I want to jump here and add my 2-coppers from the POV of a journalist. As Renfail rightly pointed out, content creators and PR/influencer marketers are not journalists. Journalists are expected to act according to a code of ethics best summarized, IMO, by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) code of ethics, which include: (1) Seek truth and report it, which includes accuracy, context, and clear identification of sources. Speed and format do not excuse any violation of these principals. (2) Minimize harm, for example - recognition that private people have a greater right to privacy than public figures and avoiding pandering to lurid curiosity - even if others do not. (3) Act independently, meaning you MUST refuse gifts, favors, free travel or special treatment. Further, a journalist avoids outside political activities or activism which compromise integrity and impartiality. Finally, a journalist MUST distinguish news from advertising, and prominently label ALL sponsored content. I've separated (4) because it deserves special attention. A journalist must be accountable and transparent. They should explain any ethical choices and processes to the audience, respond quickly to questions of accuracy or fairness, acknowledge their mistakes and correct them promptly. A journalist has a responsibility to expose unethical conduct in journalism, including within their own organizations. In short, journalism is not PR/influencer marketing, regardless of whether their publishing takes place in print, online or some hybrid of both. None of these guidelines have modified by the reality of the 24-hour news cycle, or the need for clicks, or advertising. Anyone who argues otherwise is an entertainer posing as a journalist and should be treated accordingly.
@@ChampagneOppa The SPJ code of ethics isn't a law, it's a perspective. Whether or not you can name specific examples one way or another, it exists as a guideline for understanding ethics in journalism. Make of that what you will and act accordingly.
The takeaway here, and it applies well beyond the games space, is that journalists are few and far between in our current society, and I’m hard pressed to describe almost any entertainment coverage as journalism.
a really interesting read this. thanks for the insight. Really reinforces my opinion of how influencers can be so downright dangerous when often they are seeming to be too opinionated. it's fine to have opinions, not saying you can't. but i've found more often than not in a lot of influencers cases they take you away from the facts, provide their opinions a bit too much trying to persuade you towards one extreme or other. too many times i have seen people take influencers words as gospel, and that really can be dangerous. prime examples can be found all over the media & general politics. but i wont get too much into that as this isnt the time or place for a political debate. My point as stated above influencers are not journalists. ultimately the sad aprt is they have no real obligation to the truth, just whatever gets them the most views to embolden their own revenue. another reason why i like & enjoy this channel so much. you dont act as an influencer, like you've said before you're more of a content creator to play & enjoy games together, and the world could quite honestly use more like you to drown out these influencers that are only in it for themselves
One of the larger issues we face with RUclips - indeed, most forms of social media... is that the algorithm rewards interaction. Then factor in how much humans loooove to hate and be angry/indignant and you've got the perfect recipe for the sea of rage farming that we cannot seem to escape. It's so tempting to engage with it, but way better in the long run to ignore them and not give them what they want.
when a video with 2m views gets recommended to me, I almost always know what's going to be. These days I try to watch and follow only content creators like Renfail, people who I trust and have been watching for a long time.
It's such a pleasure to listen to a grown man talking rationally, in a polite and sensible tone, with actual know-how, making clear and actual experience-based arguments. That's what's missing among influencers.
Thank you for breaking this down. These influencers display little to no professionalism as they insult a company brand and franchise, while thinking they are professionals because they don't insult any individuals by name and expect "free" products to review. Not subbed to any of them as they made click bait video after video leading up to the Veilguard release. More confusing is some will still buy the game and upload playthroughs. This game was going to be a live service game in its beginning , and for Bioware to bring it back to single player alone has my praise. It's sad that there are influencers who will try and demonize the Veilguard while being ok with live service single player games with $40 expansions like Diablo 4 and the battle passes / cosmetic stores that will be attached to even games like Tekken after the reviews are out via update. Some have gone as far to defend Anthem and promote that tech demo Dragon's Dogma 2. Unbelievable!
Influencer life cycle: 1.) Find new game 2.) Like new game 3.) Notice new game isn't perfect 4.) Start to exclusively focus on other flaws or personal misgivings 5.) Develop and promote rage content view cycle until release 6.) The game releases: If good, go into denial and force negativity until you can flip people's views. If bad or even remotely flawed, take it as a form of validation. Keep promoting ragebait. 7.) Get studio shutdown 8.) Find new game to tear apart 9.) Years later, come back with yet another video claiming "maybe we were too hard on XYZ." 10.) Repeat.
@@StoneAgeWarfare "... force negativity until you can flip people's views..." It's shocking to me that anyone could even sustain the thought that content creators have the power to actually change people's inherent opinions on anything at all, let alone to the point of making people who would enjoy a game reject that same game so much that a studio gets shut down. This is a deep, deep delusion. Can you think of even just one example where an objectively good game was embraced and then mass rejected because of 'rage bait'? I'd honestly love to know.
Damn this guy gets it. Wonder what’s gonna happen after these dudes celebrate the last studios shutting down (it’s always been ducked up to cheer on other’s unemployment like that) and they realize they have no new content to make anymore.
@@FlexLUTHORdevasmon with millions of sheep's. Deciding to run around everywhere to trash a game and you say the influencer does not have any powers? Cult behavior by the followers. Especially the americans have a risk of falling g down into the rabbit hole of bullshit. No offense to americans but most of conspiracies comes from America. Americans have a big impact on gaming market. Is what I think
@@FlexLUTHORdev They do. All they have to do is repeatedly hammer home certain points everyday and their fanbase will take it as gospel. If you actually step out of line, you're socially punished for thinking for yourself or straying from the popular opinion in those communities. Also, yes. Cyberpunk was highly hated despite still being the same exact game a year later with less bugs.
I didn’t buy the game because too often have I been burned in the past by big game companies, including BioWare. I will wait until many many review channels tell me their thoughts and show me what they see and the average gamer can articulate whether they like the game or not. I try to be a little frugal with entertainment and don’t want to buy a product I end up not enjoying.
Before youtube there were video game mags with reviewers. And no, they weren't blacklisted because they were a little too harsh on your poor little product. Everyone got the game. Reviews came out the same month. If your game isn't bad, then you were this thing called confident in your product...as opposed to confident in your marketing scheme.
I am glad you went into the distinction between journalist and influencer because the whole convo is so ridiculous. It's just absurd to act like it is some big integrity breach because every influencer with a youtube channel with thousands of subs doesn't get free advance copies of a game, that doesn't happen for ANY game and should not be the expectation.
The people claiming that there is a conspiracy because their favorite influencer didn’t get a free video game don’t seem to realize that there is a difference between being a journalist and just some guy on the internet. Most of those guys on the internet do not have more qualifications than I do to judge a game. That being the case, I’m perfectly capable of deciding for myself how good I think a game is.
@@beccangavin With respect most games journalists aren’t especially qualified to review video games either 😅 I think this argument starts to fail when you hear that a lot of people who were given a preview and were in any way critical then didn’t get a review copy. As someone who buys video games and watches reviews to decide if spending my money will be worth while I would like to listen to a range of opinions from different sources I trust and not just the once’s who have been green lit by the company trying to sell me the product.
@ I take game reviews from any source with a grain of salt. I am well aware that it is just some guy at IGN writing the review but the company that guy works for has an incentive to at least be reasonable or they face delegitimization. Influencers do not have the same set of incentives. They also aren’t due the same privileges. EA does not owe your favorite influencer a free copy of a video game so that they can make rage bait and get a fat paycheck for it. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s business.
I heard it was about trying to keep the leaks and spoilers to a minimum because they wouldnt have been able to control what others record and release before it gets out. The bigger the group they give codes to, the more risk basically
Wow. A person who has professional experience in something and talks about it, and you can actually learn something. Thanks for the very informative content.
So sad to see the state of the gaming community these days. This whole hoopla surrounding the DAV reviews has made me lose a lot of respect for a lot of 'reviewers'; not because they gave positive or negative reviews; but because it has exposed where a lot of them lie in this cesspool of BS. So sad to see; but at least it has made me come to appreciate others who I wouldn't otherwise have even bothered with.
Do you trust IGN and kotaku? Serious question. Because this is the same treatment the access media gave the rings of power, acolyte tv show, star wars outlaws, and concord.
@@mace7077 Trust? I haven't even checked their reviews in years. The only reason I would go the IGN's website is for their guides for certain games. And I haven't even bothered with Kotaku since Jason Schreirer left in 2020; since he was the only one I actually followed over there. I usually get my reviews from a select few 'influencers' that I trust; but would still canvas several more just to get the general gist of what's going on. Been doing that canvasing less and less the last couple of years because of the general BS going on. Labeling something as "woke" or crying about DEI is a straight deal breaker for me; the end.
I've unfollowed most gaming youtubers that I followed for years, as too many have just jumped on the "easy money" of political griftting. Anyone who will source grummz, a guy who sits and tweets all day about hoping (insert gaming company) fails or his obsession with that Kotaku reporter. It was wild to see the hate Mortismal Gaming has been getting for reviewing DA:V positive. The guy 100% the games he reviews, has never brought politics into a single review, but he suddenly became a "woke shill" for liking the new Dragon Age game? I've honestly come full circle at this point, where I now am going back to the old school "pro" reviewers. Outside of Mort and Slander I really distrust too many youtube reviewers who are doing things for 'easy culture war likes'...and well, we all know the dumpster fire that is Steam reviews.
Imagine being flown out and provided a first look at a game than complaining u didn't get a review code? Like isn't it enough that they flew you out and gave you a free trip?
The level of entitlement of these people is insane. That’s all I’ve taken away from this shit, almsit nothing about dragon age the game itself. These guys egos need a serious check.
Except it's not a free trip... They are providing the developers with publicity to an established follower community by covering their game (and getting to a point at which you have such a following takes a tremendous amount of time and effort). They are spending their time that they could use to cover another game or make money in any number of other ways. Why does that amount to ** Zero ** in your world?
I don’t like the whining of the content creators. Thank you for being a light in the dark and spreading the truth. I am at least happy that the game seems to do really well, being a top seller on PlayStation and third best selling game on steam right now.
It's crazy how you can make one comment on a video about the game, and it's a neutral comment, next thing I notice in 5 minutes I'm attacked with "shill" "DEI" and whatever new trigger words they just read about this year. I can't wait till it drops tomorrow so I can be off of youtube for a long stretch of time lol.
Indeed. All I wrote on the Steam forum that I like DA universe and very much look forward to playing this game. Suddenly I was called the whole bunch of names some of which I had to google since I really do not spend much time in the social media.)
Actually, it goes both ways. I mentioned in one group that i don't like the current character style. And the mob just went, so you are a bigot, a misogynist etc etc.
