Electronic Arts' Norwegian division was caught with its hands in the cookie jar earlier this week after a number of publications spoke out against its Battlefield 3 reviewer grooming process. The publisher was sending out sneaky surveys to outlets, finding out about the reviewer's likelihood of giving BF3 a high score before deciding to send a review copy.
Such questions include:
- Did the reviewer personally review BFBC2 or Black Ops?
- What score did he give it?
- What is his past experience with Battlefield?
- Is he a fan of Battlefield?
- Is he a fan of Call of Duty?
- Has he been playing BF Franchise? BFBC2? 1943? BF2?
- Has he expressed enthusiasm or concern for BF3? What are they?
- Did he play the beta? Did he enjoy it / get frustrated with it?
- What is his present view on the game?
Of course, a PR person's job is to try and get positive buzz for its games, but this definitely rubbed some people the wrong way and it makes the whole review process less trustworthy. EA Norway eventually addressed the issue, blaming the survey on "human error" and apologizing for the "mistake." Quite a big mistake, there!
For the record, I recently confirmed Destructoid's BF3 review copy and there were no extra conditions or surveys, so everything looks above board in the US.
EA Caught (Allegedly) Attempting to Manipulate Battlefield 3 Scores in Norwegian Press [gameranx, thanks Godwhacker!]
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
9:20 AM on 10.19.2011 | 
Do you like battlefield? do you like call of duty? are you interested in videogames?....if so, give us a 9.5!!!
Thank god that we have Metacritic nowadays. But legitimately, this shit is shady as hell. It should be more valuable to get a reliable review, not some fuckass feather in a cap. Nothing is really ever perfect.
MAkes me think about Cliff Bleszinski bitching about Gears 3's rating. Make the game you want to make. if people don't like it, too fucking bad. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. You just don't have to wipe them.
- None; the reason being the reviewer abhorred to playing the same shooters over and over again.
- See above reply.
- 1942. 'Nuff said.
- No.
- No.
- 1942. Y'know, when the game is actually *fun*.
- Yes, the expression being "lack of".
- See reply #1.
- ...I'm terribly sorry, which game are we talking about again?
Just for fun.
Way to waste your natural resources there, Norway.
If they're afraid of bad reviews, does it mean they know they did something wrong?
I hope they'll get flak for the new "redesigned" (read here butchered) squad system.
We, as consumers, need outlets willing to tell the PR side to take their preview/review freebies and kindly fuck-off should the need arise but, sadly, most places are completely unwilling to do that as they forever chase click-throughs, exclusives, and early coverage.
Shift the dynamic away from 'Enthusiast Press' and towards 'Gaming Journalists' who ask tough questions with follow-ups and this shit will go away (for the most part) and we'll actually get more honesty and transparency from all sides.
Blah-blah-blah
/rant
Did the reviewer personally review BFBC2 or Black Ops? I did black Ops
What score did he give it? No score, but if I had to it would be a 3/10
What is his past experience with Battlefield? I love Battlefield 2.
Is he a fan of Battlefield? Didn't you just ask me that?
Is he a fan of Call of Duty? The first 2 we're awesome! Now it sucks.
Has he been playing BF Franchise? BFBC2? 1943? BF2? Since BF2, but I already said that.
Has he expressed enthusiasm or concern for BF3? What are they? I am concerned because it is being published by EA, and they tend to ruin good things.
Did he play the beta? Did he enjoy it / get frustrated with it? I played the beta, and the game seemed ok, but the whole Battlelog nonsense was crap.
What is his present view on the game? It might be OK. Console gamers are getting a better experience since they don't have to deal with the whole web-browser based crap.
when does the review go up?
Your way too scrawny to make an impact.
+10million points for mentioning Varg.
The good Count Grishnackh don't f*ck around.
-What score did he give it? --- BFBC2: 8/10 -- CODBO: 7.5/10
-What is his past experience with Battlefield? --- Good one, but with lot of flaws
-Is he a fan of Battlefield? --- No
-Is he a fan of Call of Duty? --- No
-Has he been playing BF Franchise? BFBC2? 1943? BF2? --- BFBC2 and 2
-Has he expressed enthusiasm or concern for BF3? What are they? --- Concern with BF3 because of the bugs...
-Did he play the beta? Did he enjoy it / get frustrated with it? --- Sometimes Frustrated, sometimes enjoyed the bugs :D...
-What is his present view on the game? --- Neither good or bad.
why would they give out review copies to people who are just going to barely play the game and then blast it because it not like another game they like.
Like IGN is a good example... They received money from Eidos (by buying ad spaces on the site) in exchange for a good score. The reviewer made a shitty review for that shitty game and lost his job...
XD
Comment of the YEAR! You made me laugh so hard i kid you not!
It's the implication that only reviewers that where huge BF fanboys would get review copies so any pre-release reviews would end up with a vastly inflated score. Any unbiased review would be weeks away.
It seems to me that survey could be used for all sort of things, but MOSTLY for determining the psychology behind the scores that would be given.
All that EA has said is the survey was sent and that was a mistake. It might not be the mistake people think though. Can we get more clarification on EA saying what mistake was made and if it was even the mistake alluded to in this article?