Lets talk about Eddie Makuch

He consistently creates misinformed articles that not only show ignorance toward the topic of the piece, but he shows a massive lack of research and any general background information. His articles always have a misleading title. Every time I read an article and role my eyes or get trolled by a massive information error I always scroll up and low and behold its Eddie Makuch... I hate that generic oh I just go to ign threat, but truth be told everytime I mistakingly click a Eddie Makuch article I instantly

A: lose interest and do something else

or

B: go right to IGN

I apologize to Eddie Makuch, for saying this but Ive just had this gripe for years and need to finally say something. I know many agree with me, he singlehandedly makes this site less credible.

Don't apologize. If a person sucks at his job he should know it. Eddie should apologize to us for making us read his shit.

I'm guessing Gamespot is happy with the traffic he generates regardless of how low is the quality of his work, I stop using GS as a source for new from some tips. If I dream interesting title I usually just google it instead of click it.

I used to be a gamespot loyalist. Unfortunately they lost all there writers with passion and voice.The blemishes like Eddie show so much more clear now. Still though this has been an ongoing issue. If anything the traffic that he generates is negatively affecting game spot, for every person that reads a bullshit poorly written article, that person is less likely to return or trust game spot.

This is my 2 cents on Eddie Makuch.

Eddie at his early days of GS, he used to put out good quality gaming news but all that change after 2014, he got to the point just posting nothing but twitter as a source of news. I been to places and see different gaming sites put out gaming news tat are not from Twitter, why can't Eddie do that? I main grip with Eddie and the rest of GS staff is the fact that they don't post PC gaming news, I like to hear more about PC, Nintendo games and other games that I or anyone never hears about, Eddie just post Phil Spencer Twitter crap and I think everyone knows this is NOT how you post quality news, it's just lazy.

On the other hand, I now just take myself to the forums were people can post other gaming news that GS and Eddie doesn't even bother to discuss, take Star Citizen for example. TC, don't feel bad for calling out Eddie, he used to be a good editor and believe me, he can be redeem if he just stop posting Twitter shits and stop click-baits.

And this is why I primary now just post in the forums since I can find some pretty good gaming news coming from the community since GS doesn't bother to post good news and info. and the forums does provides more freedom then the news articles we all post.

At least he doesn't delete the negative comments on his profile page.

Your probably right, I think everyone in the community should start giving more true feedback beyond "I don't like the new site" or "the videos don't work half the time" (cause they don't) and start getting the content back to the quality it once was.

@unfriendlytoast: I actually built an entire website because of how much of a shithole this place has become. I even have many of the old gamespot features built in to the site or on the todo list. Eddie's horrible track record the past few years only emboldens my belief that we, as a community, can do a better job than the staff here.

Hell, the staff don't even post here but once or twice a month. They don't care about us, we're just clicks to them.

I'm in full approval of constructive criticism and feedback, but reductionism completely undermines these types conversations.

To quote: "He consistently creates misinformed articles that not only show ignorance toward the topic of the piece, but he shows a massive lack of research and any general background information. His articles always have a misleading title. Every time I read an article and role my eyes or get trolled by a massive information error I always scroll up and low and behold its Eddie Makuch"

I will admit 100% that Eddie is probably the editor who drives the most amount of traffic to the site for our news articles. Here's a sampling of yesterday's top 3 "clickbait" articles, all of which were written by Eddie.

1. Free PS4/PS3/Vita PlayStation Plus Games For February 2017 Revealed
2. NES Classic Sells 1.5 Million Units; Nintendo Apologizes For And Explains Shortages
3. Three More Games Added To Xbox One Backwards Compatibility Program

I find Eddie's articles to not only be a great resource for the information that the majority of our readers seek, but they almost always add excellent context and links out to relevant further reading.

For better or worse, the GS editors do not spend as much time in these forums (or the comments of articles) as they once did, but that's because over the last 3-5 years, those conversations have shifted. These discussions and interactions still happen, but they're primarily on Facebook and Twitter. I encourage you to interact with Eddie, me, and all of our editors both through direct messages here on GameSpot, or those more frequently used social tools. When we receive constructive, rational criticism, we are more likely to respond in kind. Attacks without context (or any basis in reality) will tend to be ignored.

