Whether right or wrong this is why someone in his position has to be careful about what they say.
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Mike Ybarra, Corporate VP of Xbox, says critics of an Anthem area are “whining” and it is “embarrassing to review with such a lack of knowledge”
- Thread starter Proven
- Start date
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This is his personal account where he can post his thoughts.
If you review games then know your shit when you review the game, you owe it to your readers/listeners.
No. The game owes it to its players to educate them about mechanics. Please refer to page 27 of this thread to see how and where combos in this game are explained.
Thank u next
The funny thing is a lot of people are attacking him about the critical reception of Xbox Games, or his company connections with anthem instead of talking about how a people in his position shouldn't using that kind of words to attack a review, no matter what's the quality of your own games, no matter what's the connection between you and the game.
This is being only an excuse to throw shade for fun for many. Even some journalists have reacted attacking him with Crackdown 3, and they think they are better than Ybarra.
This is being only an excuse to throw shade for fun for many. Even some journalists have reacted attacking him with Crackdown 3, and they think they are better than Ybarra.
Xbox is comarketing Anthem
Or...you know, he personally likes the game and thought it was dumb a single reviewer couldn't combo?
I didn't see him complain about Crackdown, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay or Lucky's Tale reviews.
It's not all console wars guys.
People are going to be upset and he said it in a negative way but Mike is right.
The amount of times I've seen the reviewer play the game they're reviewing and be extremely bad is insane. It completely devalues their opinion in my eyes.
The amount of times I've seen the reviewer play the game they're reviewing and be extremely bad is insane. It completely devalues their opinion in my eyes.
Now go watch one of the three people streaming anthem so you can have an unbiased opinion
Is this bundle currently being shipped to me? I'm all about ethics in video game comboing.
Whilst I agree to some extent, that's sort of relevant to a huge subset of gamers in general. Eg casual or other gamers who are simply not very good at games, or are just as likely to miss this sort of stuff, thus such reviews are more relatable to them. Hell just shy of 20% of Era play games on Easy mode, and 60% play on Normal, and when you watch most non-Pro streamer gaming streams or lets plays, countless gamers by and large suck at games lol.
What difficulty do you like to play on?
Ha, I'm sure people would be totally fine with reviewers slamming dark souls type games for not explaining every mechanic to the player.
Yeah for the extremely casual gamer that has some value for sure.
Disagree. They shouldn't be called out for anything.
Just in the same way some will enjoy challenging games that tell you nothing, others will hate it. A review should let you know what kind of game it is.
So long as the reviewer makes it clear how skilled they are in gaming and what their expectations are, it is fine as you can read the review with that in mind. Context is key.
Tbh, this point is largely disingenuous. We haven't even seen the review in question to even know the context of the journalists' complaint or complaints. I very much doubt the combo thing was the only thing the reviewer slammed, and I also highly doubt the criticisms of the game would have changed much had the reviewer even been more versed in combos. Hell, the complaint may have even been that he didn't know how to combo till later into the game, instead of at all. We just don't know. We need to see the review.
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To the folks claiming that Mike's a gamer, that's true and all but he's also a super publicly visible executive for a publicly traded company. When he says controversial shit, he's not being held to the same standard as xxxImAlreadyReaper69xxx. He's not just a representative of himself anymore, he's a representative of Xbox's brand. This is why companies have PR departments.
yeah
and players seem to be having a fine time doing combos and everything else with the game. One thing is rushing thru the game and skipping stuff another is taking the time to actually learn something instead of it telling you what to do and how to do it in and in what order.
Don't many streamers fail to mention the fact they're being paid to play something? If that's the case, I think the criticism is about that lack of transparency more than anything.
These are a lot of words, but I don't see anything along the lines of "I was wrong, the 'context' I've been harping on about wasn't there for hours after the discussion of Ybarra's behavior started."
This is really what comes down to it. There's zero reason for someone in Ybarra's position to make the comment that he made. It's not like he was asked in interview or pressed to explain something. He made a choice to go out of his way and make it.
