Just two days away from Starfield's review embargo, Eurogamer is still to receive a copy of the game from Bethesda.

Eurogamer and Starfield | Eurogamer.net

This is petty, it almost sounds like Bethesda UK arm is settling some scores if the UK sites are gaining access through the US arm. Zenimax corporate in general has always been pretty trash though. They may have beef with ReedPop but ReedPop owns about a dozen websites so they're punishing innocent people, including ones focused on Xbox such as PureXbox and OutsideXbox.

Has to be leaks related, Bethesda is extremely aggressive if anyone leaks their stuff and will blacklist them for years but this collective punishment is unfair and causes unnecessary bad press, ReedPop also owns other sites like Rock Paper Shotgun who have made some absolutely stupid negative Starfield articles in the past year, something like this may cause them to double down on dumb stuff like this.

Does Bethesda UK have beef with all UK companies? Lol. Stupid.

TheGuardian (UK site) and Edge (UK site, owned by Future PLC, UK company) didn't get one either. Although Edge doesn't really matter much since their reviews are always late as they're a print based magazine. Maybe the UK branch of Bethesda fucked up massively or maybe they have a grudge against everyone, Lol.

PureXbox (owned by ReedPop, UK site) was hit as I said above, which is dumb, Lol.

TheGuardian may have been hit because Kezza works there and she was an editor at Kotaku for years, a site famously blacklisted by Bethesda for years for leaking the Fallout 4 story, Lol. Maybe Edge just weren't given one because they won't get a review out for launch either way but it seems like Bethesda has beef with ReedPop and are punishing The Guardian for hiring a Kotaku employee, Lol.

Lmao. What is happening with Bethesda UK. I'm sorry, nothing in the UK works as it should.

Now is PureXbox going to get a code as well or not? Better not just be Eurogamer.

Honestly … fuck around and find out but don’t cry on the internet ya blacklisted.

Eurogamer is in the same position as us and likely every other UK website that does not have a US arm or affiliate.

What makes the situation even stranger is that this is nothing to do with Microsoft and, reading between the lines, they seem to be just as frustrated as reviewers, not least because they also do not have access to review copies. (The situation may be different in terms of Microsoft’s US office, but that doesn’t help anyone in the UK.)

Metro News Source

Metro is considered a joke by most in the UK so I'd take this with a grain of salt but Lmfao if it's true. That would be wild if Xbox UK weren't given review copies by Bethesda UK and are annoyed by it. Anyway, Metro doesn't deserve a code, I hope they don't get one either way and I'm not joking about that, I don't like Metro

Seems like almost everyone in the USA got a code but nobody in the UK, including Microsoft UK!!!

Bethesda just doing MS's work of boycotting UK after all the Activision stuff lol

If someone is breaking NDA then I don't mind them being punished for it. But here it seems like Bethesda is collectively punishing the entirety of ReedPop for something, I don't recall Inside Xbox or Outside Xbox ever breaking an NDA, Lol. I know though that if you're going to punish someone, it's more effective to punish their entire business but it feels unfair.

Kotaku were blacklisted for constantly leaking shit and I honestly don't care about that, they deserve the blacklist. But was The Guardian blacklisted because they hired a Kotaku employee? It's odd they didn't receive a code and unfair if that's the case as I don't recall The Guardian leaking or breaking NDAs for Bethesda. Edge is really irrelevant since their codes always come late so who cares about giving them an early code, Lol.

And Microsoft/Xbox UK didn't get any codes? Wtf is happening at Bethesda UK, Lmao.

There's a bunch of idiot conspiracy theorists running around now claiming Bethesda is trying to manipulate the review scores despite Xbox focused websites also being blacklisted, it largely focusing on a website that Bethesda has beef with (ReedPop) who own a bunch of companies, Microsoft UK not receiving codes, dozens of outlets who have received codes but have scores Bethesda titles poorly in the past and the reviews lifting before early access launch and 5 days before the full launch.

These people are idiots but Bethesda has now brought this negative PR onto themselves, it's almost like when they stopped providing early review copies to outlets and everyone started dooming and thought it meant their games were terrible but then Doom Eternal released to rave reviews, among other titles, Lmao. Ah well nobody will care in a few days but still. Just blacklist the NDA breakers if you must, not the entire organisation including outlets who support Xbox a lot.

Not even Microsoft is safe from ruthless Zenimax.