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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - FTC Slams YouTube Group For 'Deceptive' Xbox Marketing Campaign

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LudicrousSpeed on 02 September 2015
GProgrammer said:
Perhaps as punishment all Xbox One games need 5 points knocked their metacritic score

LOL. As if MS is the only company who persuades companies to give better scores with gifts and perhaps even money. Actually you should just ignore meta scores altogether.

In regards to shady marketing, how quickly people forget Sony was sued recently for misleading Vita ads and having their marketing company tweet positive stuff about the Vita without disclosing they were getting paid to do so. Every company does these types of things. That doesn't excuse it, but it's just the world we live in.



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GProgrammer on 02 September 2015
LudicrousSpeed said:LOL. As if MS is the only company who persuades companies to give better scores with gifts and perhaps even money. Actually you should just ignore meta scores altogether.

You are correct all companies are guilty of it, including sony and nintendo, but until they get real punishments, i.e. something more than a fine of 20k they will continue to do it. I'm all for full disclosure.



CosmicSex on 02 September 2015
AlfredoTurkey said:
CosmicSex said:

And why does Microsoft get off scott free here. 

This is why I don't trust the media's constant barrage of pro Xbox content.  I really have a hard time beliveing that Machina is the only one doing these deals. 

Its so hard to trust anything I hear from gaming sites anymore. 


All three companies do things like this behind the scenes. Don't get tricked into the whole "good vs. evil" nonsense. 


When Sony 'misled' people with the PS Vita advertising they had to pay.  And that was right.  This isn't good vs evil and I never insinuated that everyone does not.  I do however feel that Microsoft should pay for this transgression because they were wrong.    I believe that if corporations want to have 'personhood' then they must be held accountable in the same way that a person would.   This barely registers on the scale of bad things that companies have done, but that doesn't mean Microsoft gets a pass.   No one should get a pass. 

So you should not be fooled by a ligitmate critisism. of any corporation.   We need to stand together as consumers. 



Game_God on 02 September 2015
JRPGfan said:

buying off reviewers meh, not that big a deal.

Just goes to show you shouldnt put much stock in gameing reviewers, better to use your own judgement after watching some gameplay videos.


I couldn't agree more!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n29CicBxZuw

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Game_God on 02 September 2015
Ruler said:
MS again with their dirty tactics and people said it didnt exist. They probably still doing stuff like this


While you are right about what you say, this type of tactics are not MS exclusivity, you should see what Sony does...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n29CicBxZuw

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Game_God on 02 September 2015
AlfredoTurkey said:
CosmicSex said:

And why does Microsoft get off scott free here. 

This is why I don't trust the media's constant barrage of pro Xbox content.  I really have a hard time beliveing that Machina is the only one doing these deals. 

Its so hard to trust anything I hear from gaming sites anymore. 


All three companies do things like this behind the scenes. Don't get tricked into the whole "good vs. evil" nonsense. 

I support your critic view on this matter but on the European side of videogaming practices, I've never witnessed Nintendo falling into these despicable tactics!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n29CicBxZuw

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Ruler on 02 September 2015
Game_God said:
Ruler said:
MS again with their dirty tactics and people said it didnt exist. They probably still doing stuff like this


While you are right about what you say, this type of tactics are not MS exclusivity, you should see what Sony does...


what does Sony?



Why i left PC gaming

 

(2015) Question for PS4 owners: if the situation would be reverse? would you still play on PS4?

(2015) The "I don't care PS4 is the most powerful console" thread

Mr Puggsly on 02 September 2015
ganoncrotch said:
Mr Puggsly said:
Honestly, I dont feel MS did anything wrong. This is advertising. Just because FTC feels its wrong doesent make it wrong, they are just people with an opinion.

People that actually enjoy MS products can meet those requests without selling their soul. If people arent saying what they actually feel to get money from MS, well thats another story and not MS's fault.

For example, a positive review for money is very wrong. But getting paid to talk about X1 in a positive light doesent hurt anyone.


See... I don't have a problem in the slightest with a company giving an incentive for well put together videos showcasing their good work and what gamers will enjoy about those games, my issue is the fact that they're not allowed to disclose that they are being paid for their work from the company they have an opinion about.

As for the talent themselves... well if I was offered 30k to say my favourite gaming device was the Sega Saturn I'd happily pop a few vids on youtube of me hugging the thing lol, that's a lot of money for a bit of bad press from your fans on the internet.

Well in my opinion MS is just asking them to preview products in a positive manner. Basically MS just wants people to be aware of their products and what they feature. They can save the trash talk for other videos down the road, such as reviews.

If MS was paying them to say their console was the best or exagerating how great the games look, that would be flat out wrong. You dont have to mislead viewers to discuss a product in a positive manner.



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czecherychestnut on 02 September 2015
Mr Puggsly said:
ganoncrotch said:


See... I don't have a problem in the slightest with a company giving an incentive for well put together videos showcasing their good work and what gamers will enjoy about those games, my issue is the fact that they're not allowed to disclose that they are being paid for their work from the company they have an opinion about.

As for the talent themselves... well if I was offered 30k to say my favourite gaming device was the Sega Saturn I'd happily pop a few vids on youtube of me hugging the thing lol, that's a lot of money for a bit of bad press from your fans on the internet.

Well in my opinion MS is just asking them to preview products in a positive manner. Basically MS just wants people to be aware of their products and what they feature. They can save the trash talk for other videos down the road, such as reviews.

If MS was paying them to say their console was the best or exagerating how great the games look, that would be flat out wrong. You dont have to mislead viewers to discuss a product in a positive manner.

If you pay someone to discuss your product in a positive light, and you disclose that arrangement, no problem. But the arrangement between Starcom and Machinima specifically prohibited the disclosure of the arrangement, and therefore the video's were misleading because they portrayed an independent review or opinion when in fact it wasn't independent. If you wanted the money, it had to be positive coverage and the arrangement couldn't be disclosed, but the viewers weren't aware of either condition. 



Mr Puggsly on 03 September 2015
Aeolus451 said:
Mr Puggsly said:
Honestly, I dont feel MS did anything wrong. This is advertising. Just because FTC feels its wrong doesent make it wrong, they are just people with an opinion.

People that actually enjoy MS products can meet those requests without selling their soul. If people arent saying what they actually feel to get money from MS, well thats another story and not MS's fault.

For example, a positive review for money is very wrong. But getting paid to talk about X1 in a positive light doesent hurt anyone.

This is the impression I got from reading your post. Also aren't you splitting hairs with the bolded part?

No.

When you read a preview they basically discuss what the game is, what it features, etc. They are generally pretty positive. It appears to me that's what MS was looking for.

If the video producers played the games, disliked them, and still recommended them for money, thats clearly wrong.



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