@justinhaywald: Maybe you should spend more time in your forums and comments so you can see what people are saying about your site and staff. We're not going to go seek you out on social media to tell you we're unhappy when we're already here.

There's a big disconnect between you and your users and we don't think that bothers you at all. Your dismissive response only reinforces that feeling.

@justinhaywald

The issue isn't so much with Eddie as a person, I feel bothering him personally will not improve the website as a hole. The format of the site has shifted from quality content to quantity. I'm not Trying to insult or throw blame, I'm stating a trend ive noticed for years that has swayed me and many other users away from your once great site. The community should not be held responsible for shifting or fixing the direction the site is going in. Nor would me or any number of people personally talking to Eddie be constructive. You all obviously condone what he is doing and I'm sure he feels he is doing an adequate job. I'm also sure he gets trolled allot, I fear I would fall into this category my words would go unheard. I'm attempting to generate a conversation as you put it among the local community in hopes to create a dialog with the staff that may help build stronger content. I did this by pointing out something the community generally agrees on unanimously but I feel your side stepping the issue a little bit. This site generates the content so I will remain on this site. I don't have a twitter or any of that and I feel like by running to tweet at someone, I am losing any real standing or power to effect or generate conversation from the community and staff as one entity. Perhaps I was a little direct and harsh. This doesn't make what I said any less true.

@unfriendlytoast I appreciate the thoughtful response! And I also want to make one thing clear: I do not like clickbait. Misleading headlines and sub-par content drive people away and they anger readers. We have a weekly meeting where we go through every story written on the site and talk about what did well, what didn't do well, and things that can go better.

Because of that, I feel confident in saying that we're not a click-bait site. The site has changed over the years, and it will continue to do so. One unfortunate aspect of gaming-specific sites in general is that our audience is primarily 18-29 year-olds, but while our audience ages every year, our target audience does not. Because of that, we constantly try new things and new directions. That's the reason we've put more emphasis on entertainment content, gameplay clips, and general news content.

We still make time for long-form, in-depth features (like Tamoor's recent trip to Japan for a fascinating look at Resident Evil 7), but for the most part we don't do a lot of written previews or features because so few people read them. But when we do do them, we go all out.

Going back to the topic at hand, I've been in threads where people have complained about click-bait in general (and Eddie specifically) before, and for the most part, these arguments just don't have any actual substance. I think everyone makes mistakes from time to time, and GameSpot is no different; we aim to not make our content sound like click-bait, but I think sometimes our writers fall short. But those examples are few and far between.

If you have specific examples, I'm happy to either explain why we wrote that particular article, or apologize for getting it wrong. But these threads tend to have a lot of misplaced anger towards Eddie and a lot of unfounded hyperbole. Eddie is not only one of the best writers on the site, I think he's also the nicest guy I've ever met. I give him a lot of leeway and my trust, and I believe in his judgement about stories, because he's proven to be right over and over again.

When anyone has specific examples of something they don't like, I'm happy to discuss that. But blanket statements about click-bait or the quality of Eddie's writing is just demonstrably untrue.

@justinhaywald I cant argue with any business decisions on Gamespots side, if its for the best its for the best. Although I hope your all not misunderstanding the problem. I feel your older audience is less driven away by your diversity of entertainment content, and more how each piece holds itself written content, video content, or otherwise. I'm going to bring up a few harsh memory's in an attempt to make a legitimate point. Feedbackula was a nightmare of trolling and incitement for the most vulgar obscure attention driven comments we've ever seen as a gaming community. While at the same time being an incredible social experiment. That in time forced a hole community to mature. I understand why the show is gone, I understand the editor is also gone. I'm not saying to bring it back. What I am saying is I miss the community, opinion, or entertainment driven content of the yester year. Most videos now seem more like pod casts and although I like hearing you all talk about a game organically. The Production value and humor is missing regardless of what age group your aiming for. It feels as if Gamespot is going threw a transition and in that, it will suffer greatly. As with any business. I'm just hopping when it comes out of that transition we will see something new and fun. Its your experimentation its your awkwardness that makes people relate, love, and return. When it all comes down to it when you guys have fun, we have fun. I've been getting that going threw the motions feeling from almost every aspect of your site, and the community has been feeling it.

