-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Shenmue 3 release date is November 19th and review embargo is launch day for US and November 21st for UK (and possibly EU)
- Thread starter dex3108
- Start date
Totally agree.
I mean, it's blindingly obvious he not only didn't care to do that, but happily jumped at the chance of stirring up shit with the original tweet.
The person who claims there's a two day embargo says he's publishing his review the day the game comes out and he is clearly based on the UK. I'm going to bat for avoiding spreading misinformation.
Hey everyone. Dragonball z kakarott is out January 17th. I "heard" the embargo is the 19th of January. How dare they. Get the pitforks out.
Oh btw, ill be publishing my review on the 17th where the embargo actually is. Sorry i forgot to get the facts right even though thats my job. Move along everyone. Nothing to see here......
Oh btw, ill be publishing my review on the 17th where the embargo actually is. Sorry i forgot to get the facts right even though thats my job. Move along everyone. Nothing to see here......
From what I gather, the game is nice, but the transparency and commercial/delivery decisions have been bad.
"We haven't signed anything" is a good way of saying "hey, you really are stupid for sending us that code" - somehow I don't believe that will lead to a healthy future relationship.
If I'm not mistaken haven't the last two high profile games of the month, Death Stranding and Star Wars, had day one review embargos? Why are we choosing to pick on this game?
Because he's not agreeing to their embargo. Because it's ridicuous.
If they wanted to get him to agree to a ridiculous embargo, they should have not sent him the game until he agreed to it.
Maybe some of the confusion here is because people think that journalists and reviewers are an extension of PR/Marketing for publishers, or that they should be. If a publisher just wants people to market their game and do exactly what they are told regardless of how absurd it is, they should hire marketing staff to do it, not ask journalists to do absurd things like hold a review until after a game is out.
Last edited:
It is (if true). But then he should be consistent and not rely on the copy that's tied to it.
That is true. Since he's clearly not trustworthy enough to be dealt with otherwise, I guess. And I'm wouldn't be surprired if that's indeed the last time he's getting a copy early, at least for a while. And I couldn't fault them for that, especially when he' choosing to publicly shit on them.
That's not wrong, but putting the fault entirely on the publisher isn't fair. If you're happy to accept access to something you ordinarily would not have yet, it is not unreasonable to expect that there might be conditions coming along with that - I mean, this isn't investigative undercover whistleblower stuff we're talking about, but video game reviews.
Playing the "you should have told me before / have me sign something" card simply is disingenious in that regard. If these conditions don't suit you, you should refuse the code/copy.
Last edited:
But who who you advertise it to: Anyone with a remote interest in Shenmue 3 surely already knows it's coming and everyone else won't be enticed to get into the third part of something that doesn't exactly invite newcomers.
You have no control over the review embargo only your purchasing habits.
I don't know actually but I thought the production is considered bigger than a common indie game just thrown into the online store.
Well, it's sold as a boxed copy as well and I'd say it indeed pretty much the opposite to a common indie game - someone called it the white whale of gaming, which I think is a fairly fitting descprition. But it is that for a pretty narrowly defined target audience and the rest does not and will not care about it.
???
Sony's been pushing this game hard over social media.
Or they could have not sent it to him until they'd got his agreement. Someone working in PR deciding to request a ridiculous embargo after sending out review code is failing at their job. A reviewer playing a game they were sent, ignoring an absurd embargo request sent after the fact, is totally doing their job. If Koch aren't happy with the outcome they should train/brief their staff better, because it's their fuck up.
Koch would be entirely within their rights to withhold access. No outlet, this one or any other, has a right to privileged access, but the line of thinking you're going down there is not far from "we better not give this too harsh of a review because this publisher has a lot of big games". If they didn't want him publicly shitting on them, perhaps they should not have had an embargo policy that warranted being shat on publicly.
The fault is entirely on the publisher. They created this scenario. Many publishers are capable of securing review coverage of their games without mishandling it like Koch have here.
The conditions did not exist when he received the code. Of course they should have got him to agree beforehand if they wanted to implement an extremely irregular post-release embargo. Many reasonable reviewers would not want to agree to those terms, so standard practise from a competent PR team would to discuss it ahead of time, not to attempt to thrust those terms onto someone who has already been sent the review code.
I disagree on most of what you're saying apart from the bit that they shouldn't have sent him a code. I have no idea if you have first-hand experience in the industry, and if that was the case how such a black-or-white view of how things are supposed to work would be viable. Because it's not always so simple.
So it's probably best to stop here.
Last edited:
I've seen it advertised on you tube media like Playstation Access, Shenmue is a niche series and there's no point advertising it on more mainstream media like tv commercials IMO.
