Kotaku blacklisted by Game Developers

[AnimeGamer183]

http://kotaku.com/a-price-of-games-jour ... 1743526293

And they wrote an entire article about it. Basically they are damn proud they have "done their jobs" as gaming journalists and blabbed developers business to everyone and released information early and disrupted developers plans, and even go so far as to accuse developers of cutting them off unjustly. At this point I see kotaku as the TMZ of gaming journalism, everyone knows them but no one will admit that. Is kotaku retarded? Inept? How in the fuck to they justify this? That article makes them seem like they are oblivious to anyone and everything outside of their office, like nothing else matters. Some right ass holes if you ask me and then to have to nerve to try to justify it all in such a proper way seemingly trying to plead innocence, its just another very strange and bizzare move by them. Hopefully this is a last ditch effort and its the beginning of the end for them.

[Riku Rose]

So you think a news website shouldn't report on what's going on in the industry they cover? Should they only report on what companies like Ubisoft and Bethesda want them to? At that point they aren't a news outlet but just an extension of the marketing team.

If they gave Fallout 4 and the last Assassins Creed games 9+/10 scores I'm sure everyone who is getting angry about this would instead be accusing them of being paid off.

[Axm]

Both of you have valid points.
Kotaku should indeed have the right to go after the latest gaming scoops. Thats what news should do. Having a site LIKE Kotaku around is convieniant.

However they are also too often posting news thats made to be sensational click bait. Too often do I see them having to correct themselves or fail to do so. Or do so in a smart alecky way.

What they did with Shenmue 3 as just one example was a disaster and they ran with every sideways angle they could, with as click baity of headlines you could get.
They need to slow down and really analyse what they are reporting on sometimes.

Other times ive found alot of valuable posts from them. Guides, in-depth backstory help and the latest gaming deals.
And the news can be valid given the writer is one of the more experienced and honest ones.
They have many writers there and some of them are just shit.

I wouldn't call them a TMZ.. more like a Fox News. Because I admit, even I watch some Fox News every once in awhile just because they do sensationalize and its interesting to see how wacked out of an opinion is possible.
Like a car wreck you cant look away from and you can go back to see more.

[AnimeGamer183]

I mean what does Kotaku expect these game developers to do, reward them for leaking news and information that disrupts said developers plans? I mean if they wanna make shit news articles that ultimately bring down the individual dev and ultimately the entire gaming industry and write it off as "doing their jobs" fine, but dont expect there wont be any repercussions for those actions. And on the flip side, every dev has every right to deny or accept whom ever they want to cover their games and news, should be no surprise that a news outlet that back stabbed them got black listed.

[Mark James G]

Doesn't surprise me in the slightest. However, Kotaku has a reputation in many circles as being very unprofessional in the way they present questions and information.

[Axm]

At the end of the day Kotaku is a gaming news site, they should report on rumors. They don't get paid not too lol. Especially when the info is leaked on the internet already. To me that's gaming news. That's really no different than other sites posting up photos they took from a movie set, or leaked script.

Several other sites posted the same leaked info, but do not have as big of a following as Kotaku, so they didn't get Blacklisted. Such as IGN, US Gamer and a few others. Here's the IGN link, I couldn't find the US Gamer one but I know that's where I read that Fallout 4 was going to be in Boston first. http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/20/ ... n-boston-2

Those larger sites did not get blacklisted like Kotaku for one reason, people go to those sites for reviews. They have millions upon millions of people who go there daily, and the casual masses buy games based of their opinions. If a company withheld review copies from them they would only hurt themselves in the long run. No one goes to Kotaku for reviews. People go there for news, guides and history pieces, deal info and stuff like that.

Not everything to come out of Kotaku is gold. They have posted more than their fair share of garbage over the years. But I can say the same thing about Gamespot, US Gamer, IGN and even Siliconera from time to time. But they really did nothing wrong in posting the same info that you could find on any other major gaming site.

[Mr357]

Kotaku is owned by Gawker Media. That should be a red flag from the beginning.

[AnimeGamer183]

Thats not exactly the whole story Rai, read some of the articles that they claim were the ones that caused the problems.

http://kotaku.com/leaked-documents-reve ... 1481322956

they post literal development documents for Fallout 4 in this one, the issue isnt even that the setting got leaked, thats nothing.

http://kotaku.com/next-years-big-assass ... 1665343788

and in this one they detail a development video that was a presentation of what that AC game was supposed to be, here was ubisofts response.

It is always unfortunate when internal assets, not intended for public consumption, are leaked. And, while we certainly welcome anticipation for all of our upcoming titles, we're disappointed for our fans, and our development team, that this conceptual asset is now public. The team in our Quebec studio has been hard at work on the particular game in question for the past few years, and we're excited to officially unveil what the studio has been working on at a later date. In the meantime, our number one priority is enhancing the experience of Assassin's Creed Unity for players.

Its not like kotaku is doing what everyone else is doing, and just announcing and writing out what information they have found they are detailing the format of what they have found, and expose what only the developers were intended to see. Timing and situation is key for games to be successful and certain details coming out too early can cause problems for the success of a game. Its just really unfortunate that these leaks happen from time to time, and if a dev drops a hint that journalists have gone too far, they should respect that and dis-continue that behavior. Kotaku plays dirty, they play dumb, and I dont know why anyone would side with a gaming journalism site when a AAA dev that has made amazing games enjoyed by millions chooses to discontinue relations with their dev because of situations like this.

