"New management structure" means VP Josh Larson to leave Gamespot
Ah, and so it is that the Jeff Gerstmann story unfolds further. For anyone who doesn't know how it goes, Gerstmann is a former editor at Gamespot, rumoured to be fired due to, essentially, an honest review of a game (shocking!). Funnily enough, the review is still online. Oh, but wait, it was edited because Gamespot "felt the review's negativity did not match its "fair" 6.0 rating."
Anyhow, turns out one of the people rumoured to be to blame, the company's VP, Josh Larson, is leaving the company April 9. Editor in Chief Ricardo Torres couldn't really comment on the news, citing its "internal" nature. Course, these things always get out somehow, like over on Valleywag where anonymous user "gamespot" left a comment stating Larson was "a suit [...] who had no editorial experience and was only involved on the business side of things." Between this and the staff cuts, this all reminds me of heavily of the state of journalism in Canada at the moment. Reported Kotaku:
"The anonymous commenter lamented that the presence of the sales team had become much more visible under Larson's watch, with other contributors going on and off record with less than favorable comments of CNET management."
So, naturally, unfortunately, this is another issue that all comes down to money. EGM spoke out against it some time ago, stating game coverage is essentially for sale with a lot of magazines. Thank God someone up there still has the integrity to speak the truth.
So why is this dangerous? Because you get more coverage than is deserved, phony hype, and good or great reviews for crap games.
While many are hoping this will improve the state of the gaming site, user "aka Bitter" on Kotaku brings up an interesting point:
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"Great, the guy who was likely responsible for Jeff's dismissal is gone. But who hired him? As long as the people who created this situation in the first place are still employed by CNET, Gamespot and their other properties are not trustworthy sources of information, at least for me."
Have to say I'm kinda with him/her on this one. The only publications I can really trust are the ones that have really taken a stand, like Giant Bomb, which features Gerstmann, and will be fully launching this summer, or EGM. Relating to a previous article, while I may disagree with EGM's stance on some things, on a fundamental level, I'm totally with them. Who agrees with anyone or any company or thing 100% anyway?
But, I'm optimistic, so here's hoping the writers and editors at Gamespot get what they want, assuming that's honest journalism.
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Gamespot and IGN were the first of their kinds, hopefully the future will see some non-profit game review sites.
Gerstmann is the Ebert of game reviews.
That a compliment or insult? Haha.
...We apologize again for the fault in subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.