I love how people throw "persecution complex" around as a way to hand wave away shitty attitudes and over reactions. Keep fighting the good fight warrior! His tweet and criticism were stupid, but to somehow turn this into a conspiricy by xbox executives to ruin reviewers and funnel people to paid streamers so MS can make money back on a marketing deal is Olympic levels of gymnastics and those that support that feedback just feed into it....then when you are called on it, its "PERSECUTION COMPLEX, HIVE MIND, ETC".
Like somehow xbox execs want to throw themselves under the bus for a one time marketing deal but do nothing for low score reviews on their own made exclusive like crackdown? And from a guy who doesnt have a history of being a "RAH RAH" xbox guy like Penello?
Oh Noez.....Microsoft must have the marketing deal with Ubisoft. LOLZ, look at the shill...../s
Why doesn't he watch a stream of it and find out for himself?
Haven't read a review in like 10 years here Lol. Don't know why anyone even looks for em with all the current ways you can try out a game yourself or watch a stream. He is right in my eyes.
I don't mean to devalue the work of people who write about games or anything buy you do realize that there are quite a lot of us who don't know/care about you or what you think, don't care about how much time you've spent time doing something either.
Writing (Reading) reviews these days seems like an antiquated service to a lot of us. It feels like an old elevator operator from back in the days when people needed someone to do that. We can just play, watch and "review" games ourselves thank you very much.
What are you even talking about? The response you're quoting isn't even about that, it's about the notion that the only reason this tweet is "being blown out of proportion" is that people are always looking for an excuse to specifically shit on Microsoft. That was the point I contended and described as akin to having a persecution complex since such behavior, outrage or backlash isn't exclusive to any one platform. Hence my point that the backlash would have been just as great if a Sony exec made the same tweet,
Regarding your point about Ybarra, I'd imagine this may have been the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak. Eg the recent bout of negative critical reception to games like Sea of Thieves, ReCore, State of Decay 2, Crackdown 3, and now heavily Microsoft marketed titles like Anthem, may have lent to his sudden somewhat anti "I don't do reviews" and "amazed at the whining" responses (even though he clearly does do reviews based on past tweets, and the somewhat backtracking later tweet). Ybarra's only human at the end of the day, eventually, the critical failures have to start getting grating,
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Stirring a ruckus online is the greatest marketing technique ever.
Fair, I replied to you but really should have just been at the thread, my bad.
Agree that he is only human and people sometimes get fed up. I just find it hard to believe (and I seem to be in the minority here), that after sea of Thieves, ReCore, State of Decay 2, that if he was going to break down it wouldnt be over their own game like Crackdown which got pummeled, instead of a third party marketing deal like Anthem. The guy repeatedly praises and plays game from all areas. Has invested a ton of time in this particular game. What is more likely? Guy heavily invested in game, unreasonably defends game? Or Xbox corporate shill targets traditional reviews media to funnel people to paid online streamers in an attempt to prop up a miserable sales generation for the Xbox brand.
Because if you read this thread, the prevailing feedback is the later.
The issue here is that a minority will take this tweet as coming from Ybarra as a gamer and more will see it as Ybarra as a corporate VP.
Ybarra could be in the right that reviewer did not put adequate time into learning the game but people will look for other motives.
"Is he lashing for Crackdown 3 reviews?"
"Is he doing this because of Xbox marketing?"
You have to pick your battles as a public person (and even in private too), I know divorces that went ballisic over Tweets from husband/wife because they just had to say something without thinking.
Ybarra could be in the right that reviewer did not put adequate time into learning the game but people will look for other motives.
"Is he lashing for Crackdown 3 reviews?"
"Is he doing this because of Xbox marketing?"
You have to pick your battles as a public person (and even in private too), I know divorces that went ballisic over Tweets from husband/wife because they just had to say something without thinking.
Can we just not do that.
There's no reason anyone should be snarky about that tweet, other than for internet points.