My general takeaway is that from a consumer decision making standpoint, we should look at influencers as marketing and that in general, their opinions on a product should be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, it’s hard to look at games journalists and even large publications because a lot of their content mirrors influencer culture or reports on topics started by influencers. The same is true with sports or other entertainment journalists, who don’t seem to operate with the standards you discussed. In general, it’s difficult to make a purchasing decision for video games based solely on the opinions of others, and generally, I tend to wait for reviews just to see if there is universal agreement that something is either good or bad about a product, but the individual reviews are a lot less influential. Some stuff, I’m getting no matter how it reviews because I know it appeals to me.
Exactly. Like Bioware products. I know, before I even play them, that I am going to love them, just as much as anything Fallout or Star Wars or Star Trek or Middle Earth.
@@Renfail I do kind of wish games journalism was more reliable in terms of feeling like something different from the influencers, but I guess that’s similar to wishing that the regular media wasn’t similar to social media. We’ve travelled too far down that road to see it change now without real public pressure that affects some bottom lines.
Also a lot of people don't really understand what is a critic. Critics and reviewers don't tell you what you should like and buy - even if some explicitely rank the games they review as "buy"/"don't buy" - they are giving you their impressions about a game they've played and it is ok if you don't agree with them. If they like a game and you didn't, it doesn't mean that you have bad tastes or that they are sellouts or stupid. As somebody who also follows books critics, an environment with "established" professionals who write for the press I'm well acustomed to reknown "specialists" in total disagreement with each other on the most fundamental level over a simple book. Both are cultured people who have read thousands of books but one will say that this book is trash and the other will say it's the novel of the year. And it's not a matter of who's the most "trustworthy", it's about who's the most useful in helping you making an informed decision. It is very important to not stop at just one review, even Skill Up whose video is currently beeing used as an objective and irrefutable proof that Veilguard sucks said himself that people should also check other reviews, especially positive ones to get a fuller picture and make a better informed decision. "You are the only reviewer I trust" is a something you'll read often in comments and I shake my head figuratively everytime I come across that one. It just shows how susceptible to suggestion they are. If you are looking for THE TRUTH when watching a review, you're in fact looking for a preacher.
These influencers don't get to have an opinion. That is the difference between a journalist and influencer. The whole system is so dishonest, it's hard to explain without being dishonest about it.
So sick of the tribal mentality surrounding games these days. It’s good to see an unbiased view so rare. I don’t bother with reviews anymore if a game interests me I will watch actual gameplay and if it gels with me I’ll get the game
just had a friend text me that after watching Skill up's review, he refunded the game. I am not doing the same. I just don't like letting someone else's opinion make my gaming decisions. Never have. It could be the worst piece of garbage to come out this year, or it could be enjoyable...but I will find out on my own
Yes, you should let the marketing machine make your decision for you, as opposed to the opinion of someone who is not invested in the end result of the product. Get hyped.
@@bobmcbobbington9220 SkillUp is a part of the marketing machine and he most definitely has something "This video brought to you by SurfShark! The number 1 VPN in the world!" to sell you whether it's paid sponsor ads, Patreon subs or merch store links. Any review that is trying to sell you something totally unrelated to the subject at hand isn't a review I would ever give much weight to.
@@kristofferkling9567 they’re not paying for good reviews, they’re just not going to pay someone to review a game if they think it’s going to be unfair or overtly negative
@@MrTarmacto I get what you're saying, but the problem is that they've already payed them. So basically, they try to buy all of them and only select to go forward with the ones who could be swayed by the money/gift or whatever. A bribe is not only considered when the other party accepts it, it's the initial move that does. The base I would argue for this and why I think it should fall under unfair play. The reason why these laws were introduced in the first place already 50 BC by the Romans is that big studios/publishers with huge pools of money should play under the same rules as small studios/publishers. The whole selection of them choosing certain influencers to get a review code is nothing I have anything against. It's the whole paying for them and bringing them to all these places and experiences at no cost. This is not something a small studio/publisher would be able to afford. Hens not fair play
Fortunately a majority of gamers (of which there are millions) are normal and dont engage with weird rage bait social media (those numbers fall in the thousands). This is a bizarre little bubble. Its just a shame i cant exclude certain channels from youtube search results
I can't recommend BlockTube enough, great add-on. Let's you block certain channels / videos, so they never show up on your recommended page or in your search results.
What's funny to me is that there is no proof of reviewers being paid or given a script to say great things about the game; folks are just going off WORDS alone. There were reviews that gave the game a 6 but people aren't looking at them because they want to prove there was some conspiracy. People who were positive about the game didn't get codes either. Now Asmon is back to say that the reviews are BS, knowing how big and crazy his fanbase is; I feel bad for anyone who enjoyed the game and gave it a good review.
@@Renfail Yeah, whatever makes the most money at the end. Now any positive creators are going to have targets on their backs because folks are going to believe in things that haven't been proven. I need to see a contract from EA telling folks what to do in those reviews and a check for me to believe them.
There are some really reasonable, rational reviews by RUclipsrs of various sizes who enjoyed the game. They explained why and also mention stuff that they didn’t like. Certain influencers who are trashing the game are being very selective in their “critique” and pulling elements of the game out of context. Like or dislike, at least play the whole game!
As a fellow old, where have you been the past few years in my RUclips viewing rotation! Glad I did find your channel because this was a great video, thoughtful, clear and well balanced and most importantly, and sadly severely lacking in games discourse, spoken from a wealth of experience instead of acting on emotions or stooping to hyperbole and hatefarming clicks for cash and Patreon subs. Even DigitalFoundry was getting called "paid shills" simply for praising the technical aspects of the PC version and only critiquing the technical side of the game. Gaming discourse is a sea of turds with a few pearls here and there floating in the muck. One of the things I think a lot of people are ignoring is how Bioware has always been progressive and inclusive regarding their games. Sometimes they haven't been the best but they've always championed diversity and been welcoming to all. I'm not surprised at all they'd skip certain RUclipsrs who are known for posting homophobic and transphobic content (Luke Stephens) or RUclipsrs (fextralife) who have a VERY LONG history of stealing content from lesser known creators and have been banned from gaming subreddits due to doxxing other creators and constantly posting false and wrong info on his wikis.
heheh critical mass :) I've been doing this for just over 2.5 years full time, but it takes time to get "big enough" for the content to get out there !
Fextralife also got caught inflating his Twitch Watch numbers via embedding his Twitch Channel into his wiki so anyone visiting the wiki for information would be counted as a Twitch viewer. Integrity is not a strong suit for him.
Was hoping for a video of Renfail on these last hours. A little bit of good vibes is needed because what a week we've had with so much hate going on before the big day. I need to step on Thedas already! thanks for all the follow up you've done and let's hope we all enjoy this moment after 10 years of waiting!😍
@@Renfail I don't think it's a conspiracy. It's just odd not to give a code to something like Fextralife with over 1M subscribers and a long history of Dragon Age Fandom. I said it was an interesting choice, not a conspiratorial choice.
honestly i have pretty much no stake in this but this was really refreshing and educational, i wish more people would create/watch content like this. thanks for the info!
Thank you Ren. Maybe it’s because I’ve worked in advertising and digital marketing for the last 10 years (although I am finally stepping away from it), but influencer marketing is so clear with regards its function and goals and how distinctly different it is from journalism (which I also had a stint in for a couple of years) that I am honestly so baffled at the fact that a lot of people seem to have zero idea how it all works. This last couple of days have been so baffling to me. Thank you for being a voice of reason as always ❤❤. And my greetings please to your lovely wife 😊. Can’t wait for the pink wig and some Veilguard streaming!!!
Thanks man :) I'd also say to check Bubbleonia's sticked / pinned comment as well as he has further insight into the journalism side of things and why it's important to distinguish journalism from PR/Influencer Marketing.
I was surprised that anyone thought it was an objective system. It's their last chance to have influence before the game is out in the world, and this is marketing we're talking about.
The channel blocker extension has been a godsend through this. Like I know this is the usual stuff that happens whenever a release hits, but my lord without it the search and recommendations have been the worst I've seen in a while
then judge it by looking at it lmao. people dont form these opinions for no reason, its because what they're looking at is a tragic abuse of an existing title.
I agree and dissagree with you, i just personally feel having both gaming journalist and influencers and having more information and opinions can be better than less, but the entitlement of demanding one i agree is bad but a company gaslighting creators that they will get one is just as bad so all in all my opinion is i wanna see the game played through and decide then weather its worth gettting, found your channel cause of new world and youve given some of the best new player guides that are up to date and more focused on new player perspective, so thank you and thank you for giving your imput about the situation its been a weird situation about DAV and just at this point want the game out so i can see the game truely
Talking a lot of sense, as always! I admit, when I first heard of this situation I didn't know a great deal about how this kind of thing worked, and it sounded a little fishy that some people didn't get a code. But one thing that always made perfect sense to me is that no one, regardless of who they are or how many followers they have, has a divine right to receive one. Anyway, this clears things up. Thanks!
I do really appreciate this breakdown. Generally speaking, i was aware of how this works but i guess im still surprised how some have handled the whole code situation, like you also seemed to be dealing with last video. Im getting the game anyway, and ill play it myself, and besides this video, ive cut off looking at anything else said on the matter until i play. And i hope for the best.
Speaking from a far smaller sector of influencer / review work, which I did from 2011-2014 on my book blog, I can vouch for what is being said here. When I did my own work, where I was reviewing something I paid for out of my pocket, I could say what I wanted, where I wanted, when I wanted. (My blog was "I Write, I Read, I Review") But when I was doing a review for an ARC, as part of a book launch tour, the protocol we tended to follow was that if we read a book and were rating it 3 - 5 stars we posted our review along with whatever other material we'd received from an author / the tour in question. If something was going to be a 1 or a 2 we were asked to release that two weeks after the tour's end date.
Helpful video. Especially the distinction between the expectations of “journalists” (used loosely) and that of curated influencers. Everyone is free to approach this how they want, but for me this necessarily means that I should give more credence to “negative” reviews than to positive ones when done by “influencers” who’ve received anything at all for “free”. I already do that naturally but this video only further validates that approach. This doesn’t mean that positive reviews can’t be legit or are “shills” but logically it means that the negative review is more likely to be earnest given the expectations all around…
I can understand why a company would not give someone a review code after talking bad about your product. Should you give them a review code and say try it and find out for yourself or not and say that’s fair? You can’t be impartial if you’ve already made up your mind.
