Blog

Welcome to
the Button Mashers Blog.

Updated every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday
...unless it rains!

Home
Archives
Podcast

Button Mashers is a periodic audio podcast covering a range of topics in the gaming industry. This blog was created for myself, Tetsuotrunks, as well as a few guest co-hosts, to contribute our 2 cents on topics that really don't warrant any discussion, or to just express things that we'd like to get off our chests. Check back often, as we update frequently and feel free to leave any feedback.

February 2008
SMTWTFS
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
242526272829 

Powered By Greymatter

Blog
Button Mashers Blog


Home » Archives » February 2008 »
Viva la Jeff.
By CloudANDTidus on 02.20.08 at 09:22 PM CST


It's probably fair to say the that the Internet at large practically imploded over the news that Jeff Gerstmann had been fired from his position at Gamespot as Editorial Director. Many on lookers, including the higher ups at GameSpot itself, will view this "reaction of a minority" to be the belated whining of a few, however in reality this event (should the reasons for his termination turn out to be true) could have some industry-wide ramifications.

Large corporate sites such as IGN and GameSpot rely on two streams of revenue to fill their vaults with gold; advertisements and paid for total access accounts. While both business models clearly work, the conflicting issue here is that they rely on readers and membership to work. Claims are now spreading across the Internet that once loyal GameSpot members are cancelling in masses, which will hurt the site incredibly hard if true. It is generally viewed that only "hardcore gamers" really care about industry news enough to check blogs daily, or even hourly, so surely none of this will matter? Unfortunately for GameSpot, these are the exact same people that would use their hard earned pocket money to pay a subscription fee to a video game website. The Soccer mums and Nintendog players that won't give a shit about Gerstmann's sacking are also the people who don't give a shit about you CNET. Remember that.

Over his ten-year stint at GameSpot, Jeff Gerstmann became an incredibly well know figure, appearing and hosting such shows as the HotSpot and On the Spot regularly. Whether his tone really was "out of line" when reviewing Kane and Linch, Gerstmann's firing was never going to go un-noticed and once he's gone, the loyal fans are going to leave with him.

Credibility is a hard thing to come by, and if gamers even suspect just a little that advertisers may be affecting review scores, then they will simply go elsewhere. The days where you brought one magazine and you believed every word on its glossy pages because you paid cash for this thing are long gone. On the Internet it doesn't take two seconds to find another website's views and opinions, so the fact that Edios believed it could sell its game better if it blackmailed CNET with the removal of its lucrative ad campaign is insane.



It's understandable that Edios was more than unhappy with Gerstmann's video review. Considering how difficult it can be to launch a new IP and getting it to sell, getting slapped with derograty remarks like "the game is ugly" must hurt, however if this industry is ever going to work, it is not within the developers power to control scores.

And even if it did, what difference would it make? This very incident has proven word of mouth and the people cannot be silenced and the very fact that Gerstmann's review survives on YouTube after GameSpot pulled it makes this whole thing laughable.

CNET and the people in power at GameSpot need to seriously re-evaluate their business decisions and strategy's, because if this is the path they are choosing to follow, then the user backlash is going to be incredible. I eagerly await the next episode of the Hot Spot to see if the remaining staffers have been ordered to keep quite on Gerstmann's absence, or if they do the only thing that will get them any respect back, which is to admit they were wrong and tell us the truth.

Viva la Jeff.

Comments