Thank you again for listening, we all want this site to be our gaming news home. People will often come off to strong just as I did, but there here complaining at you for a reason. This is my attempt to bridge that gap.

Didn't we do a poll in System Wars last year only to find out most of us were 25-40 years old?

@suicidesn0wman: I myself am 25, I've been a member forever. I created a new profile in 2012 to reflect my new gaming alias. I don't think what 40 year olds and 20 year olds are looking for are all that different now a days.

@justinhaywald: Eddie just keeps adding fuel to the dumpster fire that is GameSpot. Todays E3 article is the 3rd article with misinformation posted by Eddie. The $150 tickets were always announced as available to the first 1000 purchasers only, and yet here comes Eddie with an article saying they're $150 today only, posted 2 HOURS AFTER THEY SOLD OUT!

Aren't you guys tired of being the laughing stock of video game journalists?

@suicidesn0wman: I appreciate Justin responding. Although unfortunately based on what he has said, they appear to be all for the mass switch from original, humorous, informative content to being a mirror-link, click bait, Tabloid journalism source. Everyday I see an article that contains blatantly false news or information. Or an article of only 2 short paragraphs containing hilariously bad typos (proof reading?). It is really very sad to see a once amazing place turn so sour and flavorless. They are trying too hard, and I fear by doing so they are losing there own identity and perhaps limiting the staffs as well. Id love to see the numbers of comments and views now, compared to a few years back. Its obvious there grabbing at straws and are struggling to exist in a changing age, I don't think they have much understanding of there audience and it shows.

Mind you It very well could be working. Perhaps game spot is more profitable then ever. I would argue that would be only due to the explosion of social media. I think once people catch on to the lack of any substance, and all the gamespot devotees (myself included) move on. They will face the decision to either listen to the community, or close its door for good.

Also I could see the comment numbers being effected by the like feature being implemented and unimplemented randomly over the last 3 years. I think the Like feature is for the best, it is a great way for a Gamespot members to agree with another community member, while also limiting comment rage/agree spam.

EDIT: One more thing I've noticed news from like 6 months ago or older being recycled, perhaps trying to use old articles to get clicks from news for games nearing release? The odd thing is there dated as if they were just released and often contain information that is useless. Very strange. @justinhaywaldasked to supply examples but to be honest I feel all I have to do is say, read the front page content any day of the week.

Phil tweeted his displeasure at the attacks on Eddie's good name.

@unfriendlytoast: The reason gamespot keeps changing the published date(which btw is very misleading and unethical) is to trick Google's algorithms into believing the article is incredibly popular. By doing this it makes the analytics for that article inflated well beyond the normal which then pushes the article to the top of google searches. So anytime you search "Backwards Compatibility" or other popular articles the republished link is at the top of the search results. Rather than bid on keywords like every other respectable business, they're cheating their way up the ranks.

I base that off of the research I had to do in order to learn how to improve SEO on my own site over the past 2 years. Although there is no arguing the results, I find the methods dishonest. Then again we're talking about a major website that uses some of the worst advertising services out there without any care that many people have unknowingly downloaded virus's or had porn start blasting on their phone(this happened to me, thank god I wasn't at work).

I can't say how many views the site used to have, that information was never public, but if the amount of comments is any indicator the site would have about 25% as much traffic today as they had 3 years ago. I remember many articles at the beginning of this console generation would have over 1000 comments. Monthly NPD reports were always in the 1200-1600 comments range. These days the site barely gets 1000 comments on all gaming news articles combined, per day.

@lrdfancypants: We know that isn't true. Eddie would have written an article about it by now! Eddie has that 'no tweet goes unreported' policy working for him you know.

