Should Games Media Keep The Game Industry's Secrets? (The Jimquisition)
Added 2018-11-05 14:33:50 +0000 UTCWhen Toby Fox released Deltarune, everyone asked to keep quiet about it for 24 hours. Obviously that didn't happen. Elsewhere, Kotaku has a neverending source of leaked information for games like Assassin's Creed and Fallout.
Let's not forget that time Randy Pitchford called an accurate report on Borderlands 2 "shoddy journalism."
Most recently, Rockstar and Take-Two managed to get over a million quid from a website for leaking accurate Red Dead Redemption 2 information.
Publishers believe the media's job is to help them. The media doesn't always do that when news needs reporting. Let's talk about it.
Comments
Huh, your point on the relationship of pop culture aligned identity and cultural un-groundedness is really interesting - I think you may be on to something there. Nothing to add to the discussion, sorry, I just wanted to let you know I think it's a good observation.
CS Drennan
2018-11-07 01:49:27 +0000 UTCDid anybody else feel weird about clicking the like button whilst Jim talked about having his jaw and spine smashed and losing his mind due to Youtube being Youtube? I am utterly baffled by people who vociferously defend the objectively questionable actions of big companies. Maybe it's a sectarian strain that always been prevalent in the Anglo-American spectrum of humanity simply manifesting in our secular attention-deficit age. These people feel culturally un-grounded and bereft and so all their sense of identity, all their personal investment exists within TV shows, game series, sports teams, etc. Also, fuck Rockstar and T2 Games. What a bunch of skeleton warriors.
Freakish Uproar
2018-11-06 11:17:17 +0000 UTCI can feel some sympathy for an indie dev who had their work revealed earlier than intended by a leak- if you don't have a PR department, the timed release of news of your project might be one of the few tools at your disposal to keep your project visible and thus commercially viable. If the game you've poured your heart and soul into seems like "old news" before it even hits the market, you're pretty well @#$%ed. That said, simply on the basis of size, most indies don't face the kind of leak problems the big boys do. And, yeah, T2 cracking down legally on an outlet that broke news about them does stink of "because they can". Still, "because it brings in the hits" sometimes seems like it's going to be the death of us all.
Kraken
2018-11-06 05:03:32 +0000 UTCJim's poor face :( Did that other wrestler break the rules by not pulling his punches? Seems like he should be severely penalized by the league for that.
Sovrinn Konsval
2018-11-05 19:46:57 +0000 UTCI think the differences between a small indie dev and a big company are pretty obvious. With the big company, chances of hurting them in a substantial way are pretty silm. A small dev might be hurt more easily (though not in this specific case, I think). There's also the issue of common courtesy, small devs have usually not been around for as long and also consist of fewer people, thus have fewer people who can behave like assholes, meaning it might still have the goodwill most of us extend to people who are nice or at least have not been dicks. A big company on the other hand has been around for some while and usually has a history of anti-consumer behaviour, so they have lost said goodwill by their own fault.
Hansbert Emmer
2018-11-05 16:21:34 +0000 UTCPublishers just cannot stop mixing up journalism and PR, do they? 'Shoddy journalism' my ass. And RDR2 situation is simply unacceptable. This is quite literally an attack on freedom of speech. Game info is not a state secret. It is not even industrial espionage category, since the game itself was not reproduced under the different name. It's literally what journalist job is supposed to be. Media should not be beholden to corporations. I do not know what judge would side with publisher in this case. If they did not steal the confidential document themselves (or commissioned the theft) - publisher has no ground for lawsuit. It is unfortunate the site owners allowed themselves to be scared. (Also, lol @ 'we gave those money to charity' thing. As if they won't use it to write off taxes in the ends of a year) If publishers have shoddy security - it's 100% on them. Wanting media to be free addition to their PR department is the peak audacity! I had little interest in RDR2 as is (the hunting thing alone filled me with existential dread, because long animations on repetative activity is no fun), thinking to maybe get in on sale of smth. But after this bullshit, I will not even look at their games. The publisher names has become a badge of shame for me, forever ruining all games they released in the past and all games they will release in the future. It's like they wanted to one-up both Ubi and EA in one move as the top shitter. And they succeeded! The only 'fault' media could have, is if they posted story spoilers without warning. And even then it would be just a dick move, not somethinf you take people to court for. Refusing to send advance copies and invite media people to publisher's events is fair and publisher right. But suing media outlet for doing what it was supposed to be doing... they can stick an umbrella up their collective asses and open it.
Pani Mauser
2018-11-05 15:59:04 +0000 UTCThat's exactly what I said when I saw the story. They don't need the money it was just a promise to everyone else about what happens when you step out of line, the pure ballsy cynicism to do it and the unbelievable gullibility to think it is acceptable since it went to charities.
Neill Halpin
2018-11-05 15:15:01 +0000 UTC
