly so) To simply spout off without providing evidence of misconduct, you are not a whistle blower but a disgruntled employee with an axe to grind. To do so anonymously indicates a certain lack of backbone and an utter lack of evidence to back up your claims.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Second, what CAN Eidos, Cnet, or GameSpot say that will convince you the firing was unrelated to this? Is there anything, or will you always no matter what believe that "They're lying to us about everything?"

There has been pressure on Gerstemann in the past regarding his reviewing process, so if he was fired it was for a long list of things. If he was fired for Kane and Lynch, it was the final straw in a long list of thing. That said, the gaming public has whipped itself up in a frenzy and I don't think there is anything Cnet or Eidos can say that won't be construed as lies. Most gamers have something ringing in the back of their head: These are corporations running spin-control and PR. Their job is to make themselves look good, so even if they're not lying they're still probably going to bend the truth to make themselves out not to be the badguys because honestly it's suicide to say, "Yep, we did it. We did it and we're very sorry." This has only worked a handfull of times and not without tremendous monetary output.

And now here's the part where I link Game Politics.

[Nate]

I agree with termyt. Just because some anonymous person posts as "gamespot" everyone suddenly believes he's an employee there? REAL journalists do checks on their sources, simply believing that "gamespot" is a GameSpot employee and that everything he says is God's honest truth is no different from me believing blindly believing Cnet about the firing.

Remember that this is the internet. I've seen people pretend to be Angelina Jolie before, and let's not forget the President of Nigeria who's going to give you millions of dollars, seriously! I mean, he says he's the President of Nigeria, so it must be completely true, right? Because there's no way someone would pretend to be another person on the internet.

By the way:

management knew that the rest of the reviewers would refuse to write any reviews after his termination, which is indeed what is happening.

Jeff was fired on the 28th of November. The employees were told about it on the 29th. Checking GameSpot, there are three reviews that were posted on the 30th. These COULD be from freelancers (who really could care less about the internal workings of the company and just want a paycheck), I don't know. But if any of them aren't from a freelancer then it proves that "gamespot" is just as unethical as Cnet.

Finally, Joystiq recently posted an interview with Jeff himself. A quote from Jeff:

I stand behind my work, regardless of where I do it… I’m not really sure what I want to do next. This whole situation has left me with a lot to think about… Despite the number of people who are taking these rumors … to mean that game writing is ethically bankrupt, I don’t feel that’s the case…

Well, there you go.

[Stephen]

Nate, are you saying that the secret bank account I have been sending money to for the President of Nigeria is a lie? But he told me it was true! It was in an email, it has to be true!

[Nate]

You know, ANOTHER thought crosses my mind. If the employees were seriously refusing to write any reviews, wouldn't that mean they are refusing to do their job? That would give management every right to fire all of them. And if management had no problem firing Jeff Gerstmann over a trivial thing like a review they didn't like, surely they would have no problem firing people who won't do their jobs. Right? And it's not like the site would shut down completely because they have freelancers, who as I said before, don't care about how Gamespot runs things, they just write pieces and get paid.

So yeah. Now Mr. Anonymous Poster seems even LESS credible.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Well I'm never disagreed with the notion that the person who made that statement was not an actual employee of Gamespot, nonetheless it doesn't take away the fact that the current theory know makes gamespot/cnet look like unethical pieces of doggie doo-doo.

I just want to hear an official statement. Until then, I'm not really supporting either establishments.

There has been pressure on Gerstemann in the past regarding his reviewing process, so if he was fired it was for a long list of things.

The whole "Giving Twilight Princess an 8.8" fiasco was just outright stupid. Nintendo fanboys were crying bloody murder at a guy who said the game wasn't absolutely flawless and that is just phenomenally idiotic on their part. Gerstmann also got heat for giving Galaga and Super Mario Brothers on the Wii's virtual console less-than-stellar scores. And for the most part, I agree with the scores he's given them.

[SolidÃ…rmor]

If Gerstmann’s posting was an honest and fair review and he was fired because an advertiser did not like it, that is clearly an ethical problem on the part of GameStop. I would stop supporting it in any way. If I was a game developer, I would refuse to provide them with advance copies of my games. If I were an advertiser, I would pull my ads.

I believe it was "Gamespot"...not GameStop, I would know if someone was fired at the company I work for.

And if Eidos is taking into practice of getting reviewers fired for their honest assessment of their product then I couldn't see myself supporting them by purchasing their crap if this all comes to be factual.

[Alexander]

It's been a very sad day in gaming and journalism. For me especially as I'm a part of numerous gaming sites, so the news is literally everywhere.

