UFG’s Stance on Bethesda’s Review Policy!
Bethesda recently revealed their plans when it comes to issuing review copies of their upcoming titles. In a blog post they wrote:
“With the upcoming launches of Skyrim Special Edition and Dishonored 2, we will continue our policy of sending media review copies one day before release. While we will continue to work with media, streamers, and YouTubers to support their coverage – both before and after release – we want everyone, including those in the media, to experience our games at the same time.”
Well, you can image how gaming media felt about this news. The long and short of it: this move is anti-consumer. Releasing a game to the media a day before launch gives us very little time to finish our reviews, which of course means there’s less information for consumers. Outside of waiting for a friend to pick it up and then bombarding them with questions, there’s no way to know if a game is good or, given the recent blunders, if it even works as advertised.
This doesn’t really affect Bethesda though…at least, not in a negative way. Less criticism before a game launches means more sales right? I mean, it’s interesting how no review copies of Skyrim Special Edition will be released before launch, but popular Youtubers are already playing it. That’s not a knock on anyone mind you. Just an observation; most of them won’t be as critical on the game as consumers would hope.
A ton of sites have already weighed in on this issue. Polygon’s Ben Kuchera stated that “To paint this as anything other than being consumer- and press-hostile requires some pretty hefty spin.” Gamerinformer’s Jeff Marchiafava echoed this sentiment by saying, “Only Bethesda stands to benefit, by gaining more control over what players see and hear about a game before it’s out on store shelves and selling copies.” Some outlets are going beyond just sharing their thoughts. For us, well, we’ve been inadvertently preparing for this outcome.
For the past few years, we’ve been getting games closer and closer to their lunch dates. Hell, we got No Man’s Sky a week after it hit retail. As a result, our reviews have been “late” to post (we refuse to rush through games). The thing is though, we haven’t lost readers. On the contrary, we’ve seen growth. We may miss out on that first-post-first-click status that everyone is chasing, but we aren’t exactly hurting either.
We don’t agree with Bethesda’s stance, but we aren’t going to stop covering their games. That would be a disservice to you, our readers. We’ll just continue post our reviews when they’re ready, while pointing out why one should wait before forking over 60 bucks. As enticing as it may be to pre-order that must have title, large publishers are proving more and more that they only see the bottom-line…