Really? You think when people, in this very thread, say "this site has a bias against Xbox" that that isn't a persecution complex?
He may not have had a particular point to latch on to, to complain about or that specifically annoyed him in the reviews of those other games, whereas he's found or is annoyed about a supposed particular point about combos in this one review of Anthem, and is using it to make a larger potentially generalising point about reviews or journalists whining, or simply not being as valid because of subjectivity etc.
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He flames products and stirs up emotions on the internet. Although the difference between marketing and straight up trolling in this day and age is becoming less clear, and I can't yet completely make up my mind on what side he's on, his tweets are a mess. There's nothing snarky about pointing this out.
It is.
Reality has a bias against Xbox. I say that as an Xbox only gamer.
As someone who hasn't owned an Xbox in years and almost exclusively plays on PS if you don't see how Era has a bias against Xbox you're just as bad as the Xbox fanboys. Have you ever entered an Xbox thread? It's a shit show like 90% of the time.
The site is not a single person. It doesnt make anyone do anything. But to not admit the reality of the situation is just silly. This is a weird analogy, but I'll write it anyway:
If I was to walk into the Oakland Raiders football stadium during a game and say "Wow, these people really love the Raiders". Am I wrong? Of course not everyone in that stadium is a raiders fan. Some are not even football fans. But on average, more often than not, if you talk to someone there, they are a Raiders fan.
It is the same on ERA. ERA doesnt make people Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo fans, but to say people of similar interests, or a similar proclivity to a company don't enjoy each others discussion is just wrong. More likely than not, if you converse with someone here in the gaming thread, they will like Sonys Output more than Microsofts. Did ERA do that to them? No. Are they all Fanboys? no. Has MS just alienated most of the world outside the US, and this site is not US focused? Probably. Is it more likely than not that Sony is just doing a better job making gamesin the industry than MS? Yes.
MS has not really been doing a good job with games since before the start of ERA, so it is hard to test this, but many people here are refugees from another site. Even during MS best times in the early 360 years, with japanese support, and good exclusives, the general leaning at the other site was always waiting for Sony to get back into gear. "RETURN OF THE KING!"
This thread is a great example. Someone who happens to be an exec at MS says something stupid. Good, people should call him out for it. But you read through this thread and a stupid comment turns for some into a MS/Xbox conspiracy to destroy "traditional reviews", and force paid "modern reviews/streamers" down peoples throats in a corporate attempt to prop up their weak gaming line and fully defend a marketing deal. And if anyone pushes back with the idea that "hey, arent we over analyzing this just because he is a MS exec" it immediately becomes PERSECUTION COMPLEX!!!!
EDIT: I forgot, UNHINGED! I cant wait for the responses that contain UNHINGED!
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I don't think he wants people watching the streams either, especially with the long, frequent load times. I know that I would be initially interested, then turned off of the game within 20 minutes, from watching a live stream. I kind of understand watching streams, as five minutes of watching Ori secured a purchase from me (what a truly fantastic game), but reviews still matter
I bought most of my library off of reviews, and the ones I didn't do my research on I regretted. Sea of Thieves for XB1 being one of the primary examples. Most of the games that do not review well, I haven't really enjoyed
And a person in his position should probably be more careful what he says on Twitter
I bought most of my library off of reviews, and the ones I didn't do my research on I regretted. Sea of Thieves for XB1 being one of the primary examples. Most of the games that do not review well, I haven't really enjoyed
And a person in his position should probably be more careful what he says on Twitter
As far as I'm concerned, this thread is about his one particular tweet. Flaming on him on an innocuous tweet is not something anyone should do.
It's why some in the gaming industry think that this forum is toxic.
Yeah holy crap I assumed this would be a one-two page thread. Are people really that angry?
There's a reason a lot of people exclusively use the Microsoft OT here, and this thread is one of those reasons.
Everybody at Era are angry about everything. Hate is what keeps Era alive.
I keep checking this thread expecting MS to force him to back off or apologize. This is such a no brainer thing to do. It's wild and such a weird hill to die on.