What I believe:

I do think Gerstmann was fired over the Kane & Lynch review, and neither CNET, Gamespot, or Edios will admit this as they're already in a very, very deep problem with a lot of angry people (including myself).

I don't think we'll ever get the full story until everything calms down after a month or so, but I believe this is what happened. The evidence is everywhere.

I do have to show sympathy towards Gamespot though. They had switched management to CNET recently, otherwise the chances of this happening were slim.

I also have to applaud Jeff for staying true to his editorial regardless of the pressure being put on him. It takes a lot to keep your integrity sometimes.

As for Edios, I'm never buying another product from them again, and I've been asking anyone I know who buys games to do the same.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/kane-%26-lynch/kane--lynch-site-fibbing-about-reviews-scores-329529.php

Here's enough proof that they lied about the reviews given to the game.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

I agree with termyt. Just because some anonymous person posts as "gamespot" everyone suddenly believes he's an employee there? REAL journalists do checks on their sources, simply believing that "gamespot" is a GameSpot employee and that everything he says is God's honest truth is no different from me believing blindly believing Cnet about the firing.

This is the internet. Impersonations are commonplace fer serious. I don't think anyone in this thread is alleging that "gamespot" really was in the employ of Gamespot until proven such. I think everyone up to this point has agreed that it seems likely that the events in question happened, but we don't have any news one way or the other and honestly I respect Gerstemann for not saying anything. It is, ethical conundrums aside, an issue strictly between him and his former employer.

[Nate]

honestly I respect Gerstemann for not saying anything.

Uh...what? It's not that Jeff doesn't want to say anything, it's that he legally can't. I'm sure if he wasn't obligated by law to keep quiet he would be spilling the entire story.

As far as the ad thing, that's just sad. Really, really sad. The funny thing is that the top quote isn't necessarily positive. Even if they had gotten it from the actual review it could have said in context, "A Mercenary, A Psycopath & A Bundle of Cash... What Could Go Wrong? Judging from Kane and Lynch's gameplay, a lot."

[Etoh*the*Greato]

If he's no longer under contract with him, he really shouldn't be under any legal obligation to them as I understand it. And (seriously, correct me if I'm wrong) I don't think you can sue libel if the person is speaking the honest truth about you.

[Nate]

Thing is Jeff probably had to sign a nondisclosure agreement to get a severance package...this sort of thing is pretty common.

Also, I didn't know Kotaku was available in German (still checking out Alexander's news item). XP

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Yeah, shortly after posting I'd started thinking about the SP. And I've honestly not been expecting any info on what's going on. I don't think it's gonna happen.

[Alexander]

He had to sign a severance package Nate. Jeff confirmed it in an interview.

It's still honestly sad. I've been keeping an eye on the Gamespot forums, and the amount of grief everyone is going through, including the real chance the community there, which a lot of people grew up and spent countless hours there, is now falling apart. MODs and Admins alike are leaving, and subscription accounts were canceled in droves of thousands.

I've seen three forum wars in my time, two which tore the site apart completely, and one I had a major hand in creating (although it wasn't my fault for the war), but it's still really sad to see it all come to this...

[Mr. SmartyPants]

And to think I was super hyped up for Kane and Lynch. I even pre-ordered it! (I love the Hitman series)

I feel betrayed. =(

Edit: If you go to the Kane and Lynch main site, they still have those same ads, but they took the stars off.

I lost all respect for Edios now. *Goes to praise the god-developers at Valve*

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Gamestop has an official statement:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183603.html

And nobody is buying it.

[Shao Feng-Li]

And to think I was super hyped up for Kane and Lynch. I even pre-ordered it! (I love the Hitman series)

I feel betrayed. =(

Edit: If you go to the Kane and Lynch main site, they still have those same ads, but they took the stars off.

I lost all respect for Edios now. *Goes to praise the god-developers at Valve*

Hey, they gave us Deus Ex, FF VII for PC, and Tomb Raider Legend and Anniversary...

Huh... I think that's it...

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Hey, they gave us Deus Ex, FF VII for PC, and Tomb Raider Legend and Anniversary...

Yeah, they brought out a few good games, but their method of advertising is absolutely deceptive and downright immoral. I will no longer support Edios for being deceptive little brats who like to lie to their customers.

It seems there might be a possible "mass resignation" within Gamespot
http://kotaku.com/gaming/gamespot-on-the-spot/gamespot-may-see-mass-resignations-over-dismissal-329822.php

[Nate]

Wait, FFVII for PC was good? What kind of alternate dimension did I get warped into?