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LoadRunner

Member
Sep 19, 2020
331
Ironic CDPR choice to not delay again was probably due to fear of the blowback of another announcing delay, and here we are.
 

Masagiwa

Member
Jan 27, 2018
9,902
People in the industry not having good interactions with him, fair. The dude has single-handedly made companies apologize for their scummy practices and advocates for this industry to unionize.
 

vodalus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,220
CT
Folks coming at Liana need to grow the fuck up. She was sharing her conversation with CDPR employees and she is well within her right to do so. It is possible to show the other side of this situation from other CDPR employee's perspectives without actually advocating for crunch. Conversations are a two way street and if you honestly watch that video and think she is defending crunch culture then I will say it again: grow up.

Go watch the clip. She called negative articles about CDPR clickbait. If you're a professional like Jason and someone bashes your work you're allowed to defend yourself. Of course she's entitled to her own thoughts.
 

Deleted member 13077

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,513
This ain't it. He's reporting *bad cases.* I don't think any reporting he's done has been anywhere near marginal on crunch. Someday maybe you'll be right and he'll go too far, but that has not happened yet. At all.

On the other side of that, how far does it have to go for some of these shills to even remotely think this maybe something they should take seriously? Does someone in a dev team need to come away with serious mental/physical harm from overwork? Is it going to take a suicide from depression? Cause it seems like everything below that is fair game as long as they get their AAA open world game.
 

Freestanding

Member
Nov 27, 2019
572
Look i want to play Cyberpunk too but there is no question that its being made with shitty worker treatment and weird transphobic elements among a litany of other things.

No ethical consumption under capitalism being what it is, whether you end up playing it anyways, at least be honest with yourself about how it was created and at what cost.
 
Jun 26, 2018
3,829
That, I could see. Thanks for the clarification.

No problem, also wanted to add for posterity that contract workers are also often employed on short term basis, i.e. a few months or till the end of a project.

So you really want to make sure you stand out as a "hard worker" every time you're up for renewing your contract or if you're hoping to be considered for any of their future projects. It only takes 1 bad impression to potentially ruin your future chances of employment. This is how "optional" = "mandatory", in a lot of cases specifically in the games industry.
 

Tovarisc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,434
FIN
Okay, thanks. But I still don't kinda get the message or the context that I seem to miss

That is downside of people just posting one random tweet out of many, you need go to his account and read some his other tweets about this.

Basically he wants to see back and forth discussions from all sides, not one side forcing another to stay silent etc.
 

gogosox82

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,385
Yeah not really getting where she is coming from with this. She implied the headline was clickbait, he responded saying it wasn't with receipts and then she says he it isn't nauced enough because he didn't speak to every single employee (lol what?) and is now sending a mob after her? I don't think he named her specifically and didn't @ her. She is coming off really bad. People's need to stan for a corporation is really something.
 
Jun 13, 2020
1,302
Let's be real for a second here, Jason does not have any contacts or sources in China, and especially not in Xinjiang or with anyone who is in anyway connected to the Uighur labor camps. You cannot expect him to report on something he has no information about, no sources on, etc. Other people are reporting on this issue, who do have those contacts and the resources to actually pursue stories like this.
It upsets me that some people just assume he's not "brave" enough to report on it. Why would he be afraid to do so, what would he have to lose?
 

TitanicFall

Member
Nov 12, 2017
8,275
Both stories can be true. It's not either or. Some employees were fine with it while others hated it. No matter the industry, you'll find people who will clock out at 5 on the dot, and people who will work late into the night. However management should make it clear that people who value a good work/life balance aren't being penalized for exercising that right. If people want to work overtime then also let them do so.
 

Landford

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,678
The gaming industry needs better journalists. Not one or two that end up being celebrities. If you have a single "Celebrity" journalist to cover anything from development hell to crunch, you are going to have a fucking problem.

The industry needs to be a LOT more transparent, there should be a fuckton more people covering games with investigative pieces.
 

Instro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,018
Gaming journalists getting into petty bullshit arguments on twitter, which Jason is regularly involved in, is kind of pathetic. They know what kind of "fans" are out there, and what lengths they are willing to go to when they feel like defending something or attacking someone. There was no need for GI to take the stance they did, and there was no need for Jason to escalate it further. They should be working together, not opening each other up for further harassment than they already receive.
 

