First Super Mario Odyssey Review in! (EDGE)

[Nuvendil]

KLXVER said:

Nuvendil said:

It is illegal to opperate as a supposedly impartial party reviewing or covering a product when you are in fact compensated in some manner for giving it a positive review or promotion and keeping said compensation undisclosed.  That is against the law in most territories.  Here in the States it is classified as a violation of FTC disclosure guidelines.

Can you give me an example where the law came down on a review site for this?

Not off the top of my head, but 1) I'm not a law professor, I don't have case law memorized or on my shelf and 2) 99.999% of publishers would never in a million years do something so profoundly stupid.  They don't even send much in the way of swag to publications, not even t shirts.  These companies are surrounded by lawyers that would tear them a new one if they ever did something so stupid.  Edge is respected but no single review outlet is worth the risk.  And especially given the frequency of leaks in the industry.  It's much safer and more worth it to spend money on marketing.

The only bribery attempts I've seen from publishers/devs was from indies who seem to buy into the "all these sites are bribed all the time" myth, the result being many sites and YouTubers won't review their game at all.