More concerning than Bethesda’s decision to withhold early review codes from certain outlets is how heavily some sites are relying on the game to drive their business.
More concerning than Bethesda’s decision to withhold early review codes from certain outlets is how heavily some sites are relying on the game to drive their business.
I wrote reviews(early 2000) during the late magazine era and even back then there were taboos about local influential company’s releases.(they only sign import deal and sell/distribute games locally.) Cause they survive on the ad money instead of subscription or individual purchases. Modern website sucks even more cause you made pennies for each view and if you don’t have something that covers enough contents to drive views, you will be at the mercy of promotion partners, same for the youtuber/streamer/influencer.
I mostly write review/walk through for import games, as there was usually a couple months delay for localization, even had contacts with local publisher that consult with group of writers about maybe which game to sign and import. The US/Japan publisher aren’t exactly nice guys you know, they will ask you to sign multiple games, including the games you know might not sell well as part of the deal. It’s a risky business and if companies that import games will try to influence review scores, you know how desperate the publisher will try to defend their “investment”.