Admiral Woofington

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
14,892

- Jason gets called out by company.
- Defends himself without calling any individual in particular
- You come out making it clear it was you who holds this opinion/said it.
- All this is in twitter which is extremely public.
- Get comments from ravid fans who all saw it in their twitter's home page
- "THANKS FOR SENDING YOUR GOONS AT ME"

That's not how this works. Yes fuck the ravid fanboys/fangirls attacking her, but it's not the responsibility of Jason who follows him and what they do when it's all being done in the public eye.
 

Tbm24

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
16,329
If Jason's is true, then Game Informer's characterization is false. He reported it accurately from devs, and Game Informer suggests it was essentially optional and overblown. That directly refutes Jason's reporting that it was not optional and that it is affecting devs there negatively, according to devs themselves. Game Informer is defending something that they don't have a defense for.
I guess where I'm struggling in this conversation is if the suggestion is the GI individual is lying about what they heard?
 

Akainu

Unshakable Resolve
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,242
Everywhere and nowhere
It's a complicated issue compounded by the fact that this is not a US-based country that Jason typically covers. Different culture around work, and more importantly different regulations.

Good that the employees get the extra compensation for their extra hours of work, though.
It really isn't. The japanese literally work themselves to death. It's not justified by cultural boundaries.
 

Kusagari

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,437
Gaming journalists getting into petty bullshit arguments on twitter, which Jason is regularly involved in, is kind of pathetic. They know what kind of "fans" are out there, and what lengths they are willing to go to when they feel like defending something or attacking someone. There was no need for GI to take the stance they did, and there was no need for Jason to escalate it further. They should be working together, not opening each other up for further harassment than they already receive.

Jason literally did nothing but defend himself when his work was attacked and called clickbait. Liana sought the smoke and is now mad that Jason actually responded.
 

PMS341

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt-account
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
6,634
I guess where I'm struggling in this conversation is if the suggestion is the GI individual is lying about what they heard?

The staff is lying because they were paid to do so for the sake of the product. It is incredibly simple and happens often, even if it's shady and stupid as hell.
 

Hero

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,794
Of course it's GI.

- Jason gets called out by company.
- Defends himself without calling any individual in particular
- You come out making it clear it was you who holds this opinion/said it.
- All this is in twitter which is extremely public.
- Get comments from ravid fans who all saw it in their twitter's home page
- "THANKS FOR SENDING YOUR GOONS AT ME"

That's not how this works. Yes fuck the ravid fanboys/fangirls attacking her, but it's not the responsibility of Jason who follows him and what they do when it's all being done in the public eye.

Pretty much this. How the fuck did he send his goons out at her? She PUT HERSELF in the line by replying to him and blasting him.
 

Darryl M R

The Spectacular PlayStation-Man
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,721
I have little faith that the gaming industry will mature if this is how industry professionals act.
 

LavaBadger

Member
Nov 14, 2017
4,988
When a rich corporation is showering you in gifts (re: bribes) you're supposed to defend them even if it means losing all integrity, I guess.
Calling this "bribes" suggests some level of cloak-and-dagger that simply isn't present here. GI has been hyping CDPR and doing cover stories for them all year. They are trying to drive subscriptions and secure ad-deals. It's in their business model to defend the big players in the industry. There's nothing that needs to be done in the shadows.
 

Deleted member 2172

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,577
Except she clearly refuted Jason's report, acted like she didn't and didn't actually do any reporting, what're you on about?
And what exactly is she refuting? Cause ive watched this section of the podcast twice now and don't see anything here that contradicts Jason's reporting. The one important highlight that can be taken from this is that from her sources there was apparently discussion that took place between upper management and the devs on their options before this 6-day work week came into affect. If that is true, and Jason knew about that, I would find it highly concerning that it was not included in his initial report because a detail like that is absolutely worth being part of the report. We will likely never know, or atleast won't know until after cyberpunk is released. But again: nothing is being refuted, she was adding to the conversation by giving accounts by other CDPR devs who clearly have a different outlook to the devs that Jason has spoke to.
Go watch the clip. She called negative articles about CDPR clickbait. If you're a professional like Jason and someone bashes your work you're allowed to defend yourself. Of course she's entitled to her own thoughts.
Ive watched the clip plenty. She literally said they are not clickbait in the clip, so I recommend that you go watch it yourself.
 