This is a good summary. It is important to recognize that influencers are not journalists. Companies are certainly going to pre-select influencers who they think are inclined to be positive - why wouldn't they? Also, it is important to recognize the conflict between the access and freebies the influences are given and any intention they may have to be fair and reasonably objective, especially if they become critical of the game after playing it to completion. Some influences are clearly making an effort to be impartial despite these conflicts, where others likely want to retain access and will go soft on criticism. As for the companies, I think it would help their reputations going forward if they continue to work with influencers who have been critical but constructive and fair, but I can understand that they might not want to do so. Another of my hobbies is collecting booze. I see similar situations at play in the whisky community on RUclips. When distilleries put out new releases, it isn't at all unusual for them to send samples to whisky influencers on RUclips, and some of these influencers are given a great deal of industry access, including distillery tours and even the opportunity to select single barrels from which they can offer bottles to their audience. (I recently bought one of these bottles from an influencer whose taste preferences align well with mine and which comes from a distillery and independent bottler that I generally like.) It does make the audience wonder about conflicts of interest. There are a few influencers (Ralfy immediately comes to mind) who make a point of buying everything they review and not accepting samples from the industry. I can respect this, as it at least gives the appearance of impartiality, but of course, their personal preferences are going to feed into their reviews. Similarly, there are video game influencers who don't have industry connections and access to early review codes. In some cases, there are good and sound reasons for this lack of access (i.e. the hate mongers), but anyone in this category who gives well reasoned and thoughtful reviews is likely worth listening to after the game launches and they have had sufficient time to experience the game. The conclusion we can draw here is that there is a high likelihood of collective positive bias in early reviews. We have seen this before (i.e. Starfield, where the post-launch average trended downward into mixed territory over time, though the situation there is complicated by the hate mongers). This is one reason why I like to wait for a while after launch, especially when I'm on the fence about a game, as I am about Veilguard and was about Starfield. In the pre-launch period, there is not sufficient information for me to determine whether the game is going to be for me, though (as I describe in the next paragraph) I am finding ways to glean useful information, and I'm tentatively moving toward the positive side of the fence. An analogy that I find useful here is the concept of signal-to-noise ratio, a concept that comes from the telecommunications industry. In any communication system, there is noise, and for the communication to go through without significant errors, the signal level has to be sufficiently above the noise floor in order for it to be received. In video game discourse surrounding games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Starfield, it is wise to recognize that the noise floor is high. A great deal of noise is contributed by malcontents and grifters who are primed to hate anything and everything that doesn't cater exclusively to them. It can also be argued that noise is contributed by uncritical fans who are overjoyed to get even a mediocre product in their favorite franchise. The signal comes from people who, whether they have a positive or negative impression of the game, provide detailed information and intelligent justifications for their opinions. As in telecommunications systems, there are ways to filter out some of the noise. By selectively paying attention to those influencers and reviewers who provide valuable information, we can reduce the noise floor and come to reasonable tentative conclusions even in a situation where there is a positive or negative collective bias. Ultimately, the strongest signal will come from experiencing the game for ourselves, but many of us do not want to spend the money until we have determined that the probability is high that we will enjoy it, so we must rely on information that comes from the noisy world of video game discourse.
I wish everyone could see this video! Thank you for your perspective and clearing the air on the topic. Im literally counting the minutes until i can play Veilguard!
Everything you're saying here is business 101. I've been mentioning over and over again that part of project management is communications management and what you just outlined is just that. Why would you bring someone in to trash your multimillion dollar project?
We understand why businesses do it but that doesn’t mean it’s just and healthy for the industry. Gaming ‘journalism’ in my opinion is becoming harder to successfully achieve and stay non biased when companies are clearly going to gate keep and favour people in the industry that will praise them regardless of the content produced. How does one succeed and stamp the pay check for their full time job if they are always last to review a game because they couldn’t obtain a code? I understand what you are saying and if everyone obtained a copy of the game at the same time to review it then I wouldn’t see an issue. However that’s not the case and more people are turning away from honest journalism to ‘content creator’ as they know they be allowed access to games early. Also what you said earlier about the gatekeeping/conspiracy not being true because people like Skillup were given a code and still gave it a negative review doesn’t really add up as they initially gave it a positive preview, so you can see why EA took the gamble on them.
@@Renfail Agree I wouldn’t go as far as conspiracy, as you said it’s just business. However it’s a business practice I don’t agree with. Games are not meant to be liked by everyone, which is why they have their own unique audiences. With that in mind companies should be more transparent and face the music rather than create distrust. With some of the releases in the industry the last few years you can completely understand why the consumer may not trust the product and gatekeeping your reviews, so that they are mostly positive doesn’t help the situation.
Most people don't, as it's not something I go around talking about all the time :) I'm also a sci-fi and fantasy author, I had a construction company during my 20s, and grew up on a dairy farm =P
As a consumer I've never gotten value out of a "reviewer" getting an early copy of the game. If someone is on the fence particularly for a single player RPG, theres no need to get it day one. Watch reviews and see what people think after the game has been out. These big channels are trying to turn this into some gaming industry scandal just because they aren't getting clicks for their day one review. Most of the honest and accurate reviews ive seen come after a game has been released for a few weeks anyway.
What really confuses me is how can these marketing campaigns be legal according to global laws of fair trade and code of conduct? In the global company I work for we can basically offer a customer a standard dinner with one, maybe two glasses of wine. If we have an event our customers pay for their own flights and Hotel rooms. Anything else could be considered a bribe. And we are not speaking of state owned companies och politically sensitive ones. Very strange how this can be done openly without any consequences
@@Renfail hmm... alright. Do you mean that the publisher have to clearly ask the influencer for something in return, such as a positive review, which would be the case in this example?
Outsider opinions are important in all media but not guaranteed and def not owed to anyone, if you're going to be an outsider than accept its limitations and work around them. The good news tho from all this is by me trying to avoid the toxic and conspiracy minded channels i found you and Slandered, feels way more like "my ppl" sensible and logical. tyvm
I was wanting to buy a (certain brand) reciprocating saw, and the brand has gotten a lot of hate in the past, so I was cautious. I went on youtube and found videos put out the company itself, (direct marketing), videos put out by the big box store that wanted me to buy the thing (retail marketing), videos put out by influencers who test stuff and put themselves out there as "Consumer advocates" and videos from just random people who bought one and put up a video about it. Obviously the first two are open about their marketing, and the consumer advocate ones would variously say "I bought this with my one money and I'm not being paid", "I was sent this one free as a review sample, but I am going to be as objective as I can but I'm just being transparent". The random people videos were all like "I bought this with my own money and nobody's giving me anything", like that. I find each of those to be valuable perspectives, but I am an aware consumer. It helped me make the decision.
I want to preface this by saying I love Slandered Gaming, as what I'm ahout to say isn't hate at all. I just think he might have not fully considered things outside of what he reacted to. I think his live was amazing, I was there. He has good points. But unless I'm wrong, he did seem to think that if you go to an event, like trying out a game, that means you are promised a code. Now idk if if there were verbal confirmation that theyre guaranteed a code during the event, I personally doubt that. But in terms of going to an event I disagree that they have to or eveh should give you a code. We don't know what went on behind the scenes, perhaps those at the event were rude or acted in a way that was not professional. If that is the case, regardless of promises made or not, it is understandable that Bioware could change their mind. It's also true that if it's not in a contract, the company does not have to do anything.
I’m currently playing Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest waiting for Veilguard. I grew up in the NES era. That’s one thing I miss. As a kid, I’d try playing something. If I liked it, great! If not, I tried something else. I’d take my friends’ opinions, but I didn’t need someone to tell me if a game was good or not. It’s good to speak with like-minded people, sure, but it almost feels like we’re slowly losing our ability to think for ourselves.
An awful lot of these game "content providers" seem to be of the opinion that they, and their opinions are more important than the actual game. Their click bait hunt for views is part and parcel of the way you tube has monetised aggression.
@Renfail another excellent video. I have a far less positive view of journalism than most as I was a Public Information Officer (PIO) for a big city Public Safety agency. Trust is earned certainly as is factual reporting. Let me give you example. There is a content creator Werglia who gave it 0 out of 10 review…but it doesn’t look like he played the game. It’s based on his biases and anti-woke ideology. This is not “ reporting” and people wonder why access codes are limited. The internet isn’t facts based, never has been. Covid proved that once and for all. Now certainly game opinions are more innocuous than lying about Public Health facts, but people’s livelihood is on the line. Just my two cents. Sometimes it’s important to remember we are talking about entertainment
I mean, if you look at what WolheartFPS and Fextralife actually said, they weren't alleging some grand conspiracy theory. What they were saying was...basically what you were saying in this video.
@Renfail Well, shit, you've got me there. I've only played 3 of their previous games, which is probably insufficient to make me a "true" fan. Now, please explain to me how that invalidates anything I said.
Super interesting peak into this part of the industry. Helps put things into perspective. I had watched one of those influencers’ video and I can see both sides of the argument more clearly now.
Then there are creators like MrMattyPlays. It seemed to me that he did a real scumbag move in that he was all smiley and friendly towards Corrine Busche during her interview, but then he turned around and stabbed her in the back. If he wasn't blacklisted already, that's not going to help. I also know the games he likes and I'm pretty sure he would like Veilguard if left to it's own devices. But he calculated that stabbing Corrine in the back and coming out with a very negative review would get him more clicks.
The whole leaked screenshots trailing back to him is not helping his cause either. Especially as the 'friend of a friend of a friend of his editor' is a colossal racist POS.
You know the leak that was being posted around a few days before the embargo lifted? The Custom Rook in those images were MrMattyPlays' Rook. Yeah, he broke his NDA. I'd be surprised if any Game Studio will send him early review codes after that.
I believe you may have made this video based on my comment yesterday in your other video, so I’ll just say this: While I understand what you’re trying to say here, there were way too many large audience influencers/creators that I know of who checked all the boxes with regard to attending the event, making a video that said pretty much 90-95% positive things about the game and anything not positive was talked about in a very constructive, professional way and yet they were left off the list in favor of several other folks who have stated in the past that they either didn’t like or really care for past Dragon Age games. It just doesn’t make any sense . Ultimately it was their decision and so, whatever sales they stand to lose on it is of their own making but it just seemed really short-sighted, in my opinion. I have previous adjacent experience working in the games/toys/comics industry, which as you probably know oftentimes crosses over into video game licensing and such, so while I can’t say I’ve lived and breathed marketing practices in video games, I understand the importance and subtle nature of getting it right in a volatile market. Nevertheless, I’ll be picking up my copy of the game tomorrow and hopefully, enjoying it as much I think I’m going to!
Thank you for this educational video. Their claims already sounded ridiculous to me by the virtue of common sense but thought maybe what they claim as their right is a common practice nevertheless. Now I've learned that's not the case and the companies have the sense to not pay people to use their game as a material for their cultural war...obviously 😅
I worked for a bigger publisher and mags in Europe few years ago. Even 20 years ago the big publishers tried to influence the reviewer by providing press kits with high value. Today it's the same with few differences. You still have press kits, take for silent hill remake, but you are much more dependend on the BIGGER publisher. So the reviewer knows the expectations of his employer AND the publisher. If you don't provide a good review you might miss future review copies send by the publisher or/and exclusive interviews, trips to events, goodies etc. because the publisher has much more options to pick who gets a review copy nowadays. 20 years ago the options were 3-5 mags so the dependency was much more on the publisher side. I am strickly referring to bigger publishers. The reality is: EA was looking for reviewers who are most likely going to review the game positive based on their previews, posts, political view etc.. You can't avoid any negative or average review score but increase the chances for higher meta score. This has nothing to do with EA or the game specifically but are common tactics in the publisher gaming industry. Yes, I am speaking from my experience.
