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Gamespot Editor fired over negative Kane & Lynch review ?

November 30, 2007 in News comments 17

It seems that fould play is afoot at Gamespot, with one of it's longtime reviewers Jeff Gerstmann apparently getting the boot for giving the PS3 and 360 game Kane & Lynch a mediocre score of 6/10.

Apparently Eidos weren't very happy with Jeff's review and wanted something to be done about it, especially since they have been heavily advertising the game on the Gamespot site.

We've heard an unsettling rumour today from an anonymous tipster that longtime game reviewer Jeff Gerstmann from Gamespot has been let go. That wouldn't necessarily be newsworthy, but the conditions under which he was allegedly dismissed were. According to the source, Gerstmann was fired "on the spot" due to advertiser pressure for his review of Eidos' Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. A visit to Gamespot shows that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game has taken over the site very prominently, with backgrounds and multiple banner ads all pitching Kane & Lynch. Allegedly, publisher Eidos "took issue with the review and threatened to pull its ad campaign."

Jeff's review was certainly less than glowing. He assigned the game a 6.0, otherwise known as "Fair" on the Gamespot scale. The game is currently enjoying a Metacritic score in the 65 to 69 range, which the site describes as "mixed or average reviews." According to our tipster, it wasn't necessarily the score that was reason for Gerstmann's rumoured axing, but the "tone" of the review.

Gerstmann has been no stranger to controversial reviews, as his scores of 10 for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and 8.8 for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess had sensitive internet users up in arms. It's now possible that many bitter fanboys may have had their wishes for his firing granted.

As our tipster points out, if the rumour is true, it could point to a distressing precedent at Gamespot and parent company CNET. "As writers of what is supposed to be objective content, this is our worst nightmare coming to life," wrote the tipster.

Our efforts to confirm the story with Gamespot hasn't proved successful. Our current requests with PR, Gerstmann and other CNET contacts have either gone unanswered or yielded a "no comment."
Miss Razz via kotaku.com.au »
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  • 2
    HBK619 Nov 30, 07
    He's obviously not just trying to be controversial if it's similar to the metacritic range, so it's ridiculous that the developers just can't accept that they have made a crap game, with no online co-op, and they deserve all the heat they get.
    • 0
      DEZVOUS Nov 30, 07
      You clearly don't get it. He was let go by GameSpot. Since when does a developer have control over firing employees of GameSpot? There's some fishy stuff going on here.
  • 2
    Storm Nov 30, 07
    It's not a crap game imo, but I can understand why it'd get a 6/10. People expect online too much, as if they have no real friend to actually come over and play with them on it...

    But yeah, it's gameplay is pretty average...can't understand why just because someone gave a negative review would get fired. Lame.
  • 0
    joshthegreat Nov 30, 07
    PlayStation Official Magazine gave the game a 6/10... It clearly isn't a great title... The development team should get fired if anyone.
    • 0
      Storm Nov 30, 07
      Well you really can't judge it just by reviews. Play it for yourself I'd say. Just because OPM gave it a 6/10 doesn't mean it's that bad. xD The development team are the same team from the guys that did Hitman...doubt they'd get fired.

      Still, this is a low blow...Eidos should have tried harder with it's gameplay if they expected better reviews. And Co-op online, though I don't see a need to lower score for that...it's pathetic to do that.
  • 0
    StabWound Nov 30, 07
    Nooo, Jeff was one of the few good editors. They need to fire the guy who reviewed Ratchet and Clank...
  • -1
    DEZVOUS Nov 30, 07
    You guys have all missed the point....
  • 0
    Xenctuary Nov 30, 07
    Ridiculous. From what I understand it seems to be more of a "last straw" situation, but, if true, it's still despicable. What's wrong with giving an honest opinion and informing the consumer of what the title plays like? Whether the review was harsh or not is irrelevant, it was being kept free from unjustifiable bias. Just because CNET runs a large amount of advertisements for the game it doesn't mean that Eidos have earned a free ticket for a high rating. That'd be entirely corrupt.
  • 1
    Templex Nov 30, 07
    I read the review before getting the game, the review slightly put me off, but I got it anyway. The review could'nt be any more wrong, I agree with his sacking, this is a great game.
    • 0
      Xenctuary Nov 30, 07
      Writing a review that points out negative points of a product is far from a reason to lose your job. Eidos created revenue running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for CNET with the deployment of their extensive "Kane and Lynch" advertisement scheme on GameSpot. When Gerstmann scored the game with an average rating it seems Eidos pulled out of any future potential advertising deals. CNET are merely protecting their assets by firing Gerstmann. They couldn't care less what the game plays like.
  • 0
    Bale Fire* Nov 30, 07
    Really? I suppose it's all about different tastes.

    Not that I'll be getting it, I'm not into all that gritty stuff
  • -2
    iLLmatic Dec 1, 07
    So then whats the point DEZVOUS?
  • 0
    Final Blade Dec 1, 07
    Guys have you not read Dez post above Gamespot fired the reviewer, Eidos has nothing to do with this. They have no power to fire anyone. Apparently Gamespot found some fishy stuff with this reviewer and gave him the boot. Besides many people devs and such may dislike the scores gotten by the game, Ratchet and Clank and Assassin Creed is 2 of the few who got bad reviews but they have to live with what the scores got.

    Apparently gamespot didn't like how he did his score on the game.
    Finally Justice is being served.

    EDIT: Found something important that most missed
    quote
    According to our tipster, it wasn't necessarily the score that was reason for Gerstmann's rumoured axing, but the "tone" of the review.

    As our tipster points out, if the rumour is true, it could point to a distressing precedent at Gamespot and parent company CNET. "As writers of what is supposed to be objective content, this is our worst nightmare coming to life," wrote the tipster.
    • -2
      Miss Razz Dec 1, 07
      Obviously Gamespot are the ones that fired him. BUT apparently Eidos is the reason they did it - Eidos pulled their advertisements from the site as soon as they caught wind of the review, so no doubt GS would get pissy over that.
      Plus, Eidos are deleting all threads in their forums about Jeff's firing ... sure makes them look awfully guilty of being a part of it all. If it's true, then it's a little sad that a dev would be so petty over a simple review.
      • 0
        Final Blade Dec 1, 07
        Not really Maybe they took it off So rabid angry fans don't come flaming them and such. Its not Eidos fault. Obviously something Jeff did which wasn't the score itself but the Tone according to the link that started his whole mess. Maybe he said something vulgar and etc that would make Gamespot look bad and that led to his booting off.
        I still think it has nothing to do with Eidos i mean, what about Assassins Creed and Ratchet and Clanks scores some of there were pretty low too and yet no one did anything to fire the people who gave it low scores.
  • 2
    Red 9 Dec 1, 07
    What's wrong with 6/10? K&L Dead Men sucked. Plain and simple.
  • 1
    tidus04 Dec 1, 07
    HA, they are so *bleep*ed to fire someone just because the developers were not happy with the score. Of course they would not they put hell of a lot of time into it but still he was telling the truth from what he though of the game. If they wanted a better review make a better game. Simple as.

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