Skittles

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,274
This shit is so embarrassing from game informer right now.

also, lmaooo
gami_327_cov.jpg
 

Holundrian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,161
Real questionable stuff to try discredit reports on crunch makes me question why someone would do that?
Cause without a real fucking good reason that seems irresponsible at best and malicious at worst.
 

Shadow Walker

Member
Oct 27, 2017
888
Jason has some of these people shook. As others have said why don't they state his "agenda"? They don't because they know he is right. These influencers are just to comfy sitting in their cyber punk chairs to go against the people that give them free stuff. It is so blatant what these people are doing.
 

BAD

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,565
USA
That is downside of people just posting one random tweet out of many, you need go to his account and read some his other tweets about this.

Basically he wants to see back and forth discussions from all sides, not one side forcing another to stay silent etc.
Nobody is forcing crunch fans to stay silent though. Someone said that the crunch reports were clickbait, got refuted fairly by someone with dev sources without naming anyone's Twitter account or name, and she proceeds to go on the reporter's timeline naming him and herself repeatedly under the defense that she wasn't naming people... it already was poorly thought out from when the CDPR defense was said, but looks even worse when she made it into a Twitter argument against herself she claims Jason sent her way. He made no attempts to stop the discussion or to send anyone to her account like she claims (she actually was blocked for some petty bullying by him days ago), and only pointed out his reporting is factual.

the crunch defenders undermining legit Dev complaints look bad. Jason didn't silence her or bring her to his Twitter feed. And the guy Hoeg is replying to is the guy who said Kotaku should be blacklisted for not respecting game marketing campaigns and letting the fun facade stay intact, so he isn't credible to me.
 

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,945
You can say that you've spoken to CDPR employees who disagree with the framing of the article without saying the article was clickbait. She overreached in her comment and Jason is correct to point to his sources and defend his reporting. Jason sometimes does petty things on twitter but in this instance he's absolutely acting like a professional and the takes criticizing him are highly suspect
 

Cels

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,775
it's funny that there are so many people on this board defending crunch -- like okay some people may want to work a ton but many people don't, especially when they are forced to, and in this instance, thy were even lied to about it no more crunch next year by the studio head. this kind of worker abuse has been publicized in the industry all the way back to the EA spouse blog with companies mistreating workers, and especially lower level ones.

so much corporate bootlicking going on here. if there's some kind of dispute between big employers and workers usually resetera is in in agreement with the workers -- but when that employer happens to make a highly anticipated game...all bets are off

also, if you're going to denigrate someone's reporting calling it clickbait, don't be surprised when that person responds, even if they don't you
 

Admiral Woofington

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
14,892
Jason has some of these people shook. As others have said why don't they state his "agenda"? They don't because they know he is right. These influencers are just to comfy sitting in their cyber punk chairs to go against the people that give them free stuff. It is so blatant what these people are doing.
I can't speak for Jason, but everytime he has been attacked it's been by people who are not used to someone doing investigative reporting and not being a fucking ad mouthpiece for publishers and developers to promote the game.
 

BAD

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,565
USA
I guess where I'm struggling in this conversation is if the suggestion is the GI individual is lying about what they heard?
No, they can hear some employees like crunch but the context was saying that is evidence Jason was writing clickbait and that the report was overblown. None of the reporting on crunch is false from Jason. And no, some devs being happy with crunch doesn't bear weight on the reporting. She was wrong. Her claims are wrong about Jason's reporting and he fairly refuted it.
 
Oct 29, 2017
7,500
gotta love all the "again i'd never support crunch, but..." and the "i'd never defend crunch, but..."

... but I really really like Cyberpunk!

I mean it is so transparent. Any other dev and the attitude would be "hang em high." But because CD Project is so beloved, let's not rush to judgment, let's look at it from all the angles, and so on.
 