@@Renfail I am not going to provide any personal information but I think ignoring press kits shows that you are not really interested in any truth how publishers work when it comes to providing review codes. Your claim "Low rating = proof the claim was wrong" is incorrect. Take for example gamespot. They posted a positive preview but gave an average rating or VGC same positive review and average rating. Some bigger well known youtubers who weren't so positive in their preview didn't get any copy. On the other hand a smaller less known site which supports transgender people (stevivor) got a review copy. Yes politcal views play a role. Yes, bigger sites like IGN will get a copy in any case because they work hand in hand and they know how the spiel works. There is always a risk for the publisher not getting the review score they aim for BUT they can decrease the risk by excluding reviewers who aren't that positive or don't share the same political views. For example Luke Stepehns who contacted and asked them many times for a review copy.
Hello Renfail. What im about to say here is simply my opinion. I enjoy your content, truly i do, so i want to be careful what i say here because i dont want to get banned. Im an old school gamer, i started on an NES and a 486DX pc way back. So ive been a gamer and collector most of my life. Im a HUGE fan of this series from Origins up to Inquisition (yes, i enjoy DA2 and Inquisition). My issue is wheni see transgender and identity politics in a game for me personally it feels like socio political signaling which immediatley makes the game bad to me personally in my eyes. Im not trying to take anyones fun away who wants to play this and buy it, i hope people like it. But for me these journalists/youtubers/grifters/whatever showed that identity/transgender text plus the graphics and it basically made my mind up. Much respect to you, your channel is awesome. And i do believe you about your previous job, thank you for sharing that.
EVERY single Bioware game has had queer representation in them, so if you claim to be a fan of the HUGE FAN of the series, you are willingly and willfully ignoring past characters in the franchise
very interresting. I still wonders. What is the line between influencer and journalist ? If a channel is about reviewing video games, all sorts of video games and they clearly advertive their doing as "giving non bias review as if they were journalist" is this not fair to treat them as journalist and not influencer ? In this drangon age case, it seems Bioware and some chanel runners have simply not the same view about who is a influencer and who is conducting a real journalism process. Who is right ?
There are VERY FIRM RULES about what defines actual journalism. Any form of compensation, be it a code, a key, a flight, a hotel, are absolutely NOT ALLOWED if you are doing actual journalistic coverage. There is a huge difference between investigative journalism and influencer marketing campaigns and reviewing video games.
@@Renfail then, video game journalism does not exist ? Because I don't know video games magazines or internet site who don't get that sort of compensation in order to be able de cover videogame releases ?
I would like to say that I like your content for New World and Dragons dogma 2 and you come out to be a nice guy overall. I can have similar opinions with you there. But Dragon age Veilguard…I’m sorry but we don’t see eye to eye on this one. I wish I could be excited about it like you. But the footage I’ve seen is so deeply out of touch of what dragon age was. I feel that it’s not going to go well for BioWare, that just my opinion. after you explanation about the marketing it makes it seem like what you’re saying is EA and BioWare purposely want great reviews so they picked and choose who they think was best for that. Which makes it seem biased towards the rest of us who want to see reviews that come from someone who might subjectively have their own opinions and criticizing what flaws the games has, it’s exactly why millions of people don’t trust mainstream media anymore and the early reviews no one cares about because they don’t seem like real reviews from honest people. It would have just been better if everyone got the game at the same time to make reviews look more legit, but most of us know better than to trust people like IGN anyway. All you got to do is look at the dislikes on the veilguard review.
I agree. Although people aren't entitled to review codes, however it is not absurd in suggesting that they denied access to anyone who was even slightly critical in the initial preview. It is also well known that execs get bonuses depending on the games overall ratings. Also I would say there are a myriad of reasons why this dragon age is not great and can be explained throughly, but as to reasons on why it is great, positives reviews seem to just state that. Dragon age has always been my favorite rpg franchise since origins. So I would like to give it a shot, but I'm scared it's just going to leave a sour taste in my mouth similar to cyberpunk 2077 when all the initial reviews were glowing, but the reality was a dumpster fire.
Bravo! Good job explaining to children what is what, there's so much hate and negativity out there surrounding games and it has become a standard that many so called content creators serve the purpose just to deliberately destroy years and years of hard game development with out even thinking about how many life's r involved all of that. Peoples r loosing jobs just like that couse it's easy to criticise and hate every one and every thing in gaming industry! Thx God there r people like u standing in between spreading the truth and honesty!
Disagree with the digital codes, it's an infinite market not like physical copies used to be. They can create more codes with the click of a button. Totally agree though, the problem with shill access media is people get confused with the differentiation. RUclipsrs/influencers are not journalists and therefore can be pandering to the provider of the access as independents. However the problem is the vast majority of journalists who are supposed to be unbiased, are incredibly biased. This game netted some 100% scores, no game is a 10/10, very few at best a 9. It's clearly hogwash. They even emulate the exact same copy/paste talking points (a return to form for bioware). Hot take = this game's writing and story is going to have nothing on ANY OTHER bioware game, save anthem or Andromeda (i actually liked andromeda). I feel like someone is going to be hardpressed when the media reviews age like milk and they have to compare this to dragon age origins or mass effect 2. Also when fextralife doesn't get a code because they were slightly more critical, who has never not gotten a code, it's not conspiracy, its clear bias. Especially when a random person pretending to be nonbinary got a code at a request, let's be real and call a spade a spade at least. Love your lotro content, and it's awesome to hear abit of your story on how you got to where you are, thats actually awesome. Traveling and getting paid sounds like you and your wife had a really good gig. It's really cool to see people a little older thriving in the free media and getting to do what they love. We need more age groups represented especially in gaming. I wish you all the best in your future and hope you have a great and fulfilling life.
I have quite a few games that are 10/10. RDR2, BG3, Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 with the Phantom Liberty DLC as examples. And yes, traveling for a living was an awesome gig. But no, there is no conspiracy going on, and until you play the game you have ZERO proof of the game being uncomparable to ME2 or DAO. That's your own bias at play.
What about reviewers from legacy media (IGN, Eurogamer or similar outlets) receiving "scripts" for their reviews? There's screenshots circulating, of snippets of many (10+) of those Veilguard reviews, where certain phrases are absolutely identical. BTW, i asked this in another YT gaming channel that did a very uncritical review of the game, and my question was promptly deleted. Multiple times.
So who are we supposed to rely on for truthful reviews then? Understand corps will want to mold public opinion. But there's also a clear divide between what legacy game journalists think of games, and what actual gamers think of games. You can routinely see this divide on critic vs user scores. I mean i guess we can just wait a few weeks, or month, after games release. But by that time there SO many spoilers, guides, etc, it's hard to avoid it all.
I want to jump here and add my 2-coppers from the POV of a journalist. As Renfail rightly pointed out, content creators and PR/influencer marketers are not journalists. Journalists are expected to act according to a code of ethics best summarized, IMO, by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) code of ethics, which include:
(1) Seek truth and report it, which includes accuracy, context, and clear identification of sources. Speed and format do not excuse any violation of these principals. (2) Minimize harm, for example - recognition that private people have a greater right to privacy than public figures and avoiding pandering to lurid curiosity - even if others do not. (3) Act independently, meaning you MUST refuse gifts, favors, free travel or special treatment. Further, a journalist avoids outside political activities or activism which compromise integrity and impartiality. Finally, a journalist MUST distinguish news from advertising, and prominently label ALL sponsored content.
I've separated (4) because it deserves special attention. A journalist must be accountable and transparent. They should explain any ethical choices and processes to the audience, respond quickly to questions of accuracy or fairness, acknowledge their mistakes and correct them promptly. A journalist has a responsibility to expose unethical conduct in journalism, including within their own organizations.
In short, journalism is not PR/influencer marketing, regardless of whether their publishing takes place in print, online or some hybrid of both. None of these guidelines have modified by the reality of the 24-hour news cycle, or the need for clicks, or advertising. Anyone who argues otherwise is an entertainer posing as a journalist and should be treated accordingly.
Pinning this!
@@BubbleoniaRising ign, eurogamer are journalist and they do not ignore outside politics, they include in their reviews....
@@ChampagneOppa The SPJ code of ethics isn't a law, it's a perspective. Whether or not you can name specific examples one way or another, it exists as a guideline for understanding ethics in journalism. Make of that what you will and act accordingly.
The takeaway here, and it applies well beyond the games space, is that journalists are few and far between in our current society, and I’m hard pressed to describe almost any entertainment coverage as journalism.
a really interesting read this. thanks for the insight. Really reinforces my opinion of how influencers can be so downright dangerous when often they are seeming to be too opinionated. it's fine to have opinions, not saying you can't. but i've found more often than not in a lot of influencers cases they take you away from the facts, provide their opinions a bit too much trying to persuade you towards one extreme or other. too many times i have seen people take influencers words as gospel, and that really can be dangerous. prime examples can be found all over the media & general politics. but i wont get too much into that as this isnt the time or place for a political debate. My point as stated above influencers are not journalists. ultimately the sad aprt is they have no real obligation to the truth, just whatever gets them the most views to embolden their own revenue. another reason why i like & enjoy this channel so much. you dont act as an influencer, like you've said before you're more of a content creator to play & enjoy games together, and the world could quite honestly use more like you to drown out these influencers that are only in it for themselves
One of the larger issues we face with RUclips - indeed, most forms of social media... is that the algorithm rewards interaction.
Then factor in how much humans loooove to hate and be angry/indignant and you've got the perfect recipe for the sea of rage farming that we cannot seem to escape.
It's so tempting to engage with it, but way better in the long run to ignore them and not give them what they want.
Exactly this
"Not interested" and "Do not recommend from this channel" have been my friends these months. 😆
@@ookami-chan3328 💯 😂
when a video with 2m views gets recommended to me, I almost always know what's going to be. These days I try to watch and follow only content creators like Renfail, people who I trust and have been watching for a long time.
@KingslayerSrb I have a small number that I trust too. We have to filter so much rubbish, it's required for our own sanity to avoid the BS
It's such a pleasure to listen to a grown man talking rationally, in a polite and sensible tone, with actual know-how, making clear and actual experience-based arguments. That's what's missing among influencers.
Thanks
Thank you for breaking this down. These influencers display little to no professionalism as they insult a company brand and franchise, while thinking they are professionals because they don't insult any individuals by name and expect "free" products to review. Not subbed to any of them as they made click bait video after video leading up to the Veilguard release. More confusing is some will still buy the game and upload playthroughs. This game was going to be a live service game in its beginning , and for Bioware to bring it back to single player alone has my praise. It's sad that there are influencers who will try and demonize the Veilguard while being ok with live service single player games with $40 expansions like Diablo 4 and the battle passes / cosmetic stores that will be attached to even games like Tekken after the reviews are out via update. Some have gone as far to defend Anthem and promote that tech demo Dragon's Dogma 2. Unbelievable!