Remember, Gaming journalism is a sub-industry of an actual real industry, kotaku cannot exist with out first there being the game industry, its laughable they try to complain about developers in this manner, they have no respect and they should know better than to have done some of that stuff its just a matter of common sense and knowing morally "I shouldnt post confidential developer documents unless they themselves posted it first" its not theirs to post in the first place.

[Thief]

It's fine to report the news as long as what you're reporting is fact-checked and actual news rather than speculation and click-bait nonsense. A lot of journalism nowadays is nonsense thanks to the internet.

[Riku Rose]

Nearly every major gaming website has leaked a game or stuff about what's going on behind the scenes. No one seemed to have an issue when Gamespot reported all the Kojima v Konami stuff and seemed to get pissy at Konami and no one else, I never see one person say that shouldn't be reported on because the Internet likes to make people seem evil and Konami was the easy target. When I read this news I didn't even think that anyone was in the wrong, Kotaku did their job by making a story to keep the lights on and Ubisoft/Bethesda don't want to have a relationship with them so cut ties. Not every story in gaming requires us to light pitchforks outside someone's house.

Also if you think that Kotaku reporting that Fallout 4 was set in Boston changed anything then you need your head examined. It's a game with a $100M+ budget and they would have had all marketing and dates of when they announced stuff planned months in advance. Everyone had known since Skyrim came out that we would get Fallout 4 next and all they leaked wasn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

For people who don't think video game news sites should report on this stuff I'd love to know what you think they should report on. If they just report the facts they're given all news sites would be is a place for people to rewrite press releases that they receive which makes them a part of PR. I can't wait for the gaming press to start digging so we hear the story about the development of The Last Guardian and many other stories we won't get from gaming companies themselves.

[Let's Get Sweaty]

When journalists, real journalists, are deciding whether to publish a story that may have detrimental consequences for an individual or their business, they should be asking themselves whether it's in the public interest to do so.

Will people really benefit from knowing this information before the company intends on releasing it, if at all?

If the answer's no, then it's not news, it's careless gossip for its own sake and nothing more. Feathering their nests at the potential expense of someone else's, not in the name of journalism but of greed.

Is there a law against it? No. Is it just business? Perhaps. Is it tabloid clickbait that developers have every right to keep at arm's length? I'd say so.

[AnimeGamer183]

Nearly every major gaming website has leaked a game or stuff about what's going on behind the scenes. No one seemed to have an issue when Gamespot reported all the Kojima v Konami stuff and seemed to get pissy at Konami and no one else, I never see one person say that shouldn't be reported on because the Internet likes to make people seem evil and Konami was the easy target. When I read this news I didn't even think that anyone was in the wrong, Kotaku did their job by making a story to keep the lights on and Ubisoft/Bethesda don't want to have a relationship with them so cut ties. Not every story in gaming requires us to light pitchforks outside someone's house.

Also if you think that Kotaku reporting that Fallout 4 was set in Boston changed anything then you need your head examined. It's a game with a $100M+ budget and they would have had all marketing and dates of when they announced stuff planned months in advance. Everyone had known since Skyrim came out that we would get Fallout 4 next and all they leaked wasn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

For people who don't think video game news sites should report on this stuff I'd love to know what you think they should report on. If they just report the facts they're given all news sites would be is a place for people to rewrite press releases that they receive which makes them a part of PR. I can't wait for the gaming press to start digging so we hear the story about the development of The Last Guardian and many other stories we won't get from gaming companies themselves.

Did you even read the articles i posted from top to bottom? Did you actually read specifically what they did? You sound like you are completely talking out of your ass in this post dude js.

At any rate, developers are more important than gaming press, as I said before, gaming journalism is a sub industry of an ACTUAL industry... I dont know why someone would side with journalists as opposed to developers of this kind that make the whole industry go, ridiculous.

[Riku Rose]

I read the Assassin's Creed article when the article was originally reported and read the Fallout 4 one when this blacklisting issue came about.

As I said in my last post I'm not siding with anyone, not every issue requires someone to pick a side and you can sometime sit on the fence. You seem to get 'outraged' by something quite a bit when it comes to games like a lot of comment sections on websites. I don't think it's even real outrage but that people feel they have to have an opinion on everything and let the world know. All Kotaku did was their job which is report on stuff and get a scoop. Just look at the sales for Fallout 4 and Assassin's Creed Rogue and you'll see that what Kotaku reported didn't hurt them one tiny bit.

It seems to me that you think a gaming news website should only report on stuff they're told by publishers in which case I would suggest you just read the Playstation Blog and Major Nelson's website.

[Sonikku]

Kotaku is like the Fox News of gaming journalism.

[AnimeGamer183]

I read the Assassin's Creed article when the article was originally reported and read the Fallout 4 one when this blacklisting issue came about.

As I said in my last post I'm not siding with anyone, not every issue requires someone to pick a side and you can sometime sit on the fence. You seem to get 'outraged' by something quite a bit when it comes to games like a lot of comment sections on websites. I don't think it's even real outrage but that people feel they have to have an opinion on everything and let the world know. All Kotaku did was their job which is report on stuff and get a scoop. Just look at the sales for Fallout 4 and Assassin's Creed Rogue and you'll see that what Kotaku reported didn't hurt them one tiny bit.

It seems to me that you think a gaming news website should only report on stuff they're told by publishers in which case I would suggest you just read the Playstation Blog and Major Nelson's website.

My last paragraph wasnt directed at anyone specifically. I guess I have a different view on this because I work in the entertainment industry and I know how frustrating it is when information that someone didnt want to come out yet, leaks. So I feel for the artists who have to deal with that, but on that note, it is some times the artists fault for a leak. I'll save the debate on morality and mind set of journalists in general for another thread.