PMS341

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt-account
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
6,634
Calling this "bribes" suggests some level of cloak-and-dagger that simply isn't present here. GI has been hyping CDPR and doing cover stories for them all year. They are trying to drive subscriptions and secure ad-deals. It's in their business model to defend the big players in the industry. There's nothing that needs to be done in the shadows.

Publishers giving gifts and free swag in the form of goodwill towards their product is not a new concept. It isn't even hidden anymore. It's a bribe, despite whatever corporation tells you otherwise.

If their business model purely exists to defend big players in the industry, as opposed to the indie developers that are actually moving said industry forward, then it's a terrible business model to begin with - especially if the defense is for a company known for their acceptance of bigotry.

Seriously, "but money!" is a poor excuse.
 

EloquentM

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,631
Both stories can be true. It's not either or. Some employees were fine with it while others hated it. No matter the industry, you'll find people who will clock out at 5 on the dot, and people who will work late into the night. However management should make it clear that people who value a good work/life balance aren't being penalized for exercising that right. If people want to work overtime then also let them do so.
The point is crunch is bad and The publisher went back on their word. Who cares that some employees want crunch when the employer will take the word of those few and impose that ideal on everyone unfairly at the expense of their personal lives/health or their job. It's not rocket science.
 

Zebesian-X

Member
Dec 3, 2018
19,753
In what way is Jason being a bully lol... Not a good look from Gameinformer.

Also sucks about Parris, I'd like him to explain exactly what "agenda" is being pushed...?
 

Cloud-Hidden

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,990
I believe she has her own sources inside of CDPR who spun the story the way that she presented it. I believe that Jason has his sources who spun a contradictory take. Both can be be true at the same time, because guess what, people are all fucking different and have different opinions and takes on things. You can't interview or speak to one person, or three people, or ten people, and then submit a sentiment as representative of an entire company with thousands of constituent employees.

I don't like the situation at all. Liana should have just stopped talking and replying. That's on her. Jason also completely lacks tact or grace (and always has). He does great reporting, but for some reason people who respect him cannot admit that he can be a condescending asshole who refuses to respectfully engage in disagreements. He does consistently, subtly, go out of his way to "expose" anyone who contradicts him as less-than, and his last line of defense is always his source or his sources. Again, he does great work, and yes he has sources, but if you speak to 50 people who express feeling A, you can't discount or dismiss 50 people who express feeling B because it doesn't corroborate your headline.

At the end of the day I do respect Jason for his reporting, but he does lean into controversy for clicks. He understands perfectly well that juicy headlines travel farther and faster than balanced headlines, and hot takes are far more viral than nuanced takes. He has built his reputation (here most of all) for leaking projects and exposing the darker side of the industry, and sometimes his reporting does hurt or silence people who work in development, marketing, PR, or even customer support at these companies, who otherwise want to love their fucking jobs, but feel like they can't do so publicly without being written off with statements like "well they're obviously paid to think that way," or "I'd say that too if I was afraid of getting fired," or "shilling at it's finest!" I'm speaking from personal experience now, as someone who has both covered the industry and worked within the industry. (Can I admit, too, that I've done the exact same thing? When you have sources come to you to report something they've experienced, you don't downplay the controversy simply because other people at the same company are getting on just fine. People don't pay you to write headlines like "X Company Initiates Mandatory Overtime, Many Employees Okay With It Though.")

But now I'm beginning to digress. It's just a painful situation to watch. Liana is a passionate person who doesn't know when to stop clicking into the reply box, and Jason is a great reporter who simply can't resist a juicy "gotcha." My two cents, anyway.
 
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Deleted member 11413

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
22,961
It upsets me that some people just assume he's not "brave" enough to report on it. Why would he be afraid to do so, what would he have to lose?
It's a very absurd whataboutism that makes no sense if you spend any time thinking about it. Like he also didn't break the story about abuses against employees at Ubisoft, you know why? Because Ubisoft is a French company and a French journalism outlet broke that story. He doesn't speak French and his understanding of French labor law and French labor culture is probably that of a layman, better for journalists who speak the language and are part of that culture do that investigative work. He's one guy and can only do so much reporting.
 
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