SSJPabs
01-12-2005, 07:22 PM
This is pretty funny. It was actually sent in 2001 but I just found out about it and I think it's worth a read for amusement value alone. The letter is Trip Hawkins' angry response to gamepro giving his Army Men spin off, Portal Runner, a 2 of 5.
Via Kotaku (http://www.kotaku.com/) and this link (http://www.gamedrool.com/article.cfm?blog_id=1895)
It closed minds that it could have opened. And even though your reviewer is hardly an authority on either games in general or Portal Runner specifically, his voice will be heard louder and taken more seriously than others. It's not right and it's not fair.
In any case, your reviewer blew it on this one. And we are re-evaluating our relationship with GamePro as a result.
I think it is unprofessional of a reviewer to assume he represents all his readers and all market segments and can therefore dismiss a game based purely on his personal experience of a game, particularly when he has no context about the goals and target audience of the game publisher.
The audience for games no longer consists of one iconic block of angry young men who cannot get a date on Saturday night. Reviewers who don't consult with the game publisher about the intended audience, and don't attempt to position a game in terms of who might like it and who might not like it, are unprofessional.
[snip]
But I can understand that some of them would reject it the same way some adults reject Shrek or Beethoven. But personally, I think that really means there is something wrong with a man like that, not with Portal Runner.
If you disagree with me, you do so at your own peril. The industry is in a malaise. As you know, most game publishers are losing money and have cut back on advertising. Many magazines and webzines have perished. What seems needless to me is the often overly negative tone that gaming editorial takes.
Most of you have editorial staffs that are dominated by angry young men that are poorly trained and represent a narrow and anarchistic element of the world's population. They have a negative attitude and are looking for what is wrong with something, instead of looking for what is right and who might like it.
It reminds me of boys at junior high school dance. With their fragile egos, they stay on the sideline and say the band sucks, the girls are ugly, and that those brave enough to dance are lousy dancers. Your reviewers have no idea how to make a great game. None of them have ever made one. But they sure have fun telling us in a nasty tone how inferior we are to them.
[snip]
You are so much better off if you do not bite the hand that feeds you. And do not patronize me by telling me the reader is the customer--your real customer is the one that pays you your revenue. And it is game industry advertisers.
[snip]
I should mention in passing that 3DO has been one of your largest advertisers. Effective immediately, we are going to have to cut that back. If a consumer sees a bad editorial, and a positive ad, they are going to assume the ad is biased (what is frustrating is that often it is the other way around).
[snip]
In conclusion, I think you owe us one because you took us by surprise and threw our review to a wolf. And you accepted his word as God without even checking in with a major advertiser or wondering about how it makes you look to rip a game you chose to put on a recent cover.
[snip]
Sincerely,
Trip
Via Kotaku (http://www.kotaku.com/) and this link (http://www.gamedrool.com/article.cfm?blog_id=1895)
It closed minds that it could have opened. And even though your reviewer is hardly an authority on either games in general or Portal Runner specifically, his voice will be heard louder and taken more seriously than others. It's not right and it's not fair.
In any case, your reviewer blew it on this one. And we are re-evaluating our relationship with GamePro as a result.
I think it is unprofessional of a reviewer to assume he represents all his readers and all market segments and can therefore dismiss a game based purely on his personal experience of a game, particularly when he has no context about the goals and target audience of the game publisher.
The audience for games no longer consists of one iconic block of angry young men who cannot get a date on Saturday night. Reviewers who don't consult with the game publisher about the intended audience, and don't attempt to position a game in terms of who might like it and who might not like it, are unprofessional.
[snip]
But I can understand that some of them would reject it the same way some adults reject Shrek or Beethoven. But personally, I think that really means there is something wrong with a man like that, not with Portal Runner.
If you disagree with me, you do so at your own peril. The industry is in a malaise. As you know, most game publishers are losing money and have cut back on advertising. Many magazines and webzines have perished. What seems needless to me is the often overly negative tone that gaming editorial takes.
Most of you have editorial staffs that are dominated by angry young men that are poorly trained and represent a narrow and anarchistic element of the world's population. They have a negative attitude and are looking for what is wrong with something, instead of looking for what is right and who might like it.
It reminds me of boys at junior high school dance. With their fragile egos, they stay on the sideline and say the band sucks, the girls are ugly, and that those brave enough to dance are lousy dancers. Your reviewers have no idea how to make a great game. None of them have ever made one. But they sure have fun telling us in a nasty tone how inferior we are to them.
[snip]
You are so much better off if you do not bite the hand that feeds you. And do not patronize me by telling me the reader is the customer--your real customer is the one that pays you your revenue. And it is game industry advertisers.
[snip]
I should mention in passing that 3DO has been one of your largest advertisers. Effective immediately, we are going to have to cut that back. If a consumer sees a bad editorial, and a positive ad, they are going to assume the ad is biased (what is frustrating is that often it is the other way around).
[snip]
In conclusion, I think you owe us one because you took us by surprise and threw our review to a wolf. And you accepted his word as God without even checking in with a major advertiser or wondering about how it makes you look to rip a game you chose to put on a recent cover.
[snip]
Sincerely,
Trip