Edit: I found an error in grammar AND a spelling error. Unlike gamespot I made an effort to correct my mistakes AND owned up to them.

The argument against Eddie are typically valid. Pretty much all the short 2-3 paragraph articles are his. They're usually stuffed with many links so he can avoid writing a long article. I miss the days when GS actually wrote their articles rather than depend on so many links

@suicidesn0wman:

Lol yeah. No Phil tweet goes unreported by Eddie :p.

His articles are barely articles.

@lrdfancypants: exactly!!! It almost feels like he's a robot programmed to auto write shady "articles". I'm not looking for them to fire Eddie. I'm looking for them to reestablish what they think people want to see when they come to the site. Manage accordingly, I know I said I want the staff to have more creative freedom but if there's an obvious issue and the community is voicing their opinion. wouldn't it be better for everyone, Eddie included if they tried to help him create articles people want to read? Or at least help him add fluff while removing the dead weight. Right now 99% of the articles regardless of topic feel like dead weight, The way there written makes me feel deceived.

@unfriendlytoast:

He might be a great guy like his coworker said but he puts very little effort into articles to the point of it being embarrassing.

@justinhaywald: I don't get how you can say that, when 99% of Eddie's articles are just plagerize from another game source site, that beat you guys to actually reporting the info by a few hrs.

I quite frequently see Eddie's articles being post nearly word for word, lifted right from an IGN article I had read a few hrs previously.

I have no problem with eddie makuch, I actually like his articles and use them in systems wars.

While I don't think it's fair to criticize one person, after all you have editors, etc ( I would hope ). You can't deny that articles Eddie is currently associated with, regarding the community, is the click bait, misinformed, plagiarized, I want blow my brains out type.

Eddie, probably is a great writer and great guy. But you can't ignore the fact that most of the articles he puts up has a lot of people in the comments complaining. We see a lot of "Yep, Eddie article". Because that's how hes now viewed by your users.

I love it when you have well written, well executed, and well researched articles. But they seem to be few and far between these days.

Having said that, it's a business. And if "You won't believe what X has done!" or "Click here to see details of Y", or articles to that effect get you traffic. Then go nuts, makes sense. Just bear in mind it puts off some of your long-time maturer users.

I myself have started visiting IGN more and more, and that's not a, "I'm done with this site I'm going to a competitor" threat. It just doesn't take a genius to see that their comments sections frequently have 5,000+ posts, and Gamespot's are almost non-existent.

Also Justin, thank you for being active in the comments, it's rare we hear from you guys on a 1 to 1 level. And keep up the good work, one of the best who work at GS in my opinion.

Some really interesting discussion from some people in here. And I also want to add my two cents, that people targeting eddie specifically, you're being assholes. You're being bullies, and its childish. Eddies articles are fine. Being a "mob" and following the leader because its cool its fucking dumb and im sick of you idiots. Sorry for the cursing, but this is so tired. Lets continue talking about the quality of content and things of substance, not childish nothingess. IN response specifcally to the guy above me- your argument has no substance that is real. People complain about eddie, simply because its popular to do and people love to band wagon and people love to attack and make others hurt. Talk about content not authors.

Really appreciate Justin's activity in this.

@justinhaywald: hey dude, thanks for never actually improving the site and instead feed us bullshit like the rest of people here.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-wars-the-last-jedi-director-says-you-should-c/1100-6453878/

We really gonna act like Eddie isn't straight clickbaity turd at his job?

@justinhaywald How about that new PSNow article Eddie posted that is chock full of inaccuracies? Eddie posted '16 games added', it's only 10 'added'. Eddie also said 6 PS3 games were 'added', it's actually 6 PS3 games were removed and replaced with PS4 versions, no mention of the upgrade at all. It's as if he didn't even read the press release.

Wasting your time, he will always stick by his colleagues.

@Random_Matt: I know. But Eddies half-assed work annoys me, so I figure why not annoy his boss.

He just writes the articles. It's the editorial staff you're really going after.