The controversy surrounding the campaign that saw YouTube content producers make additional revenue for showcasing Xbox One games is a misleading issue. As much as I don’t want to defend Microsoft (or EA) there is a difference in paying for positive feedback and paying to promote playthroughs of their games.

This was not a campaign to “buy positive feedback”. The point of the campaign was to generate buzz – and plenty of Let’s Play videos, neutral reporting and, shock horror, actually genuinely positive videos for the products in question would have been able to utilize a bonus on their advertising payout for the video – a feature that Machinima actually uses for their affiliates very frequently, for all kinds of campaigns. Also, regarding the “illegal” non-disclosure agreement, it should be noted that it referred to disclosing the terms of the contract and promotion details, not to disclosing whether you were participating or getting paid at all. In the end, if anyone actually published a video with a contradictory opinion to their own for the sake of a tiny CPM boost (the equivalent, while being generous, of a few dollars at best), that’s on them.

Now, I would agree that YouTubers who want to establish themselves as valid opinion makers should stay away from these campaigns or at least disclose when they take part of them. But this controversy, fueled by several mainstream gaming websites, has been a cheap shot to put independent YouTubers in a negative light as non-credible sources of information, because of these supposedly “shady practices” that are apparently going on.

So you get this deceiving dichotomy: the untrustworthy, unchecked YouTubers, versus the sacrosanct game journalists checked by their ethically driven editorial guidelines. Sorry to say, this is a manipulation and we all know it. These pressures exist in all media, and have existed for a very long time. Game journalists aren’t directly paid from corporate PR but such close-relationships exist and give certain journalists an edge. Get friendly with the right people and you’ll have privileged access to exclusive content, get invites for important venues, doors open for interviews before everyone else. Is it illegal? No. Is it ethical? Depends – are you withholding your real opinions not to damage those privileges? And is this going on in official gaming news websites, or in all other forms of press? Yes. Why isn’t that in the news?

Why are we targeting teenage letsplayers that got a few extra cents per view when journalists don’t disclose their interests either? Have we forgot the sad spectacle of witnessing professional gaming journalists promoting a game for the chance of winning a console? Are journalists disclosing every time they get paid travels or free games and merchandise? And which of these do you find more relevant? The 15yr teen that made a few extra bucks playing Battlefield?

Bottom line is that these pressures, that have always surrounded journalism, are now in motion towards independent media sources like YouTube. It’s up to the viewer to judge and choose who it is they find more believable and ethical and serious. As it’s always been.