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The Conflict in Interest Between Video Game Sites and Advertisements

December 01, 2007 in Industry News comments 8

While this article is not particularly in-depth, it does pose an interesting question into that of game advertisements on video game sites. These sites are paid thousands of dollars to advertise the latest system releases and when the game being advertised is not of good quality, a conflict between the advertiser and the website ensues. This is fitting after the rumoured dismissal of long-time GameSpot reviewist Jeff Gerstmann from the site because of such a conflict.

Many readers have asked about why we run ads on the site that often have very little to do with gaming. I am going to answer that now publicly, as it seems fitting when you consider the event that has taken place between Jeff Gerstmann and his former long time employer Gamespot.

In case readers didn’t notice Gamespot ran a bunch of Kane & Lynch advertisements, and with that, though they can deny it, comes a certain level of unwritten respect that is expected. Think about it, why does Consumer Reports not run ads? Why is it you never hear networks bad mouth their sponsors? Why do we here at Ripten run ads that rarely have anything to do with gaming?
Ameer via ripten.com »
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  • 0
    Sayyed Dec 1, 07
    Link doesn't work. But this seems like a whole nother reason why some reviews mught biased.
    • 0
      Ameer Dec 1, 07
      It's not the link; it's just due to the Digg effect that the blog is down.
  • 0
    Jai Poke Manic Dec 1, 07
    thats wierd the link don't work

    No sorry it does
  • -1
    Final Blade Dec 2, 07
    So He ignored the ads when making the review and that what caused this. Sounds like BS to me. Or sounds like a rumor to me. I really would like to know the whole story and the truth.
  • 1
    Glotnot Dec 2, 07
    What do you mean it doesn't make sense?

    Gamespot was doing serious advertisement to promote the game. Gamespot's employee gave Kane and Lynch a bad review because he didn't like the game. Employee got fired shortly afterwords. As all of the puzzle pieces fit together perfectly, I really don't see how it's hard to believe.

    There has been a lot of recent articles on the subject of how corrupt the gaming media is.
    • 0
      Final Blade Dec 3, 07
      As from what i seen all this stuff is speculation. Which is why gamespot and jeff himself, despite being there business, has yet to reveal the truth. They even stated im not going to talk about the rumors thats out.

      It does have something to do with ads but thats all it is.
      • 0
        Ameer Dec 3, 07
        GameSpot revealing the true reason (if it is because of this) would be disastrous for them and I think Jeff has been possibly censored.

        The truth gets out in the end.
      • 0
        Glotnot Dec 3, 07
        So you are acknowledging that he was fired because of ads. But you don't acknowledge that this was the reason why? Despite the overwhelming evidence? What other reason could their possibly be?

        How can you simply ignore the fact that Jeff gave a bad rating to a game Gamespot was pushing with all of it's force and power in the gaming industry, and then got fired?

        Read here please.

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