Kotaku is blacklisted by Ubisoft, Bethesda. They complain, others rejoice*

[Misanthrope]

Kotaku is blacklisted by Ubisoft, Bethesda. They complain, others rejoice*
 

 
*Disclaimer: this is pretty melodramatic he said/he said stuff and yes, Gamergate is brought up again so if you don't want yet another discussion item on that feel free to skip
 
So it seems like Kotaku made a big stink about being "blacklisted" by some major devs and are getting quite infantile (big shocker there) about it:
 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote

Kotaku Editor in Chief Steven Totilo claimed Thursday that Ubisoft and Bethesda not responding to inquiries from the outlet and not sending the site’s writers review copies was because the publishers had blacklisted Kotaku.
Totilo claims the blacklisting is a result of Kotaku publishing leaked details about the publisher’s games. He insisted, “The news value to such leaks is often exceedingly obvious in what it says about the state of a game, a franchise, a console or a company.”

 
Now of course a bunch of people went into the offensive, chief among them Boogie2988
 

 
After being called out on their hypocritical and absurd claims of Journalistic integrity they of course went into damage control by basically openly calling Boogie a liar and such but there's a lot more people other than just him on the offensive:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
So what's your take on this? Personally I am glad they're getting it right back on their faces as the article also reveals some interesting numbers showing they're in heavy decline as a website so it makes more sense they'd be desperate about being pushed to the side by the publishers. If anything, it seems pathetic and insulting entitlement (not strange for an SJW centric cesspool) that they even mention that they did not get review copies: that's just ridiculous if independent youtubers can buy their own games for review a major website under the umbrella of a rather big web outlet (parent company Gawker Media) not only can but should buy all of their game copies independently.
 
Source (and lots more opinions and conjectures on it): http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2015/11/20/blacklisted-kotaku-whines-we-have-to-pay-for-games-like-street-level-riff-raff/

 

 

EDIT: Sargon's take on this

Spoiler

[AresKrieger]

Thank you bethesda, (and I guess ubisoft.......that felt weird), Kotaku needs to die and you have started it's execution hopefully

[DigitalHermit]

About f*cking time?

inb4 I get labeled as a mysogynistic pig for this comment

[don_svetlio]

I for one like Kotaku. Sad to see them go

[EmeraldKiwi]

One less sensationalist website for me to scroll past. I'm all for it.

EDIT:

Keep in mind that they were blacklisted by two companies, so I don't really feel like they're going to go out of business. A company is allowed to blacklist a website for putting up bad reviews and whatnot, but it is a very childish move that leaves most mature gamers angry at whichever company does it, and sympathetic towards the victim. In this case, Kotaku. It's not cool of Bethesda or Ubisoft to do that, but Kotaku is responding with low blows like "you didn't even give us a review sample". Both companies on this situation make me disgusted.

[Misanthrope]

I for one like Kotaku. Sad to see them go

To each his own but do I need to remind you that if you remotely consider yourself a gamer, you're in the wrong and probably a misogynist sociopath according to their narrative? Look I can't really force anyone to care about anything more than the gaming content, but a site with such a toxic opinion, obvious bias and quite frankly an ever present affinity to force non-gaming topics into your experience shouldn't be afforded any kind of sympathy, if anything because they give fucking none.

[zMeul]

not OK

 

it's not the developer or publisher "job" to blacklist outlets, but to the reader's duty to sort through the chaff

blacklist a site like Kotaku, but it's OK to continue working with the likes of Polygon?!   <_<

[don_svetlio]

To each his own but do I need to remind you that if you remotely consider yourself a gamer, you're in the wrong and probably a misogynist sociopath according to their narrative? Look I can't really force anyone to care about anything more than the gaming content, but a site with such a toxic opinion, obvious bias and quite frankly an ever present affinity to force non-gaming topics into your experience shouldn't be afforded any kind of sympathy, if anything because they give fucking none.