There's a lot of nuance that is lost in the online conversation
Influencer life cycle:
1.) Find new game
2.) Like new game
3.) Notice new game isn't perfect
4.) Start to exclusively focus on other flaws or personal misgivings
5.) Develop and promote rage content view cycle until release
6.) The game releases: If good, go into denial and force negativity until you can flip people's views. If bad or even remotely flawed, take it as a form of validation. Keep promoting ragebait.
7.) Get studio shutdown
8.) Find new game to tear apart
9.) Years later, come back with yet another video claiming "maybe we were too hard on XYZ."
10.) Repeat.
awesome breakdown :)
@@StoneAgeWarfare "... force negativity until you can flip people's views..."
It's shocking to me that anyone could even sustain the thought that content creators have the power to actually change people's inherent opinions on anything at all, let alone to the point of making people who would enjoy a game reject that same game so much that a studio gets shut down.
This is a deep, deep delusion.
Can you think of even just one example where an objectively good game was embraced and then mass rejected because of 'rage bait'? I'd honestly love to know.
Damn this guy gets it. Wonder what’s gonna happen after these dudes celebrate the last studios shutting down (it’s always been ducked up to cheer on other’s unemployment like that) and they realize they have no new content to make anymore.
@@FlexLUTHORdevasmon with millions of sheep's. Deciding to run around everywhere to trash a game and you say the influencer does not have any powers? Cult behavior by the followers.
Especially the americans have a risk of falling g down into the rabbit hole of bullshit. No offense to americans but most of conspiracies comes from America. Americans have a big impact on gaming market. Is what I think
@@FlexLUTHORdev They do. All they have to do is repeatedly hammer home certain points everyday and their fanbase will take it as gospel. If you actually step out of line, you're socially punished for thinking for yourself or straying from the popular opinion in those communities.
Also, yes. Cyberpunk was highly hated despite still being the same exact game a year later with less bugs.
I bought the game and ready to jump in and judge for my self like all people should it how it used to be before youtube
Have fun!
I didn’t buy the game because too often have I been burned in the past by big game companies, including BioWare. I will wait until many many review channels tell me their thoughts and show me what they see and the average gamer can articulate whether they like the game or not. I try to be a little frugal with entertainment and don’t want to buy a product I end up not enjoying.
That all of the industry nowadays every game like playing the lottery
Before youtube there were video game mags with reviewers. And no, they weren't blacklisted because they were a little too harsh on your poor little product. Everyone got the game. Reviews came out the same month. If your game isn't bad, then you were this thing called confident in your product...as opposed to confident in your marketing scheme.
Well said, people complaining about youtubers opinions and free speech and then say they believe IGN 🤣
I am glad you went into the distinction between journalist and influencer because the whole convo is so ridiculous. It's just absurd to act like it is some big integrity breach because every influencer with a youtube channel with thousands of subs doesn't get free advance copies of a game, that doesn't happen for ANY game and should not be the expectation.
Exactly this :)
I am impressed by this video and the calmness of your tone, which clashes with many recent videos.
That's why you gotta pay attention =P We keep things pretty low key around here
Appreciate your informed and reasoned opinion. Looking forward to your thoughts on the game.
Soon
The people claiming that there is a conspiracy because their favorite influencer didn’t get a free video game don’t seem to realize that there is a difference between being a journalist and just some guy on the internet. Most of those guys on the internet do not have more qualifications than I do to judge a game. That being the case, I’m perfectly capable of deciding for myself how good I think a game is.
Everyone is capable of just that :)
@@beccangavin With respect most games journalists aren’t especially qualified to review video games either 😅 I think this argument starts to fail when you hear that a lot of people who were given a preview and were in any way critical then didn’t get a review copy. As someone who buys video games and watches reviews to decide if spending my money will be worth while I would like to listen to a range of opinions from different sources I trust and not just the once’s who have been green lit by the company trying to sell me the product.
@ I take game reviews from any source with a grain of salt. I am well aware that it is just some guy at IGN writing the review but the company that guy works for has an incentive to at least be reasonable or they face delegitimization. Influencers do not have the same set of incentives. They also aren’t due the same privileges. EA does not owe your favorite influencer a free copy of a video game so that they can make rage bait and get a fat paycheck for it. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s business.
@@beccangavin IGN may not be the best example you could give, I rate this comment a 7/10 😂
So if you're "deciding for yourself" then you're already buying the product.
I am happy someone is saying this. This is just the cooperate world, you try for the best positive result, its just common sense.
It's marketing 101.
Enjoy the game!
There is no real conspiracy, but gaming journalism isn't a reliable source of reviews either.
Yes and no; depends on the outlet!
Why gaming journalism reviews would be any worse than youtuber reviews? I do not unterstand reason of your statement.
I heard it was about trying to keep the leaks and spoilers to a minimum because they wouldnt have been able to control what others record and release before it gets out. The bigger the group they give codes to, the more risk basically
It's a consideration to be sure.
It happened already with Mattyplays but it seems some person who his editor knows or don't did the leaks.
Wow. A person who has professional experience in something and talks about it, and you can actually learn something. Thanks for the very informative content.
My pleasure!
So sad to see the state of the gaming community these days. This whole hoopla surrounding the DAV reviews has made me lose a lot of respect for a lot of 'reviewers'; not because they gave positive or negative reviews; but because it has exposed where a lot of them lie in this cesspool of BS. So sad to see; but at least it has made me come to appreciate others who I wouldn't otherwise have even bothered with.
A lot of "influencers" can get egos due to the preferential treatment over time, and it's a sticky thing to avoid.
Do you trust IGN and kotaku? Serious question. Because this is the same treatment the access media gave the rings of power, acolyte tv show, star wars outlaws, and concord.
@@mace7077 Trust? I haven't even checked their reviews in years. The only reason I would go the IGN's website is for their guides for certain games. And I haven't even bothered with Kotaku since Jason Schreirer left in 2020; since he was the only one I actually followed over there.
I usually get my reviews from a select few 'influencers' that I trust; but would still canvas several more just to get the general gist of what's going on. Been doing that canvasing less and less the last couple of years because of the general BS going on. Labeling something as "woke" or crying about DEI is a straight deal breaker for me; the end.
Yeah it's sad how these publications are allowed to lie to consumers
@@Serek2000 Zero lies. Your premise is rejected and proven false.
Take a follow just for being rational, and not hating the game because of it includes social commentary which upsets you
Cheers!
Can't wait to play it. Thank you, my friend 🫡
You're welcome! :)
I've unfollowed most gaming youtubers that I followed for years, as too many have just jumped on the "easy money" of political griftting. Anyone who will source grummz, a guy who sits and tweets all day about hoping (insert gaming company) fails or his obsession with that Kotaku reporter.
It was wild to see the hate Mortismal Gaming has been getting for reviewing DA:V positive. The guy 100% the games he reviews, has never brought politics into a single review, but he suddenly became a "woke shill" for liking the new Dragon Age game?
I've honestly come full circle at this point, where I now am going back to the old school "pro" reviewers. Outside of Mort and Slander I really distrust too many youtube reviewers who are doing things for 'easy culture war likes'...and well, we all know the dumpster fire that is Steam reviews.
Yeah it's crazy
Imagine being flown out and provided a first look at a game than complaining u didn't get a review code? Like isn't it enough that they flew you out and gave you a free trip?
Exactly this :)
The level of entitlement of these people is insane. That’s all I’ve taken away from this shit, almsit nothing about dragon age the game itself.
These guys egos need a serious check.
Except it's not a free trip...
They are providing the developers with publicity to an established follower community by covering their game (and getting to a point at which you have such a following takes a tremendous amount of time and effort).
They are spending their time that they could use to cover another game or make money in any number of other ways.
Why does that amount to ** Zero ** in your world?
wow great video. Opened my eyes to some of the innerworkings of the industry I had no idea about.
Glad it was helpful!
I don’t like the whining of the content creators. Thank you for being a light in the dark and spreading the truth. I am at least happy that the game seems to do really well, being a top seller on PlayStation and third best selling game on steam right now.
Indeed! And thanks
it´s going to bomb, just wait for the real reviews haha
I could have listened to that for another 10 hours. Thanks for sharing. I preordered my copy and im looking forward to playing Dragon Age.
Glad to be of service!
It's crazy how you can make one comment on a video about the game, and it's a neutral comment, next thing I notice in 5 minutes I'm attacked with "shill" "DEI" and whatever new trigger words they just read about this year.
I can't wait till it drops tomorrow so I can be off of youtube for a long stretch of time lol.
lol yep!
Indeed. All I wrote on the Steam forum that I like DA universe and very much look forward to playing this game. Suddenly I was called the whole bunch of names some of which I had to google since I really do not spend much time in the social media.)
@@MarikaStarflower It's a minefield out there :) Go forth, play the game, and be good to each other!
Actually, it goes both ways. I mentioned in one group that i don't like the current character style. And the mob just went, so you are a bigot, a misogynist etc etc.
@@Sqygaming yes, it is sad the people can't have a civilized conversation without going berserk immediately.
My general takeaway is that from a consumer decision making standpoint, we should look at influencers as marketing and that in general, their opinions on a product should be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, it’s hard to look at games journalists and even large publications because a lot of their content mirrors influencer culture or reports on topics started by influencers. The same is true with sports or other entertainment journalists, who don’t seem to operate with the standards you discussed.
In general, it’s difficult to make a purchasing decision for video games based solely on the opinions of others, and generally, I tend to wait for reviews just to see if there is universal agreement that something is either good or bad about a product, but the individual reviews are a lot less influential. Some stuff, I’m getting no matter how it reviews because I know it appeals to me.
Exactly. Like Bioware products. I know, before I even play them, that I am going to love them, just as much as anything Fallout or Star Wars or Star Trek or Middle Earth.
@@Renfail I do kind of wish games journalism was more reliable in terms of feeling like something different from the influencers, but I guess that’s similar to wishing that the regular media wasn’t similar to social media. We’ve travelled too far down that road to see it change now without real public pressure that affects some bottom lines.
Also a lot of people don't really understand what is a critic. Critics and reviewers don't tell you what you should like and buy - even if some explicitely rank the games they review as "buy"/"don't buy" - they are giving you their impressions about a game they've played and it is ok if you don't agree with them. If they like a game and you didn't, it doesn't mean that you have bad tastes or that they are sellouts or stupid.
As somebody who also follows books critics, an environment with "established" professionals who write for the press I'm well acustomed to reknown "specialists" in total disagreement with each other on the most fundamental level over a simple book. Both are cultured people who have read thousands of books but one will say that this book is trash and the other will say it's the novel of the year. And it's not a matter of who's the most "trustworthy", it's about who's the most useful in helping you making an informed decision. It is very important to not stop at just one review, even Skill Up whose video is currently beeing used as an objective and irrefutable proof that Veilguard sucks said himself that people should also check other reviews, especially positive ones to get a fuller picture and make a better informed decision.
