The Jeff Gerstmann snafu
Seeing as controversy is sexually attracted to me, I unwittingly chose a typical week to make my debut. Everyone knows that veteran GameSpot reviewer Jeff Gerstmann was let go this week, and there’s evidence that implies it has to do with the fact that he gave Kane and Lynch a 6.0. Eidos reportedly threw a fit and threatened to withdraw their advertising dollars (as they’d spent major cash slathering Gamespot with full-sized skins advertising the game), and what happens next is fuzzy.
Was Jeff fired for giving a perfectly honest review (by the sounds of things, 6.0 is generous)? It’s true there are two sides to every story, and maybe there’s something else at work here: CNET says Jeff wasn’t fired for the review, but they’re not offering any other sort of explaination so what are people supposed to think, exactly?
It’s a very depressing situation, one that most game reviewers just don’t want to think about. Morale around Gamespot’s offices must be somewhere around zero; I can imagine everyone keeping their heads low and plugging away listlessly at their work. It’s an extremely busy time of year, but it’s also supposed to be full of excitement and good news. This isn’t good news.
If this was a straight-out firing, CNET didn’t think their brilliant plan through in terms of backlash. There’s always been a simmering conspiracy theory about game reviewers getting paid off and/or threatened. By taking the side of Eidos, CNET is more or less saying, “Hey, gamers! We hate you and ourselves!” Gamespot has its critics, but it’s also had its supporters. It’s going to lose a lot of those supporters.
Still, it’s hard to say what’s going to happen from here. Will people demand game sites free of advertising so there’s some assurance of unbiased game reviews? Will there be an investigation into the corrupt PR practises of large game companies? Or will people shrug and go back to compiling their Christmas lists with fat green crayons?
If you’re doing the latter, just make sure Kane and Lynch isn’t on there. You don’t need it. Nobody needs a game where the protagonist’s name is a half-assed metaphorical take on the Biblical Cain.*
*The only exception being Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV. That there’s sacred ground.
