Mass resignations immanent at Gamespot
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Because of an air of confusion, fear and “irreconcilable despair,” Gamespot could soon be facing the resignation of a “large number” of editors, Kotaku is reporting, citing an anonymous source who works at Gamespot.
The source also confirmed that another anonymous poster, identifiying themselves on Valleywag only as “gamespot,” was right on with their assessment of the situation.
“[It] could have been written by a stenographer,” the source said.
Kotaku goes on to report that the other Gamespot staffers don’t know why Jeff Gerstmann was fired, adding that “Money has never played a role in reviews before” and “Gamespot has never altered a score.”
The source speculated that friction between Gerstmann and Vice President of games Josh Larsen could have been the root of Gerstmann’s firing.
The source also indicated that Larson’s paraphrased assertion that “AAA titles deserve more attention” was not necessarily a hint that Gamespot’s reviewers be more lenient to those titles. Instead, in light of some rather controversial review scores—for example, the 7.5 for Insomniac Games’ Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction—the editorial team needed to be more conscious of accuracy and impact of its scores.
Reports that Gerstmann’s review quality had been slipping are anecdotaly corroborated by the source.
As for the now-pulled video of review, it appears the reasons for it’s removal are less nefarious than assumed. “Jeff showed up late. It was thrown together quickly, the sound sucked, there was only footage from the first level of the game—it was a mess,” our source said. We were told that the redacting of the clip was based on a producer’s decision and not a demand from upper management.
The source also said the brand has been irrevocably tarnished, and the staff are in near mutiny. The controversy is a “cataclysmic event in Gamespot history.”
It appears as though my predictions of the ruining of Gamespot’s reputation and the eventual downfall of Gamespot if they didn’t reverse course quickly are becoming a reality.
Gamespot has been a video game fixture on the internet for years, and I would hope that their previous reputation as a really pretty hard reviewer would stick with them when the going got tough. It appears they’re learning the hard way that, while it takes years to build a good reputation, it only takes minutes to get a bad reputation.
Gamespot, CNet, someone needs to act fast to save their credibility, not to mention reverse the feeling of despair among the staffers, or there won’t be a Gamespot much longer.
Tags: Anonymous, firing, gamespot, jeff gerstmann