I'm not talking about the whole GamerGate thing - I never even read a single line about that. I'm talking some of the more casual articles I read on the train or buss - ones that make me laugh or reminisce about older games

[Misanthrope]

I'm not talking about the whole GamerGate thing - I never even read a single line about that. I'm talking some of the more casual articles I read on the train or buss - ones that make me laugh or reminisce about older games

 

They are, like right now on their front page at least indirectly they're still pushing a stupid article about gender politics in a Legend of Zelda game:

 

Looking back now, you might say that there’s nothing gender-specific about this avatar, and you would be right. But the instruction manual referred to Link with female pronouns, and anyway, almost all the heroes in all the great fantasy legends (and in almost all video games) were female, so heroes were seen as female by default. Without a male gender signifier like a beard or a necktie, there was no reason to interpret Link as anything other than female. It made sense, too. Back in the 80s, it was still considered entirely normal for boys to project themselves onto girls in movies, TV shows, books, and games, to have heroes who were women; female was the “default” gender, and the experiences of girls and women were seen as universal. But girls understood, because the culture taught them to understand, that it was strange to project themselves onto male characters; boys and men were “other,” their experiences inherently gendered and not universal. Perhaps, very slowly, this is starting to change. I don’t know. I hope so.

I don't think it's even a big coincidence to find constant crap like this and other SJW related nonsense constantly on their site.

[Theo]

Just gonna leave another kotaku article here to show why they should not exist

http://kotaku.com/5878449/why-the-apple-trackpad-might-be-the-best-video-game-controller-ever-made

[Misanthrope]

not OK

 

it's not the developer or publisher "job" to blacklist outlets, but to the reader's duty to sort through the chaff

blacklist a site like Kotaku, but it's OK to continue working with the likes of Polygon?!   <_<

Remember we're mostly speculating here and it could very well be related to their poor performance as a site

 

You have to wonder if the self-aggrandizing claim that Kotaku is being persecuted for standing up for journalistic ethics has anything to do with, say, the massive restructuring of their parent company, Gawker Media, or their sliding Alexa ranking. Being blacklisted over leaks certainly sounds more noble than publishers giving you the cold shoulder for constantly attacking game creators over politicized non-stories and gamers (you know, their customers).

[qwertywarrior]

good

[TopWargamer]

I like Kotaku, I really do. I don't like their Gamer Gate articles and some just absurd articles that they post every now and then. And that's the issue. These articles most people talk about when Kotaku comes up. Sure, I don't like them either, but Kotaku is primarily about the games. All of their gaming news articles and gaming reviews are very well done and very thought out. You don't hear people talking about that, because that's not the popular thing to say about Kotaku on Internet.

As for this topic specifically, like it or not Kotaku is part of the gaming press. Bethesda and Ubisoft need to get that stick out of their ass. Kotaku may have leaked some information. They're reporting gaming news, leaked or not. It's their job. There should be no reason for Bethesda and Ubisoft to cut off review samples. Why not cut off the other gaming news outlets that talked about it? Because that's not the popular thing to do.

This situation is kind of similar to the Fury Nano fiasco where some reviewers weren't getting their review samples. Very similar situation. AMD got pissy at them about some articles that were written and so they cut them. All of you were like "This is so wrong, give them a sample!" Whereas in this case with Kotaku you all have reversed that stance, because that's the popular thing to do when talking about Kotaku. Have some consistency.

Do Bethesda and Ubisoft technically have a right to do this? Sure they do, and so did AMD, but that doesn't mean it's not messed up. I would really love for them unblacklist Kotaku. Let the shit storm roll in.

[zMeul]

Remember we're mostly speculating here and it could very well be related to their poor performance as a site

and how's that OK? if their "performance" was disastrous, they will not be around anymore

[Misanthrope]

I like Kotaku, I really do. I don't like their Gamer Gate articles and some just absurd articles that they post every now and then. And that's the issue. These articles most people talk about when Kotaku comes up. Sure, I don't like them either, but Kotaku is primarily about the games. All of their gaming news articles and gaming reviews are very well done and very thought out.

On this very same thread:

http://kotaku.com/5878449/why-the-apple-trackpad-might-be-the-best-video-game-controller-ever-made

 

Don't even read it in fact: Something that fucking verbose is the anti-thesis of "very thought out"

[Misanthrope]

and how's that OK? if their "performance" was disastrous, they will not be around anymore

 

There's a different between "OK" and "business as usual" meaning that Publishers want to give review copies and promotional material to get the best bang for their marketing buck so to speak (Because honestly, giving away review codes, particularly before the game is even out of the public, it's basically marketing: Whenever the review is good or bad you're building hype and such. Yes even Linus is guilty of this, no it is not ok just because someone I do like does it)

 

Sites with a lot of views and traffic probably get a lot of atention. Little guys? Yeah not so much. Now if you add the fact that they probably do a very negative piece about patriarchy tropes in Fallout 4 then you pretty much have your answer. But regardless even if that second part is not factoring into their decision at all, if the site is struggling to get views then there's your answer.