"You are the only reviewer I trust" is a something you'll read often in comments and I shake my head figuratively everytime I come across that one. It just shows how susceptible to suggestion they are. If you are looking for THE TRUTH when watching a review, you're in fact looking for a preacher.
These influencers don't get to have an opinion. That is the difference between a journalist and influencer. The whole system is so dishonest, it's hard to explain without being dishonest about it.
thank you for sharing, renfail! see you in VG soon!
See you there!
So sick of the tribal mentality surrounding games these days. It’s good to see an unbiased view so rare. I don’t bother with reviews anymore if a game interests me I will watch actual gameplay and if it gels with me I’ll get the game
That's the best way to approach it.
just had a friend text me that after watching Skill up's review, he refunded the game. I am not doing the same. I just don't like letting someone else's opinion make my gaming decisions. Never have. It could be the worst piece of garbage to come out this year, or it could be enjoyable...but I will find out on my own
Make up your own mind :)
Yes, you should let the marketing machine make your decision for you, as opposed to the opinion of someone who is not invested in the end result of the product. Get hyped.
@@bobmcbobbington9220 his video has 2m views. He is invested in general. Without the game and the controversy around it, he wouldn't make any money.
@@bobmcbobbington9220 SkillUp is a part of the marketing machine and he most definitely has something "This video brought to you by SurfShark! The number 1 VPN in the world!" to sell you whether it's paid sponsor ads, Patreon subs or merch store links. Any review that is trying to sell you something totally unrelated to the subject at hand isn't a review I would ever give much weight to.
Lol. You are such a big dk winner!
Why on earth would a company PAY you to trash their game?!? These influencers have lost their marbles:)
In many cases, yes, influencers can get a little "too big for their britches" because of the echo chamber of having large social followings.
But these influencers can be considered registered companies. How can this not fall under bribing?
@@kristofferkling9567 they’re not paying for good reviews, they’re just not going to pay someone to review a game if they think it’s going to be unfair or overtly negative
@@MrTarmacto I get what you're saying, but the problem is that they've already payed them. So basically, they try to buy all of them and only select to go forward with the ones who could be swayed by the money/gift or whatever. A bribe is not only considered when the other party accepts it, it's the initial move that does. The base I would argue for this and why I think it should fall under unfair play. The reason why these laws were introduced in the first place already 50 BC by the Romans is that big studios/publishers with huge pools of money should play under the same rules as small studios/publishers. The whole selection of them choosing certain influencers to get a review code is nothing I have anything against. It's the whole paying for them and bringing them to all these places and experiences at no cost. This is not something a small studio/publisher would be able to afford. Hens not fair play
How much money does it cost to send a review code? 10 cents?
Fortunately a majority of gamers (of which there are millions) are normal and dont engage with weird rage bait social media (those numbers fall in the thousands).
This is a bizarre little bubble.
Its just a shame i cant exclude certain channels from youtube search results
Indeed
I can't recommend BlockTube enough, great add-on. Let's you block certain channels / videos, so they never show up on your recommended page or in your search results.
What's funny to me is that there is no proof of reviewers being paid or given a script to say great things about the game; folks are just going off WORDS alone. There were reviews that gave the game a 6 but people aren't looking at them because they want to prove there was some conspiracy. People who were positive about the game didn't get codes either. Now Asmon is back to say that the reviews are BS, knowing how big and crazy his fanbase is; I feel bad for anyone who enjoyed the game and gave it a good review.
Of COURSE he's going to say that. It's what his audience wants to hear :)
@@Renfail Yeah, whatever makes the most money at the end. Now any positive creators are going to have targets on their backs because folks are going to believe in things that haven't been proven. I need to see a contract from EA telling folks what to do in those reviews and a check for me to believe them.
There are some really reasonable, rational reviews by RUclipsrs of various sizes who enjoyed the game. They explained why and also mention stuff that they didn’t like. Certain influencers who are trashing the game are being very selective in their “critique” and pulling elements of the game out of context. Like or dislike, at least play the whole game!
As a fellow old, where have you been the past few years in my RUclips viewing rotation! Glad I did find your channel because this was a great video, thoughtful, clear and well balanced and most importantly, and sadly severely lacking in games discourse, spoken from a wealth of experience instead of acting on emotions or stooping to hyperbole and hatefarming clicks for cash and Patreon subs. Even DigitalFoundry was getting called "paid shills" simply for praising the technical aspects of the PC version and only critiquing the technical side of the game. Gaming discourse is a sea of turds with a few pearls here and there floating in the muck.
One of the things I think a lot of people are ignoring is how Bioware has always been progressive and inclusive regarding their games. Sometimes they haven't been the best but they've always championed diversity and been welcoming to all. I'm not surprised at all they'd skip certain RUclipsrs who are known for posting homophobic and transphobic content (Luke Stephens) or RUclipsrs (fextralife) who have a VERY LONG history of stealing content from lesser known creators and have been banned from gaming subreddits due to doxxing other creators and constantly posting false and wrong info on his wikis.
heheh critical mass :) I've been doing this for just over 2.5 years full time, but it takes time to get "big enough" for the content to get out there !
Fextralife also got caught inflating his Twitch Watch numbers via embedding his Twitch Channel into his wiki so anyone visiting the wiki for information would be counted as a Twitch viewer. Integrity is not a strong suit for him.
Was hoping for a video of Renfail on these last hours. A little bit of good vibes is needed because what a week we've had with so much hate going on before the big day. I need to step on Thedas already! thanks for all the follow up you've done and let's hope we all enjoy this moment after 10 years of waiting!😍
Cheers
Not giving Fextralife a review code was a pretty interesting choice given how devoted they've been to the Dragon Age franchise.
Sometimes you get a code sometimes you don't there's no conspiracy
@@Renfail I don't think it's a conspiracy. It's just odd not to give a code to something like Fextralife with over 1M subscribers and a long history of Dragon Age Fandom. I said it was an interesting choice, not a conspiratorial choice.
@@uncleshoggoth7611it's bc I was not 100% sold on the game in his preview
didn’t zulliethewitch call that dude out in one of her vids?
honestly i have pretty much no stake in this but this was really refreshing and educational, i wish more people would create/watch content like this. thanks for the info!
Glad you found it helpful. Thanks for watching :)
Thank you Ren. Maybe it’s because I’ve worked in advertising and digital marketing for the last 10 years (although I am finally stepping away from it), but influencer marketing is so clear with regards its function and goals and how distinctly different it is from journalism (which I also had a stint in for a couple of years) that I am honestly so baffled at the fact that a lot of people seem to have zero idea how it all works.
This last couple of days have been so baffling to me. Thank you for being a voice of reason as always ❤❤. And my greetings please to your lovely wife 😊. Can’t wait for the pink wig and some Veilguard streaming!!!
We're almost there!
This is a fascinating video. Thank you for covering the topic!
Thanks man :) I'd also say to check Bubbleonia's sticked / pinned comment as well as he has further insight into the journalism side of things and why it's important to distinguish journalism from PR/Influencer Marketing.
I was surprised that anyone thought it was an objective system. It's their last chance to have influence before the game is out in the world, and this is marketing we're talking about.
Marketing 101 :)
The channel blocker extension has been a godsend through this. Like I know this is the usual stuff that happens whenever a release hits, but my lord without it the search and recommendations have been the worst I've seen in a while
indeed
Very interesting video, thank you for your content. I watch you because you are a positive voice in this space please never change :)
Glad to hear it, thanks for the feedback!
I always take other options with a grain of salt in a sense. I always like to judge a game for myself.
A good choice
then judge it by looking at it lmao. people dont form these opinions for no reason, its because what they're looking at is a tragic abuse of an existing title.
same
Appreciate you breaking this down
You are welcome!
I agree and dissagree with you, i just personally feel having both gaming journalist and influencers and having more information and opinions can be better than less, but the entitlement of demanding one i agree is bad but a company gaslighting creators that they will get one is just as bad so all in all my opinion is i wanna see the game played through and decide then weather its worth gettting, found your channel cause of new world and youve given some of the best new player guides that are up to date and more focused on new player perspective, so thank you and thank you for giving your imput about the situation its been a weird situation about DAV and just at this point want the game out so i can see the game truely
Cheers!
Talking a lot of sense, as always!
I admit, when I first heard of this situation I didn't know a great deal about how this kind of thing worked, and it sounded a little fishy that some people didn't get a code. But one thing that always made perfect sense to me is that no one, regardless of who they are or how many followers they have, has a divine right to receive one.
Anyway, this clears things up. Thanks!
Cheers!
I do really appreciate this breakdown. Generally speaking, i was aware of how this works but i guess im still surprised how some have handled the whole code situation, like you also seemed to be dealing with last video.
Im getting the game anyway, and ill play it myself, and besides this video, ive cut off looking at anything else said on the matter until i play. And i hope for the best.
Glad you found it helpful!
Speaking from a far smaller sector of influencer / review work, which I did from 2011-2014 on my book blog, I can vouch for what is being said here. When I did my own work, where I was reviewing something I paid for out of my pocket, I could say what I wanted, where I wanted, when I wanted. (My blog was "I Write, I Read, I Review")
But when I was doing a review for an ARC, as part of a book launch tour, the protocol we tended to follow was that if we read a book and were rating it 3 - 5 stars we posted our review along with whatever other material we'd received from an author / the tour in question. If something was going to be a 1 or a 2 we were asked to release that two weeks after the tour's end date.
Cheers
Fucking love this channel
Many do!
@Renfail and rightly so brother
Helpful video. Especially the distinction between the expectations of “journalists” (used loosely) and that of curated influencers. Everyone is free to approach this how they want, but for me this necessarily means that I should give more credence to “negative” reviews than to positive ones when done by “influencers” who’ve received anything at all for “free”. I already do that naturally but this video only further validates that approach. This doesn’t mean that positive reviews can’t be legit or are “shills” but logically it means that the negative review is more likely to be earnest given the expectations all around…
Big differences all around :)
I can understand why a company would not give someone a review code after talking bad about your product. Should you give them a review code and say try it and find out for yourself or not and say that’s fair? You can’t be impartial if you’ve already made up your mind.
It is indeed telling if someone has already made posts about things they don't like, or won't like, about a game they haven't even fully played yet.
Thanks for doing this video. It was very informative about both how the marketing works and your personal background. Keep up the great work.
Cheers!
Love this video. Always love hearing your input, Renfail! 🤘🏻
Glad it was helpful!
This is a good summary. It is important to recognize that influencers are not journalists. Companies are certainly going to pre-select influencers who they think are inclined to be positive - why wouldn't they? Also, it is important to recognize the conflict between the access and freebies the influences are given and any intention they may have to be fair and reasonably objective, especially if they become critical of the game after playing it to completion. Some influences are clearly making an effort to be impartial despite these conflicts, where others likely want to retain access and will go soft on criticism. As for the companies, I think it would help their reputations going forward if they continue to work with influencers who have been critical but constructive and fair, but I can understand that they might not want to do so.
