Ridiculous from MS or whoever decided that it's good to give some journos a month and others literally 3 days. Review tiers? Is this what we at now in terms of reviewing?
Adam Sessler not happy about having to review Halo Infinite in three days compared to others who had a whole month
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Ridiculous from MS or whoever decided that it's good to give some journos a month and others literally 3 days. Review tiers? Is this what we at now in terms of reviewing?
Some people were given access earlier for preview purposes. Those who got preview access lost access for a week or two in between. Can totally understand Xbox not wanting to go too wide this this a month before launch. No publishers give access that early to full games.
I really don't want to read a review by somebody who has to rush through the game as quickly as possible (well, more so than the already-ridiculous review timelines). No way that's not going to taint the experience.
Tiered access like this doesn't benefit anyone.
Tiered access like this doesn't benefit anyone.
It's all publicity. Until we remove outlets from the hype cycle we are gonna repeat shitshows like this.
I suspect the dividing line might've been people who got code as part of that wave of previews a couple of weeks ago, versus people who only got review code. They seemed to expand the ring of access a bit from one to the other, because I know some people who didn't get preview code did end up doing reviews.
The different kinds of tiers is quite egregious. Some a month, some 2 weeks, some a week, some not even that.
They dropped the ball
They dropped the ball
This is one of the reasons I don't like the way reviews work. The need for deadlines and everything always being instant day one
Normal people don't play a game by destroying their bodies to rush through it quickly enough to meet a deadline. Normal people play a game for enjoyment when they wish to do so.
It'd be like asking a food critic to review a meal but he has to eat it in under 10 seconds
What relevance does this have to *my* experience as a regular consumer who has no need to rush through something?
Normal people don't play a game by destroying their bodies to rush through it quickly enough to meet a deadline. Normal people play a game for enjoyment when they wish to do so.
It'd be like asking a food critic to review a meal but he has to eat it in under 10 seconds
What relevance does this have to *my* experience as a regular consumer who has no need to rush through something?
This makes sense. Still seems like they could've done better than 3 days, but I'm not in the press or the PR industry so I am basing that on nothing.
I'm small fry and am constantly put in the last "bucket" for code. It's very frustrating to get a review code the day before release or even release day, and I really don't get the logic in withholding codes like this through arbitrary designations (we certainly have higher metrics than a lot of sites that get codes weeks before we do).
I'm surprised someone major like Sessler wasn't treated better though.
I've definitely seen it for something like a few days. But a whole month… is a lot
It's not about playing and reviewing it properly, it's about having the content ready for the brief window where everyone will be looking for Halo reviews.
I get what you're saying but I still trust Sessler. I don't expect anything but the truth from him.
Yup. And it's been around forever. When I was in the press, my site was absolutely a low-tier priority for review code for big games, though for some reason we were bumped up to upper-mid tier for smaller games.
They need to control the leaks that would happen if tons of reviewers got it. Sessler needs to act like a grown man. If he can't understand the whys of it or deal with it maybe he should do something else. Sorry but he looks like a diva here.
"fucking pissed. Not because as a man in his late 40's I got 8 hours of sleep over 3 days."
is this serious?
is this serious?
Don't defend their shitty practice. I would be mad too shiiiit.
Them lying about it is just extra shitty, like why?
I knew publishers can be selective with which reviewers get first access.
I knew publishers can be selective with which reviewers get first access.
Reviews have the biggest impact around launch, mainly because that's when everyone posts the review (unless there are no embargoes, or exclusivity deals with print for example). If you have a big audience that is privy to your voice regarding the stuff, you can post it later but if you need the mass-market viewership (especially with how competitive online reviews are), you risk losing the sweet spot, and afterwards there's no real point to the review.
I'm 29 and I can barely manage less than 6 hours of sleep per 24 hours. His tweet may sound dramatic, but no need to shame the man because of the work he had to do.
Some of the stuff unfortunately has an expiration when it comes to everyone's eyes being on your review. This is especially important when G4 is effectively starting over as a new outlet and they probably have teams of people they gotta cut paychecks to.
Sucks, but competing game coverage do be like that.
Edit: Just wanted to add a little more, I can also imagine reviews being harder to write in a time where a ton of streamers, some more high profile than others, will simply stream the game on launch day and anyone on the fence or interested in seeing how others are reacting to a game or how a game actually plays outside of marketing assets might tune into them instead of watching/reading your review. Which makes getting these reviews out in a timely manner even more important.
Add that to reviewers feeling like they gotta rush shit and you got a recipe for disaster.
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G4 doesn't have leverage here. I'm actually surprised Adam is going scorched earth like this. G4 needs the access, not the other way around.
"middling-ass campaign" definitely makes me think the experience lessened his enjoyment (I've been there as a reviewer).
It really does impact the way someone reviews their game if the process is miserable.
It really does impact the way someone reviews their game if the process is miserable.
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Because you are giving one person favourable treatment and the other not so. How is that not shitty? That shouldn't be the case in reviews. I gather the people who had more time with the game will have more fun compared to someone who has 3 day deadline to finish them. Nobody benefits from the latter.
Bad take. "Just stop being a diva and crunch for 3 days to get your review out in time for embargo. It's just the way these things work."
Should game devs complaining about crunch culture also suck it up? or is the expectation different for media for some reason
While I don't have experience with the game industry, but as someone who has had to work on tight schedules for website content, the drop off in interest is significant if not aligned with surrounding media. You are losing real money.
Higher tier probably meant having full access to the game for preview and review purposes 1 month in advance. Publishers will sometimes be stingy with codes to trusted media/influencers for leak prevention purposes (and also favorable/fair coverage). As far as the "lie" goes, I'm guessing it was just an uninformed agency partner distributing the codes.
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Because like it's been explained above for clicks. This is when everyone is going to look for Halo Reviews.
I always thought it's counter-productive for publishers to do this. Either give reviewers time or don't send it out at all.
Who do those rushed reviews serve?
Who do those rushed reviews serve?
People read/watch reviews on day one. It probably wouldn't make much sense for them to have it a week later or whatever.
Crunch is real, also you need to release at release in order to stay relevant and get views. No one watches reviews online of games after the initial hype
Entitled, lazy Adam thinks he qualifies for more than 8 hours of sleep in 3 days. People don't work like they used to. In the good ol' days dying on the job was a privilege.
They lied, they showed favoritism, they pushed him and the people he works with to work insane hours to get the review done, and yes, they need to get it out day 1 because thats when reviews matter most. They would have essentially wasted their time otherwise. Some reviewers just got to take their time and work normally for their review and some didn't. Its fucked up and I see no reason to blame anyone but Xbox.
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