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Forums - General Discussion - Jeff Gerstmann from Gamespot has been fired for Kane and Lynch Review

Gamespot Editor Fired Over Kane & Lynch Review?

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

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

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

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

Our efforts to confirm the story with Gamespot haven't proved successful. Our current requests with PR, Gerstmann and other CNet contacts have either gone unanswered or yielded a "no comment."

Update: We did get confirmation that Mr. Gerstmann is no longer with Gamespot. The circumstances in which he was terminated or left of his own accord, however, were not disclosed.

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It has been confirmed, excuse me if it has been posted already. Thoughts?



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I heard about this earlier today. Its stupid. Just because the company invested in ads does not mean that they will get a stellar review. I understand that a Gamestop review may effect the decisions of thousands of customers, but come on. Thats just wrong. Don't fire the guy for giving his opinions. It just worries me.



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It was CNet who got rid of him, it is appauling and has only fueled a long time belief that Gamespot have been paid to write faviourable reviews (especially for games for the 360).

Now both Gamespot and Eidos sites rightfully have been flooded with hate messages and i totally hope it continues, what are Gamespot going to do without members?



They need to be flooding CNet, not GameSpot. Eidos already got hit, and if it gets to 4chan that could be disasterous.



Tag - "No trolling on my watch!"

Well, this might end up being very painful for Gamespot, this will be a huge blow to their credibility.



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Gamespot lost all their credibility when Greg Kasavin left. He was the only consistent reviewer they had. Given how bad GS gotten since he left, I am beginning to think he saw the writing on the wall.

Also, I am not a big fan of Gerstmann. I found his reviews to be inconsistent. If he was really fired for giving his honest opinion on Kane & Lynch he has my respect.



loadedstatement said:
I heard about this earlier today. Its stupid. Just because the company invested in ads does not mean that they will get a stellar review. I understand that a Gamestop review may effect the decisions of thousands of customers, but come on. Thats just wrong. Don't fire the guy for giving his opinions. It just worries me.

It doesn't mean they'll get it, but it can mean they expect some "good treatment".

It's not just about influencing "thousands" (which is still a deal considering the units sold of K&L) but also investing bucks for promotion and getting in the end bad return.

I've been working in this industrie for 10 years and one of my first reviews (GP Legends) got me troubles with Sierra. The withdrew their ads from the mag I was working on for several month. And it was just a PC mag in France (small market), so imagine a huge american website.

I don't even understand how you can doubt that, in an industry where some websites and magazines got exclusive reviews or cover, corruption is a problem. It's so obvious.

 



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