GameSpot and more Jeff Gerstmann Fallout

GameSpot and more Jeff Gerstmann Fallout

((Long time video game reviewer Alex Navarro, a frequent contributor to GameSpot's podcast The HotSpot and go-to video review narrator, will be leaving the site, according to the site's Editorial Director Ricardo Torres.))

Yes, another writer for Gamespot is leaving the company.

His name is Alex Navarro, and he's jumping ship. That makes two writers leaving since the firing of Gerstmann. The first one was Frank Provo and he's made some statements about why he quit, and they're damming allegations.

(("I believe CNet management let Jeff go for all the wrong reasons," wrote the reviewer "I believe CNet intends to soften the site's tone and push for higher scores to make advertisers happy."))

(("I feel sad about the whole thing, but I can't write for a site that could one day punish me for honesty."))

Provo has come out swinging. There have been rumors that the Marketing and Advertising folks at C-NET have quietly taken over the control of the actual writing department. Writers are pressed to give higher scores to otherwise negative reviewed games. If this isn’t a conflict of interest, I don’t know what is.

Folks, this bigger than the game industry and more of this needs to be exposed. Once our writers lose their objective opinion, there is no reason to read any kind of review or web site. There has always been an invisible wall between the journalists and the Advertising and Marketing guys, but that wall has been crumbling of late and it needs to be stopped. There will be more fallout from this thing.

On a lighter note, here's a funny video giving the whole Gamespot controversy a JFK/Oliver Stone treatment.