Exclusive Reviews Spell Trouble

[GameBanshee News]

I hate to bring GTA IV into this site because it's already dominating the internet as we speak, but it also marked up a worrying phenomenon; review exclusivity.

“… Anyone who knows anything about videogame journalism knows that when an outlet gets a review copy of a game, they agree to an embargo -- not to run their review before anyone else… IGN.com clearly got permission from… Rockstar… to run their reviews before any other outlet. And it means they got their copy of the game pretty damned early in order to have the review ready to run early.

“Being the first outlet to review a highly anticipated new videogame is a big deal. It means a major boost in Web traffic or magazine sales. Anybody who cares about GTA IV has probably read the IGN review already, or will very soon. And every major videogame blog is probably linking to it.

“I'm not saying that GTA IV doesn't deserve a 10… But how can we trust a videogame review when the outlet running it has been given a major commercial favor -- one that's worth money -- from the publisher of the game? You never see a paper or TV station getting special access from a movie studio or TV network or book publisher to run an "exclusive review." Imagine the L.A. Times or Roger Ebert touting their “exclusive review of Iron Man.” Absurd, right? So why do we tolerate it for a videogame.

“Exclusive reviews are really ethically troubling, for all the reasons I've outlined above. And I'll state it flat out: I personally don't trust any review labeled "exclusive." Is anyone else as disturbed by this practice as I am?”

In typical ridiculous hype fashion GTA IV has been getting 10/10 scores across the board, but that doesn't take away that the idea of exclusive reviews is like poison in the eye. Hell, it's pretty ridiculous that so many seem so acceptive of it.

[DesR85]

I remember HALO 3 was also given the 'exclusive review' treatment by big name sites well before it's official release to the public. What drives these exclusive reviews anyway? Connections with publishers?

[Brother None]

It's a "I rub your back you rub my back" kinda thing. Big publishers and big media working together. Big publishers get attention and high ratings out of it. Big media get the hits.

What makes it so shady is that both parties make a lot of profit from it as long as the big site is positive about the game. That's just wrong. I don't care if IGN would have not given GTA IV a 10 were it not for the exclusive, the fact is that any site with an exclusive deal for a review can not afford to be negative about the game in said review.

That's just...so wrong.