Another of my hobbies is collecting booze. I see similar situations at play in the whisky community on RUclips. When distilleries put out new releases, it isn't at all unusual for them to send samples to whisky influencers on RUclips, and some of these influencers are given a great deal of industry access, including distillery tours and even the opportunity to select single barrels from which they can offer bottles to their audience. (I recently bought one of these bottles from an influencer whose taste preferences align well with mine and which comes from a distillery and independent bottler that I generally like.) It does make the audience wonder about conflicts of interest. There are a few influencers (Ralfy immediately comes to mind) who make a point of buying everything they review and not accepting samples from the industry. I can respect this, as it at least gives the appearance of impartiality, but of course, their personal preferences are going to feed into their reviews. Similarly, there are video game influencers who don't have industry connections and access to early review codes. In some cases, there are good and sound reasons for this lack of access (i.e. the hate mongers), but anyone in this category who gives well reasoned and thoughtful reviews is likely worth listening to after the game launches and they have had sufficient time to experience the game.
The conclusion we can draw here is that there is a high likelihood of collective positive bias in early reviews. We have seen this before (i.e. Starfield, where the post-launch average trended downward into mixed territory over time, though the situation there is complicated by the hate mongers). This is one reason why I like to wait for a while after launch, especially when I'm on the fence about a game, as I am about Veilguard and was about Starfield. In the pre-launch period, there is not sufficient information for me to determine whether the game is going to be for me, though (as I describe in the next paragraph) I am finding ways to glean useful information, and I'm tentatively moving toward the positive side of the fence.
An analogy that I find useful here is the concept of signal-to-noise ratio, a concept that comes from the telecommunications industry. In any communication system, there is noise, and for the communication to go through without significant errors, the signal level has to be sufficiently above the noise floor in order for it to be received. In video game discourse surrounding games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Starfield, it is wise to recognize that the noise floor is high. A great deal of noise is contributed by malcontents and grifters who are primed to hate anything and everything that doesn't cater exclusively to them. It can also be argued that noise is contributed by uncritical fans who are overjoyed to get even a mediocre product in their favorite franchise. The signal comes from people who, whether they have a positive or negative impression of the game, provide detailed information and intelligent justifications for their opinions. As in telecommunications systems, there are ways to filter out some of the noise. By selectively paying attention to those influencers and reviewers who provide valuable information, we can reduce the noise floor and come to reasonable tentative conclusions even in a situation where there is a positive or negative collective bias. Ultimately, the strongest signal will come from experiencing the game for ourselves, but many of us do not want to spend the money until we have determined that the probability is high that we will enjoy it, so we must rely on information that comes from the noisy world of video game discourse.
They are absolutely NOT journalists.
I wish everyone could see this video! Thank you for your perspective and clearing the air on the topic. Im literally counting the minutes until i can play Veilguard!
Can't wait :)
Everything you're saying here is business 101. I've been mentioning over and over again that part of project management is communications management and what you just outlined is just that. Why would you bring someone in to trash your multimillion dollar project?
Exactly this :)
THANK YOU for this video!
Glad it helped!
We understand why businesses do it but that doesn’t mean it’s just and healthy for the industry.
Gaming ‘journalism’ in my opinion is becoming harder to successfully achieve and stay non biased when companies are clearly going to gate keep and favour people in the industry that will praise them regardless of the content produced.
How does one succeed and stamp the pay check for their full time job if they are always last to review a game because they couldn’t obtain a code?
I understand what you are saying and if everyone obtained a copy of the game at the same time to review it then I wouldn’t see an issue. However that’s not the case and more people are turning away from honest journalism to ‘content creator’ as they know they be allowed access to games early.
Also what you said earlier about the gatekeeping/conspiracy not being true because people like Skillup were given a code and still gave it a negative review doesn’t really add up as they initially gave it a positive preview, so you can see why EA took the gamble on them.
It's about finding people that resonate with the products you create. Zero conspiracy.
@@Renfail Agree I wouldn’t go as far as conspiracy, as you said it’s just business.
However it’s a business practice I don’t agree with. Games are not meant to be liked by everyone, which is why they have their own unique audiences. With that in mind companies should be more transparent and face the music rather than create distrust. With some of the releases in the industry the last few years you can completely understand why the consumer may not trust the product and gatekeeping your reviews, so that they are mostly positive doesn’t help the situation.
I had absolute 0 clue what you did before, that's amazing
Most people don't, as it's not something I go around talking about all the time :) I'm also a sci-fi and fantasy author, I had a construction company during my 20s, and grew up on a dairy farm =P
As a consumer I've never gotten value out of a "reviewer" getting an early copy of the game. If someone is on the fence particularly for a single player RPG, theres no need to get it day one. Watch reviews and see what people think after the game has been out. These big channels are trying to turn this into some gaming industry scandal just because they aren't getting clicks for their day one review. Most of the honest and accurate reviews ive seen come after a game has been released for a few weeks anyway.
It's all about lost revenue for them. An early review = thousands of dollars for bigger channels. And that creates a lot of butt hurt.
What really confuses me is how can these marketing campaigns be legal according to global laws of fair trade and code of conduct? In the global company I work for we can basically offer a customer a standard dinner with one, maybe two glasses of wine. If we have an event our customers pay for their own flights and Hotel rooms. Anything else could be considered a bribe. And we are not speaking of state owned companies och politically sensitive ones. Very strange how this can be done openly without any consequences
Compensation must be declared.
@@Renfail hmm... alright. Do you mean that the publisher have to clearly ask the influencer for something in return, such as a positive review, which would be the case in this example?
Outsider opinions are important in all media but not guaranteed and def not owed to anyone, if you're going to be an outsider than accept its limitations and work around them. The good news tho from all this is by me trying to avoid the toxic and conspiracy minded channels i found you and Slandered, feels way more like "my ppl" sensible and logical. tyvm
Cheers!
I was wanting to buy a (certain brand) reciprocating saw, and the brand has gotten a lot of hate in the past, so I was cautious. I went on youtube and found videos put out the company itself, (direct marketing), videos put out by the big box store that wanted me to buy the thing (retail marketing), videos put out by influencers who test stuff and put themselves out there as "Consumer advocates" and videos from just random people who bought one and put up a video about it. Obviously the first two are open about their marketing, and the consumer advocate ones would variously say "I bought this with my one money and I'm not being paid", "I was sent this one free as a review sample, but I am going to be as objective as I can but I'm just being transparent". The random people videos were all like "I bought this with my own money and nobody's giving me anything", like that.
I find each of those to be valuable perspectives, but I am an aware consumer. It helped me make the decision.
Being aware is part of the key
I want to preface this by saying I love Slandered Gaming, as what I'm ahout to say isn't hate at all. I just think he might have not fully considered things outside of what he reacted to. I think his live was amazing, I was there. He has good points. But unless I'm wrong, he did seem to think that if you go to an event, like trying out a game, that means you are promised a code.
Now idk if if there were verbal confirmation that theyre guaranteed a code during the event, I personally doubt that. But in terms of going to an event I disagree that they have to or eveh should give you a code.
We don't know what went on behind the scenes, perhaps those at the event were rude or acted in a way that was not professional. If that is the case, regardless of promises made or not, it is understandable that Bioware could change their mind.
It's also true that if it's not in a contract, the company does not have to do anything.
If it's not in a contract, you aren't confirmed of getting ANYTHING.
WolfHeart (who went to the event) confirmed that participants of the event were not guaranteed, nor promised, review codes.
@@WraithReaper09 Not sure where it's coming from then. A CC probably lied about it, might have been Fextralife
Slander does a wonderful job.
He's a solid dude.
Real and true.
So true, I doubt any of the complainers ever worked a corporate marketing job!
indeed
pls make a video about influencer campaing management
that's secret sauce mate.
I’m currently playing Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest waiting for Veilguard. I grew up in the NES era. That’s one thing I miss. As a kid, I’d try playing something. If I liked it, great! If not, I tried something else.
I’d take my friends’ opinions, but I didn’t need someone to tell me if a game was good or not. It’s good to speak with like-minded people, sure, but it almost feels like we’re slowly losing our ability to think for ourselves.
Think for yourself is key :)
"Influencer marketing" in yesterday's terminology would just be "marketing by a freelance marketer"
hmmm, not really.
i simple want try game on day one not give shit on online dramas
Yep
An awful lot of these game "content providers" seem to be of the opinion that they, and their opinions are more important than the actual game. Their click bait hunt for views is part and parcel of the way you tube has monetised aggression.
Ayep
people thinking they are owed review codes are cracked, classic entitlement
Indeed
I am ready to play the game already. Good or bad I will play and see for myself
That's the spirit!
I have a lot more respect for you now that I know your history.
Welcome aboard!
The algo was the true enemy all along.
It's a factor for sure.
Right, but your stand on this game? Do you like it? Do you think it’s good? Is it worth while?
That's why I subscribed your channel. Keep it real.
I appreciate that
@Renfail another excellent video. I have a far less positive view of journalism than most as I was a Public Information Officer (PIO) for a big city Public Safety agency. Trust is earned certainly as is factual reporting. Let me give you example. There is a content creator Werglia who gave it 0 out of 10 review…but it doesn’t look like he played the game. It’s based on his biases and anti-woke ideology. This is not “ reporting” and people wonder why access codes are limited. The internet isn’t facts based, never has been. Covid proved that once and for all. Now certainly game opinions are more innocuous than lying about Public Health facts, but people’s livelihood is on the line.
Just my two cents.
Sometimes it’s important to remember we are talking about entertainment
Let me add, the controversy has been good for one thing. I can clean out my subscription list of the unworthy. 😂
Exactly this :)
I mean, if you look at what WolheartFPS and Fextralife actually said, they weren't alleging some grand conspiracy theory. What they were saying was...basically what you were saying in this video.
Tell us you aren't a Bioware fan without telling us you aren't a Bioware fan.
@Renfail Well, shit, you've got me there. I've only played 3 of their previous games, which is probably insufficient to make me a "true" fan.
Now, please explain to me how that invalidates anything I said.
Thanks for this; your insights were quite enlightening.
Glad it was helpful!
Super interesting peak into this part of the industry. Helps put things into perspective. I had watched one of those influencers’ video and I can see both sides of the argument more clearly now.
good to know
What MMORPG did you do? I love MMORPGs!
Then there are creators like MrMattyPlays. It seemed to me that he did a real scumbag move in that he was all smiley and friendly towards Corrine Busche during her interview, but then he turned around and stabbed her in the back. If he wasn't blacklisted already, that's not going to help. I also know the games he likes and I'm pretty sure he would like Veilguard if left to it's own devices. But he calculated that stabbing Corrine in the back and coming out with a very negative review would get him more clicks.
