Gamespot editor fired over ‘Kane & Lynch’ PS3 & Xbox 360 review?
By Dave Parrack
There are unsettling, and as yet unsubstantiated rumours flying around that long time Gamespot reviewer Jeff Gerstmann has been fired after giving Kane & Lynch a mediocre review. Why would that be worthy of a firing? The site had recently started running a pretty all encompassing advertising campaign for the game, and those two elements don’t combine very well.
At this point, all we know is that Gerstmann has definitely left Gamespot, but we don’t know whether he went by mutual consent, or was fired for whatever reason. The timing of his departure though either means something underhand may have allegedly taken place, or it’s a massive coincidence.
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is an Eidos game, out at the moment for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Gerstmann reviewed the game on November 14th, and shortly after left the company. He gave the game a “fair” score of 6.0/10, a rating which corresponds quite consistently with the current Metacritic scores in the 65 to 69 range.
Gamespot has recently been almost taken over by full banner adverts promoting the game, and it’s thought that an average review, where the tester has slated the storyline, and quite a few elements of the integral game play features wouldn’t have sat well with the company which has just spent a fortune on advertising on that same site.
Yesterday, games website Kotaku claimed that an anonymous source had been in touch with them and made the accusation that the two things were quite clearly connected.
“According to the source, Gerstmann was fired “on the spot” due to advertiser pressure for his review of Eidos’ Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.”
“Allegedly, publisher Eidos “took issue with the review and threatened to pull its ad campaign.”
This possible firing at the hands of advertisers is shocking, and could set a dangerous precedent amongst gaming sites, and other gadget related sites who rely on big advertising campaigns for funding.
This is currently only a rumour, with Kotaku themselves admitting they have only managed to secure a “No comment” quote from any of the parties allegedly involved. One glance at the Gamespot forums related to the review however, will soon tell you that readers, whether fans of Gerstmann or not, are less than happy about this situation.
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November 30th, 2007
If this is true.. f**k you Gamespot!
December 1st, 2007
Hahahaha!! As if reviewers ever give decent reviews anymore anyway!!! What a joke – have a look at your own reviews!! Its amazing idiots who think they can write get to splurge this junk over the inet.. this site is a perfect example why no-one should take any notice of these people who think they are so super important. Reviewers are almost worse than car-salesmen.. although.. thats a little harsh on the car-salesmen.
December 1st, 2007
You forgot to mention the USER REVIEWS at metacritic or even at gamespots website… those are abysmal scores for a “AAA” title 100% designed for the “hardcore gamer”. But… where did it go wrong? The game has a lot of violence, “cool” anti-heroes as protagonists, a lot of f-bombs, NRA-approved gun happy gameplay… the stuff that would make any regular overweight “harcore” gamer happy.
Oh wait… Kane & Lynch is an unplayable piece of crap. Jeff Gerstmann got it right… for once. And he was FIRED. That’s the only fact that has been confirmed.
Er… BTW… the game looks and plays like a last gen PS2 game (if you take out the HD capabilities). However, I don’t remember many PS2 games that featured such craptacular framerates as the one seen in Kane & Lynch.
December 2nd, 2007
Kane and Lynch is an awful game what did they want him to do? Fucking bullshit, is the start of good reviews being paid for?
December 2nd, 2007
If this is true, Jeff Gerstmann deserves to be commended. I respect a man that speaks truthfully and who’s opinions can’t be bought. In this age where anyone can start an internet company, Jeff had, has and will have a great career. I’m more apt to listen to his views even more. Start your own videogame review site brother! You definitely have my support. I’ve agreed with most reviews you’ve submitted about past games.
December 5th, 2007
if thats true, then i will never go to gamespot.com again!!!
September 3rd, 2008
okay if you let advertisers CONTROL YOU then you really are a company that sucks the big dong. I mean I have no problem with advertisers giving tons of money to gamespot but the you should not review the game rather than FIRE YOUR EMPLOYEE for DOING WHAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO DO.
effing idiots.