Game Journalism and The Games Indiustry
The latest incident with Kotaku being bullied by Sony, which fortunately Sony soon realized was a big mistake, underscores another one of those old questions that may never be answered: What should the relationship be between the gaming press and the games industry?

Game journalists and the games industry enjoy a symbiotic relationship that doesn't seem to be unlike that of any medium or industry. I mean, I hear about the junkets to big Hollywood releases. And ... uh... I have seen Almost Famous about three or four times. :) I suppose Car & Driver magazine gets pressure from automobile manufacturers to tweak their reviews from time to time.

The videogame industry depends on the press to build hype and recognition of upcoming products. The game press relies upon the game industry to not only provide it with newsworthy items to report on, but for the majority of their income (in the form of advertising, etc). And of course, free product to review is a perk, too.

As his final address as ESA head, Doug Lowenstein recently said, “I think there’s a lot of maturity that needs to happen in the gaming press. It’s not just because there’s a cozy relationship between the press and the industry they cover. That I find a little uncomfortable. But I think the games industry press needs a higher level of maturity and seriousness.”

It's not just Sony and Kotaku. It happens with smaller press, and even indie publishers. I am not gonna name any names, but I do know of at least one small but up-and-coming gaming news site that has been under tremendous pressure to change a "good" review score into a "great" one for a flagship product line from a smaller publisher.

I'm not immune, here, either. I talk about what's happening in the industy, occasionally reporting on interesting newsworthy bits I discover and feel like sharing, and I talk about other people's games and tools - even if by the strictest interpretation they are in competition with my own. That makes me anything but an unbiased journalist. I appreciate you guys putting up with my shameless plugs to buy stuff from Rampant Games, though I'm really not sure I understand what motivates you to endure the incoherent rants and ramblings I post...

But I digress. The question at hand is what the relationship should be between the industry and the journalist?

It's not a two-party race. Ostensibly, in good ol' Capitalist society, both are supposed to be serving the consumer. While I have a foot in the industry camp and a toe in the journalist camp, I think of myself as a consumer ... a gamer ... first and foremost. I want to be informed. I want to hear inside stories. And I don't mind being marketed to --- I want good new games to enjoy.

But it's not like the press is some holy angel descending with knowledge in its wings. They screw up and get things wrong. They have biases - sometimes pretty extreme ones that prevent them from providing anything resembling an objective review. They pull revisionist stunts like slamming a game one year, and then praising it and its sequel after it has gone on to sell over a million copies. They also make really weird policies for reviews sometimes, in an effort to maintain objectivity, which ends up making things worse... like rating games based upon what they are not and otherwise making unfair comparisons ( "Game X had jumping whirleygig beetles, and Game Y does not, so therefore Game Y deserves a lower rating" ).

As much as the industry needs and deserves to be called onto the carpet by the press and the consumers, I think the same applies to the press from time to time as well. I think both need to understand that while they are expected to cooperate with each other, their charter is to serve the consumers, not each other.

So what do you think? I guess even Sony has now admitted that it stepped out of bounds, but where exactly is that line? What about pushing to get a review changed (particularly if you, the developer or a fan of the game, think the reviewer was unfair or had an axe to grind)? What about threatening to withdraw advertising (after all, it's the publisher's money, they have a right to spend it wherever they want)?

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Labels: Biz, Mainstream Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:34 AM (Permalink)