It's not a good look, for sure.
The whole leaked screenshots trailing back to him is not helping his cause either. Especially as the 'friend of a friend of a friend of his editor' is a colossal racist POS.
You know the leak that was being posted around a few days before the embargo lifted? The Custom Rook in those images were MrMattyPlays' Rook. Yeah, he broke his NDA. I'd be surprised if any Game Studio will send him early review codes after that.
Thank you for this video. This was good education. I know some but the details where interessting.
Glad you enjoyed it!
6:45 You would if your product was made with love and integrity. You might even release a Demo.
Oh honey, you clearly haven't ever worked in publishing :)
@@Renfail "Oh honey"? ....Ah, It all makes sence now.
@@PHUNGOwar you mean you weren't paying attention up until now? GASP. Say it ain't so!
@@Renfail Just don"t call me Honey. I find that very offensive. You're a 50+ year old married man.
@PHUNGOwar sure thing sugar. We call everyone honey/sugar/sweet thang/baby, so choose your preferred title and we'll go from there :)
I believe you may have made this video based on my comment yesterday in your other video, so I’ll just say this: While I understand what you’re trying to say here, there were way too many large audience influencers/creators that I know of who checked all the boxes with regard to attending the event, making a video that said pretty much 90-95% positive things about the game and anything not positive was talked about in a very constructive, professional way and yet they were left off the list in favor of several other folks who have stated in the past that they either didn’t like or really care for past Dragon Age games. It just doesn’t make any sense . Ultimately it was their decision and so, whatever sales they stand to lose on it is of their own making but it just seemed really short-sighted, in my opinion.
I have previous adjacent experience working in the games/toys/comics industry, which as you probably know oftentimes crosses over into video game licensing and such, so while I can’t say I’ve lived and breathed marketing practices in video games, I understand the importance and subtle nature of getting it right in a volatile market. Nevertheless, I’ll be picking up my copy of the game tomorrow and hopefully, enjoying it as much I think I’m going to!
make up your own mind. No conspiracy needed.
Didn't know you ran a studio. Very cool! What games did you make?
Great video and talk about codes and reviews thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this educational video. Their claims already sounded ridiculous to me by the virtue of common sense but thought maybe what they claim as their right is a common practice nevertheless. Now I've learned that's not the case and the companies have the sense to not pay people to use their game as a material for their cultural war...obviously 😅
Glad it helped clear things up.
I worked for a bigger publisher and mags in Europe few years ago.
Even 20 years ago the big publishers tried to influence the reviewer by providing press kits with high value. Today it's the same with few differences. You still have press kits, take for silent hill remake, but you are much more dependend on the BIGGER publisher. So the reviewer knows the expectations of his employer AND the publisher. If you don't provide a good review you might miss future review copies send by the publisher or/and exclusive interviews, trips to events, goodies etc. because the publisher has much more options to pick who gets a review copy nowadays. 20 years ago the options were 3-5 mags so the dependency was much more on the publisher side. I am strickly referring to bigger publishers.
The reality is: EA was looking for reviewers who are most likely going to review the game positive based on their previews, posts, political view etc.. You can't avoid any negative or average review score but increase the chances for higher meta score. This has nothing to do with EA or the game specifically but are common tactics in the publisher gaming industry. Yes, I am speaking from my experience.
Feel free to provide proof of said experience
@@Renfail I am not going to provide any personal information but I think ignoring press kits shows that you are not really interested in any truth how publishers work when it comes to providing review codes.
Your claim "Low rating = proof the claim was wrong" is incorrect. Take for example gamespot. They posted a positive preview but gave an average rating or VGC same positive review and average rating. Some bigger well known youtubers who weren't so positive in their preview didn't get any copy. On the other hand a smaller less known site which supports transgender people (stevivor) got a review copy. Yes politcal views play a role. Yes, bigger sites like IGN will get a copy in any case because they work hand in hand and they know how the spiel works.
There is always a risk for the publisher not getting the review score they aim for BUT they can decrease the risk by excluding reviewers who aren't that positive or don't share the same political views. For example Luke Stepehns who contacted and asked them many times for a review copy.
@@Renfaillmao, your skepticism is 100% rejected.
Hello Renfail. What im about to say here is simply my opinion. I enjoy your content, truly i do, so i want to be careful what i say here because i dont want to get banned. Im an old school gamer, i started on an NES and a 486DX pc way back. So ive been a gamer and collector most of my life. Im a HUGE fan of this series from Origins up to Inquisition (yes, i enjoy DA2 and Inquisition). My issue is wheni see transgender and identity politics in a game for me personally it feels like socio political signaling which immediatley makes the game bad to me personally in my eyes. Im not trying to take anyones fun away who wants to play this and buy it, i hope people like it. But for me these journalists/youtubers/grifters/whatever showed that identity/transgender text plus the graphics and it basically made my mind up. Much respect to you, your channel is awesome. And i do believe you about your previous job, thank you for sharing that.
EVERY single Bioware game has had queer representation in them, so if you claim to be a fan of the HUGE FAN of the series, you are willingly and willfully ignoring past characters in the franchise
@Renfail while that may be true, i don't feel as though it was so front and center as it is in The Veilguard.
very interresting.
I still wonders. What is the line between influencer and journalist ? If a channel is about reviewing video games, all sorts of video games and they clearly advertive their doing as "giving non bias review as if they were journalist" is this not fair to treat them as journalist and not influencer ?
In this drangon age case, it seems Bioware and some chanel runners have simply not the same view about who is a influencer and who is conducting a real journalism process. Who is right ?
There are VERY FIRM RULES about what defines actual journalism. Any form of compensation, be it a code, a key, a flight, a hotel, are absolutely NOT ALLOWED if you are doing actual journalistic coverage. There is a huge difference between investigative journalism and influencer marketing campaigns and reviewing video games.
@@Renfail then, video game journalism does not exist ? Because I don't know video games magazines or internet site who don't get that sort of compensation in order to be able de cover videogame releases ?
I would like to say that I like your content for New World and Dragons dogma 2 and you come out to be a nice guy overall. I can have similar opinions with you there. But Dragon age Veilguard…I’m sorry but we don’t see eye to eye on this one. I wish I could be excited about it like you. But the footage I’ve seen is so deeply out of touch of what dragon age was. I feel that it’s not going to go well for BioWare, that just my opinion.
after you explanation about the marketing it makes it seem like what you’re saying is EA and BioWare purposely want great reviews so they picked and choose who they think was best for that. Which makes it seem biased towards the rest of us who want to see reviews that come from someone who might subjectively have their own opinions and criticizing what flaws the games has, it’s exactly why millions of people don’t trust mainstream media anymore and the early reviews no one cares about because they don’t seem like real reviews from honest people.
It would have just been better if everyone got the game at the same time to make reviews look more legit, but most of us know better than to trust people like IGN anyway. All you got to do is look at the dislikes on the veilguard review.
You choose your reality. You can either enjoy things in life, or not. That's on YOU.
I agree. Although people aren't entitled to review codes, however it is not absurd in suggesting that they denied access to anyone who was even slightly critical in the initial preview. It is also well known that execs get bonuses depending on the games overall ratings. Also I would say there are a myriad of reasons why this dragon age is not great and can be explained throughly, but as to reasons on why it is great, positives reviews seem to just state that.
Dragon age has always been my favorite rpg franchise since origins. So I would like to give it a shot, but I'm scared it's just going to leave a sour taste in my mouth similar to cyberpunk 2077 when all the initial reviews were glowing, but the reality was a dumpster fire.
woah I didnt know he made a MMO! Which one?!
Even if its legal, it doesnt mean its not immoral for publisher to act like that
There's nothing tomorrow. It's simply influencer marketing. Now you know
Yup, it's unethical
Nice to know :-) Some things were kind of obvious hehe :P For me at least, because i know a minimum of how any enterprises work.
Good to know!
Bravo! Good job explaining to children what is what, there's so much hate and negativity out there surrounding games and it has become a standard that many so called content creators serve the purpose just to deliberately destroy years and years of hard game development with out even thinking about how many life's r involved all of that. Peoples r loosing jobs just like that couse it's easy to criticise and hate every one and every thing in gaming industry! Thx God there r people like u standing in between spreading the truth and honesty!
Cheers!
This comment is being made simply to say poor person mode is on. We shall see how the release goes! This is too big brain for me.
Thank you sir well said☝🏿
Cheers
Disagree with the digital codes, it's an infinite market not like physical copies used to be. They can create more codes with the click of a button. Totally agree though, the problem with shill access media is people get confused with the differentiation. RUclipsrs/influencers are not journalists and therefore can be pandering to the provider of the access as independents. However the problem is the vast majority of journalists who are supposed to be unbiased, are incredibly biased. This game netted some 100% scores, no game is a 10/10, very few at best a 9. It's clearly hogwash. They even emulate the exact same copy/paste talking points (a return to form for bioware). Hot take = this game's writing and story is going to have nothing on ANY OTHER bioware game, save anthem or Andromeda (i actually liked andromeda). I feel like someone is going to be hardpressed when the media reviews age like milk and they have to compare this to dragon age origins or mass effect 2. Also when fextralife doesn't get a code because they were slightly more critical, who has never not gotten a code, it's not conspiracy, its clear bias. Especially when a random person pretending to be nonbinary got a code at a request, let's be real and call a spade a spade at least.
Love your lotro content, and it's awesome to hear abit of your story on how you got to where you are, thats actually awesome. Traveling and getting paid sounds like you and your wife had a really good gig. It's really cool to see people a little older thriving in the free media and getting to do what they love. We need more age groups represented especially in gaming. I wish you all the best in your future and hope you have a great and fulfilling life.
I have quite a few games that are 10/10. RDR2, BG3, Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 with the Phantom Liberty DLC as examples. And yes, traveling for a living was an awesome gig. But no, there is no conspiracy going on, and until you play the game you have ZERO proof of the game being uncomparable to ME2 or DAO. That's your own bias at play.
Good work with all you've done good hunting🐉🙌🏿
cheers!
What about reviewers from legacy media (IGN, Eurogamer or similar outlets) receiving "scripts" for their reviews? There's screenshots circulating, of snippets of many (10+) of those Veilguard reviews, where certain phrases are absolutely identical. BTW, i asked this in another YT gaming channel that did a very uncritical review of the game, and my question was promptly deleted. Multiple times.
Premise rejected. Invented conspiracy
@@Renfail So you deleted the link i posted in a following reply?
So who are we supposed to rely on for truthful reviews then?
Understand corps will want to mold public opinion. But there's also a clear divide between what legacy game journalists think of games, and what actual gamers think of games. You can routinely see this divide on critic vs user scores.
I mean i guess we can just wait a few weeks, or month, after games release. But by that time there SO many spoilers, guides, etc, it's hard to avoid it all.
It's up to you to find the sources that resonate with you.