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Giant Bomb claims they were denied a Borderlands 3 review copy due to 'dubious E3 coverage'.
- Thread starter Meg Cherry
- Start date
Sure. We are also free to talk about how 2K selectively hands out review copies to maximize review scores at launch.
With people like you being okay with this shady shit, it feels like we are regressing in the industry as far as review ethics go.
Pretty shady on the part of 2k but not surprising. Giant Bomb rarely does reviews at this point but it is more disappointing that they won't have a quick look up soon that has some later gameplay. Also would not be surprised if they just don't have a quick look of the game now.
i don't think anyone lol i just mean it's dumb of them to only give review copies to outlets who shower praise. just believe in your game, Giant Bomb won't give a low score because Randy Pitchford is an ass, they'll give one if they don't like playing the game
Jeff is saying that's the reason 2k gave Giantbomb for being denied. 2k might've given those other outlets with positive previews another reason.
OP
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It does seem odd that Polygon got review access for the critic who literally wrote an entire article about how underwhelming their debut trailer was.
Regardless, it does seem that 2K is at least being somewhat selective with who actually gets to contribute to the launch day Metacritic score.
Probably just to they can talk about it, record footage for launch day quick looks in stuff.
Getting to know what GB thinks about a game requires a lot of engagement of their content for better or worse. I personally still wish they did more official reviews. Not for every game but maybe more than 2 a year
The odd thing here is the rep had to know they weren't just going to sit on it out of professional courtesy so they must consider the bridge completely burned and don't care. What were they supposed to say when people asked why they don't have any coverage of the game at launch? They're not going to lie about it.
I'm sure there was at least some shitty YouTuber crying like their mother died when the trailer was shown.
2K can get fucked. Between this shit and working with Randy, NBA gambling, terrible WWE games, sending private investigators to a GTA V modder and someone reporting BL3 information and finally cease and desisting a totally legal emulation of Red Dead project, I'm done.
Someone remind me in 5 years when R* have a new open world game I'll want, or a hot new Fraxis game. But other than that, they should be easy to avoid.
Someone remind me in 5 years when R* have a new open world game I'll want, or a hot new Fraxis game. But other than that, they should be easy to avoid.
They still would probably like to play the game early so they can discuss it on the podcast and have a quick look posted as soon as possible. Just because they do not do many reviews does not mean they avoid giving their opinions in other forms.
Wait they said 2K's PR directly told them they got denied access for that reason? I'll have to hear that clip for myself because I flatly do not believe that and even if Jeff said it he must have been joking or sarcastic because there's almost no chance that happened. Even if that was the real reason 2K's PR would never ever say that to them because they know it would potentially cause a huge firestorm of bad PR.
they do and are known for their "quick looks" of new games that usually go up around time of launch
Hasn't 2K been assholes about this before? Also shout out to Dan and Abby not gushing over it when what they were playing was clearly... not that interesting.
This whole review situation just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
They'll definitely have a quick look still, Jeff sounded pretty excited about the idea of playing a new Borderlands game. It will just probably be focused around early game stuff like you said.
That's 100% what he was told. They even had a discussion around this and state that it's not the first time they've been told this by a company either.
Polygon got access because they're a big site that gets lots of attention. 2K/Gearbox don't get to pick who covers it for Polygon, Polygon does that internally. They probably hoped someone else would get it, but it wasn't their call.
If it wasn't for Alex Navarro, the world would not be in complete agreement to call these games shlooters.
I'll have to hear the clip and the context for myself. Just with my experience dealing with PR I find it absolutely impossible to believe they would directly say that because they know that's gonna cause terrible publicity for the game
User Warned - Thread Derailment
You know, it's sort of funny to see GiantBomb and Kotaku call out Gearbox for sending Borderlands 3 review copies select outlets considering when Gearbox made Borderlands 3 exclusive to the Epic store they were pretty much staunch supporters of it. To me this is very similar so I don't see how they can be put off by Gearbox making the reviews exclusive to certain outlets.
I mean, at least they told it to them straight lol
This obviously sucks, but frankly I'd prefer it to being MYSTERIOUSLY ghosted by other publishers/PR or not getting review request forms until the second follow-up email or whatever.
This obviously sucks, but frankly I'd prefer it to being MYSTERIOUSLY ghosted by other publishers/PR or not getting review request forms until the second follow-up email or whatever.
not sure if serious?
is this your genuine take on this situation? or are you just very very young?
imo it'd probably be real good for 2k if the person who said they were underwhelmed by the reveal reviews it and is like "yeah this is actually really good and cool"
Why would the public care that GB makes fun of randy and he denied then a copy
I swear at this point I'll be personally disappointed in everyone on Era still buying anthing Pitchford-related. And the "but others worked on this game as well" excuse doesn't hold up anymore.
Have you dealt with 2K PR?
Have you seen how good the Borderlands/Gearbox PR has been for the last, let's say, six months?
I find it impossible to believe that you find this impossible to believe.
Lol that's quite the reach but I guess it's always EPIC VS STEAM WARRRRR with y'all loonies
If you don't tell them that's the reason for the denial, there will be no pressure on them to change their tune going forward in order to get codes.
Giant Bomb was never the place to try to pressure like that, but of course PR would say something like that, that's how you get outlets back into line.
The concept of sending out review copies/codes has always been this weird grey area of coverage. Not a single publisher is required to do it, so of course from a business standpoint it would be smart to only give them out to sites you feel will give the best reviews of your games, however that's a really bad look from the outside.
PC Gamer has been the only review that outright trashed the game, will be very curious to see if they receive future Gearbox and/or 2K games in advance.
PC Gamer has been the only review that outright trashed the game, will be very curious to see if they receive future Gearbox and/or 2K games in advance.
just transcribed it for you
"When we inquired about it, we were not told 'hey there are security concerns' We were told, i'm paraphrasing here, but we were told by a 2K PR representative that based on the sentiment of our E3 coverage that they were gonna send it closer to launch"
They then say they are not entitled to any copies, this has happened before with other games and they appreciate the honesty at least.
And someone who's pretty against the EGS's tactics...
This is such a hilarious attempt to dunk on its supporters. The amount you have to twist is mind-boggling.
Just do them a solid and don't cover their game at all then. Honestly this is a complete shitshow by 2k Games.
That an embarrassing reach you've got going here.
That an embarrassing reach you've got going here.
Because it gives some indication about how much faith to put in reviews.
Hahahaha oh man, imagine pulling this shit on Jeff Gerstmann's outlet of all people
I found it, the worst take