EA paying IGN to hype Battlefield 4?

Seems so...

This was in the source code on their teaser site.  Apparently EA has bought some publicity from IGN.  Games Journalism!  So much integrity.

IGN (and Gamespot, and most gaming sites) is nothing more than an Internet billboard for gaming companies to advertise on. This thread is less surprising than the sun coming up this morning.

-

Is anyone really shocked? It just 'confirms' all our speculation as to the legitimacy of the journalistic integrity of the games industry. Wonder how big a payday IGN hit with that deal?

IGN still accepts exclusive reviews, which have been known to come with some seriously ridiculous requisites (like guarantying a certain score threshold), so they already deal in questionable practices. But even I would doubt that they would sell themselves out. I'd rather hear their side of the story before jumping to conclusions.

Who cares? Let them, hype won't make the game any better than it's going to be. I won't be buying it anyway, done with generic military shooters.

IGN (and Gamespot, and most gaming sites) is nothing more than an Internet billboard for gaming companies to advertise on. This thread is less surprising than the sun coming up this morning.

ReddestSkies

IGN is always open if there is money involved.

Maybe they already saw a gameplay demo and were super impressed?

*Living in denial :P *

Did some looking around.

Current theory is that the web designers were simply testing the site's promo functionality (hence why the code was set to "promo-off"). Hell of a weird bit of text to test it with, though.

That the staff has kept up a very dismissive tone in response to this discovery (not to mention to mention that IGN's executive editor of all people brought attention to it) rather than keep their mouths shut and refer to an official response makes me think they really had no part in this. Or if they did, then editorial department hasn't been informed (which is real unlikely; the most input ad-departments have in editorial matters is suggesting stories that carry large traffic potential. For a magazine, that'd be the cover story. For an online publication, likely lists for SEO purposes. Actual interference with editorial integrity wouldn't stay quiet for long; someone would leak the details of the deal).

I'd remain cautious, but assume there's no actual shadiness going down.

No one being surprised by this is sad for a few reasons... the first obviously being that none of us have any trust that there is any integrity involved with the people who bring us news and reviews. The second, and bigger reason that is it is sad, being that game journalism has been so sh*tty for so long that none of us bat an eye when this kind of stuff happens. At this point, the big sites can do whatever with no real backlash because we lost faith in them so long ago that we no longer raise a stink when they do sh*tty things.rragnaar

It really is to the point where you don't expect competency even, let alone integrity. 

For example, IGN reported that Gamespot gave SimCity a 7/10 during their Mix'd Reviews segment when they actually gave it a 5/10. I'm not saying you have to be perfect all the time, but this type of error is all too common on gaming websites.

It really is to the point where you don't expect competency even, let alone integrity. 

For example, IGN reported that Gamespot gave SimCity a 7/10 during their Mix'd Reviews segment when they actually gave it a 5/10. I'm not saying you have to be perfect all the time, but this type of error is all too common on gaming websites.

IndianaPwns39

There are times when I wonder whether IGN has any actual editors on staff. The amount of mispellings and fact-checking errors I've seen astound me.

Can't spell BLING without IGN?JustPlainLucas

[QUOTE="JustPlainLucas"]Can't spell BLING without IGN?Justforvisit

just noticed that LOL!

more like you can't spell ignorant without IGN.

[QUOTE="JustPlainLucas"]Can't spell BLING without IGN?Justforvisit

Can't spell BLING without IGN?JustPlainLucas

It took me a moment but I got it.:P

I remember when the last Call of Duty came out and Gamespot was nothing but one huge advertisement for it, to the point where people were complaining about it all over the forums.  These bloggers aren't "journalists" by any stretch of the imagination, and they have no concept of the difference between reporting on an industry vs. acting as a branch of its advertising department. 

[QUOTE="IndianaPwns39"]

It really is to the point where you don't expect competency even, let alone integrity. 

For example, IGN reported that Gamespot gave SimCity a 7/10 during their Mix'd Reviews segment when they actually gave it a 5/10. I'm not saying you have to be perfect all the time, but this type of error is all too common on gaming websites.

c_rake

There are times when I wonder whether IGN has any actual editors on staff. The amount of mispellings and fact-checking errors I've seen astound me.

Definitely. Just last week they had three articles in a row with repeated words in the headline. I wish I could remember what they were, but it was stuff like "Review: Assassin's Creed III DLC Review" 

Did some looking around.

Current theory is that the web designers were simply testing the site's promo functionality (hence why the code was set to "promo-off"). Hell of a weird bit of text to test it with, though.

That the staff has kept up a very dismissive tone in response to this discovery (not to mention to mention that IGN's executive editor of all people brought attention to it) rather than keep their mouths shut and refer to an official response makes me think they really had no part in this. Or if they did, then editorial department hasn't been informed (which is real unlikely; the most input ad-departments have in editorial matters is suggesting stories that carry large traffic potential. For a magazine, that'd be the cover story. For an online publication, likely lists for SEO purposes. Actual interference with editorial integrity wouldn't stay quiet for long; someone would leak the details of the deal).

I'd remain cautious, but assume there's no actual shadiness going down.

c_rake

Game of the year prediction before we even have gameplay footage or played it? This seems a bit silly to be intended. Beagle050

What else is new

more like you can't spell ignorant without IGN.

punkpunker

IGN has the world exclusive Bioshock Infinite review tonight. Lets play predict the 9.5 and up score.dvader654

LOL, 9.4/10.

They spoke out about it and seem generally honest. I don't like IGN as much as the next person but I doubt this was anything more than what they say in this response.

The reason why IGN's Scott Lowe tweeted out this source code thing is because we at IGN had no idea what it was and how it got there. We asked EA. They basically said someone used wishful thinking placeholder copy. We didn't write it, we didn't give permission, we don't share unpublished previews/reviews with publishers or developers. Someone was simply using a template for a promo page and staked out the spot where they'll list accolades.

IGN (and Gamespot, and most gaming sites) is nothing more than an Internet billboard for gaming companies to advertise on. This thread is less surprising than the sun coming up this morning.

ReddestSkies

[QUOTE="ReddestSkies"]

IGN (and Gamespot, and most gaming sites) is nothing more than an Internet billboard for gaming companies to advertise on. This thread is less surprising than the sun coming up this morning.

wizdom

over at gametrailers, they have a video about why BF4 can win next gen...