[UPDATED] Source: Publications blacklisted for low-scoring Two Worlds II reviews
Lewis Denby February 18, 2011 - 6:45 pm
It’s a rare situation, but one that it’s always sad to see. We’ve received word from a trusted source within games journalism that the PR team of Topware Interactive, publisher of Two Worlds II, is blacklisting publications who have awarded the game a middling or low score.
According to our source, an email to one British games journalist said that the company was “disappointed” with the response from UK critics, and described the publication’s middling score as “insulting”.
Our source was told that unless the score was upped to a 7 out of 10 – which the PR rep believed should signal an “average” game – the publication would be removed from Topware’s press list – meaning no press releases, assets, preview code or review copies would be sent their way in the future.
A second source told us that this isn’t the first time Topware have engaged in such behaviour – though we’ve not got the details on that one yet.
I have emailed our own PR contact at Topware to try to straighten things out. For the record, despite awarding the game 5.4 out of 10 in our review, we received no such email from the company or any of its representatives.
Added 20:30 on 18th Feb
We’ve not heard back from TopWare yet, but we have just received an email from a UK-based editor who has informed us of similar goings-on at CVG.
The editor, who asked to remain anonymous but is not from CVG, said that TopWare had threatened to pull out of a very lucrative advertising deal with the website as a result of the review – a deal that the publication’s ad department say they knew nothing of.
The PR rep allegedly told a CVG editor that the review was “mean-spirited”, and asked for a re-write.
CVG is not the publication the original story referred to, so sounds like this isn’t just an isolated incident.
More info as we get it.
Added 22:38 on 18th Feb:
Comments (9)
Regretable companies dont like the fact that not everyone will like their game, and that everyone is entitled to their opinions good or bad.
Thats some pretty bad behaviour.
I am pretty against scoring in reviews however. Since a game can be many things, giving it a score can seem pretty arbitrary. In the world of metacritic and you’ve got a recipe to ruin companies.
Some of my favourite films score terribly on metacritic, yet very few of my favourite games.
I guess its pretty difficult for a game to be so bad that its good.
Same here. I don’t generally base if I’m going to get a game on a review score, unless it seems most of the heavy hitters reviewing the game all give it a low score, as there is typically a reason.
One of my favorite games got terrible reviews, and I love it. If I were reviewing it, I’d give it a really good rating/score.
People should take reviews at what they are, opinion pieces. Doesn’t mean it’s right or wrong, but companies most definitely should not take the unprofessional route of something in this post above.
Wow, I find that such behavior from a company like this is even more disappointing and upsetting.
If this happens to be the case, and companies are doing this, it’s like they are blackmailing their way to better scores (if they get them). Is that what they really want??? That’s not a sign of a better game, it’s a sign of man handling and twisting things to go your way, even if later down the road it affects/impacts gamers and the industry.
Very sad, and does not show companies doing this type of thing in a good light.
Saw on twitter that this was updated. So came back to check it out.
Now isn’t that interesting! Another claim of this going on. This is not looking good for TopWare, no matter how this is spun, it’s just not looking too professional.
I see this as next step in trying how far they (devs) can go. If people dont turn back from this kind of behavior more publishers in future will make “blacklists”.
Black lists don’t really seem to benefit anyone. I’m not sure I see a move to use them more often in the future. If a company or site decide for whatever reason they need to take such measure, it affects a lot of things. Hopefully we do not hear of more of that going on. It’s really not helpful to the industry.
Yeah it happens…X3