[Trik'Stari]

They deserve it.

[Nup]

I'm not talking about the whole GamerGate thing - I never even read a single line about that. I'm talking some of the more casual articles I read on the train or buss - ones that make me laugh or reminisce about older games

This^^ I agree they do Have some articles that simply make me smile. I don't go there for options or reviews. Ooh and their occasional artist showcases are pretty cool to.

[zMeul]

...

you reasoning doesn't hold

outlets with couple of thousand readers still get review copies

and there's that other thing - no such thing as bad publicity, media coverage is media coverage

[Misanthrope]

you reasoning doesn't hold

outlets with couple of thousand readers still get review copies

and there's that other thing - no such thing as bad publicity, media coverage is media coverage

 

1) No reasoning will completely hold since as I keep mentioning, this is just speculation. Yes my reasoning doesn't holds because it's based on asumptions, Kotaku's reasoning about the leaks doesn't holds. Yours doesn't either. It's all speculation. On that note I have just decide that this line of discussion is pointless. Speculative points should be brought up once not argued so for all intends and purposes, I'll concede to whatever you claim

 

2) Is that so? Because #Gamergate certainly gave them a lot of negative attention and they have been on a steady decline ever since. You'd think that all publicity would be good right? On that sense, siding with their SJW buddies would certainly give em SJW types traffic at the expense of gamers.....on a political blog that might be good but on a gaming site? Merely reaping what they sow.

 

But again this is again, 1).

[TopWargamer]

On this very same thread:

http://kotaku.com/5878449/why-the-apple-trackpad-might-be-the-best-video-game-controller-ever-made

 

Don't even read it in fact: Something that fucking verbose is the anti-thesis of "very thought out"

I saw this already. This is one of their absurd articles that obviously I'm like "What the hell Kotaku." Their gaming news and reviews articles are very well done though. Not this clickbait shit. To be a bit fair though, everybody does this now a days, and that's a shame. While we're at it, Polygon and The Verge are no better.

 

As a side note, I would love to hear your response to the rest of what I wrote before.

[zMeul]

...

and, as I said, they don't blacklist Polygon&Co ?!?!

whatever reason for them (developers/publishers) to blacklist any media outlet is BULLCRAP - for any reason

they would lie / be biased for or against "you" indifferent if they send, or not, review copies

they won't send review copies, that doesn't mean they won't be able to buy the darn thing and publish a review slightly later

if Linus doesn't get a hardware sample, that doesn't mean he can't review it at a later date

[Misanthrope]

and as I said, they don't blacklist Polygon&Co ?!?!

whatever reason for them (developers/publishers) to blacklist any media outlet is BULLCRAP - for any reason

they would lie / be biased for or against "you" indifferent if they send, or not, review copies

 

Fine, it's bullcrap! Let's get a time machine and kidnap Hitler, Mao and Stalin.

We kill only Stalin. The fact that we spare Hitler and Mao is bullcrap! Conceded. Just don't expect any fucking sympathy for Stalin's death, regardless of whenever the arguably greater 2 evils being spared.

[Misanthrope]

I saw this already. This is one of their absurd articles that obviously I'm like "What the hell Kotaku." Their gaming news and reviews articles are very well done though. Not this clickbait shit. To be a bit fair though, everybody does this now a days, and that's a shame. While we're at it, Polygon and The Verge are no better.

 

As a side note, I would love to hear your response to the rest of what I wrote before.

 

I strongly disagree with actually most of their "gaming" content, including their focus on indie games coverage while they might or might not be fucking the indie devs. But if it works for you, it works for you, I can respect that. Just be aware there's other sites and specially, youtubers and other people reviewing and doing game content, that are at the very least equally as competent, yet you choose to give traffic (and henceforth, money) to one of the worst when it comes to ethics and opinionated bullshit that gets equal or even more attention to gaming stuff.

[zMeul]

...

what the actual fuck!??!

since when do we go from blacklisting a junk website to equalizing them to mass murders ?!