I've been sent review code many times, and had lots of back and forth emails from PRs. Including those representing Deep Silver games etc. The only times I can ever recall an exchange playing out like this one were APB, which multiple press outlets broke the embargo on because it was a ridiculous post-release embargo, and Broken Age, which the developer backtracked on because they realised how ridiculous their post release embargo plan was.
I'm not sure what role/experience you have in the industry you have either, but I hope you don't consider how this has been handled as standard PR practice.
I might not have handled things exactly the same way Kirk did here (I'd have probably just told the PR that I would not accept the embargo), but I think he's well within his rights to have done as he has.
No.
How far people want to take their stances is up to them. I extend my boycotting to companies owned by THQ Nordic/Embracer.
It has nothing to do with assigning blame or guilt to Deep Silver or any other subsidiary for what two assholes (Philipp Brock and Reinhard Pollice) at THQ Nordic AB were responsible for, and everything to do with not wanting to support a company that ostensibly does nothing about directors acting in such a manner.
What Deep Silver is responsible for is changing the terms for backers against our wishes, saying "nothing to do with us" and dumping all the fallout on Ys Net and their kickstarter partners when the shit hit the fan.
I hold Deep Silver wholly responsible for ruining what otherwise probably would've been a happy, celebratory time like during the kickstarter campaign.
That probably bums me out more than them trying to screw me over so they could make some money from that exclusivity deal. They ruined my happiness over something I'd been wanting to become reality for the past 15 years. So I am somewhat spiteful. Even if the THQ Nordic shit hadn't happened, I would still be boycotting Deep Silver specifically.
Let's say I'm in the industry since before the current century, so I feel fairly confident to say I've experienced a lot of scenarios surrounding embargo situations both good and bad.
I don't dispute he's within his rights, but I very much feel pulling the "I don't have signed anything" card is disingenious and the whole thing is engineered to make him look like some kind of edgy rebel. Talking to PR again to find a reasonable solution instead of shitting on them publicly just yet is a crappy move.
Many journalists are edgy rebels, and in fact being so makes them better at their jobs.
If a publishers wants compliant promoters, they should seek out paid influencers and marketers, and shouldn't even be engaging with journalists.
I'll "pick on" those too. Why deflect for this anti-consumer practice?
I never said otherwise.
That's probably true and you probably can be one without the need of such obvious grandstanding. So I think it isn't a suitable assessment of this particular case.
Reviews don't get better or worse based on when they can be posted.
Last edited:
Death Stranding reviews dropped on the 1st of November.
Death Stranding released on the 8th of November.
The 1st of November is before the 8th of November.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order reviews dropped on the 14th of November.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order released on the 15th of November.
The 14th of November is before the 15th of November.
Death Stranding released on the 8th of November.
The 1st of November is before the 8th of November.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order reviews dropped on the 14th of November.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order released on the 15th of November.
The 14th of November is before the 15th of November.
Why just the UK? Did Edge threaten to give it 2/10 or something? Is that Spanish guy funding it still bitter about the armada?
I'm reading the last page and I'm genuinely trying to understand where the "so it was all just FAKE NEWS?!" sentiment is coming from.
For someone who seems very concerned about somebody else spreading "misinformation" you really don't seem to apply those same standards to your own posts
From the Twitter that shared the initial news. He changed the story an hour later. You can easily find his Tweets. The subject of this thread originally claimed it was universally embargo'd and the entire forum was ready to proclaim Shenmue 3 dead in the water. When you wake up on the 19th you will see Shenmue 3 reviews... Every other big release this month has had a launch day embargo, so why is this news?
yes, Shenmue fanboys and girls are sensitive to the constant negative attention to the game we waited 18 years for. Deep Silver is an awful company. Blah blah blah.
Last edited:
Death Stranding embargo was up on November 1. Release was November 8.
Where i live Jedi Fallen Order reviews dropped on the 15th. It was at midnight EST US.
I guess there could be timezone shenanigans, but even day of release is a very different prospect to after release.
Technically their embargo is for release in the region though. though "region locking" on reviews is idiotic.
How did he change the story?
He said reviews were embargoed until November 21.
Which they are.
In the UK.
Where he is based.
It's his fault people wrongfully assumed that applied worldwide?
Right, I just mean I found reviews that were published on the 14th in my timezone, but I guess that could have been the 15th in the timezone where the reviewer is.
Lots of outlets aren't getting code until very late, so even though the embargo is launch day in the US, don't expect a lot of reviews then.
Last edited:
Region locking reviews is fucking stupid. You're just fucking over reviewers in late-release places, I'd imagine Shenmue reviews will generate hits nicely, and there's literally no reason to give US publications a huge advantage over UK publications.
User Warned: Thread Whining
He's publishing his review on the 19th. You'll see plenty of other reviews tomorrow. Why is that worth a nearly 8 page thread of outrage? I don't recall the forum being upset about embargo's for higher profile games.
Some people just clearly like attacking Kickstarter-based games.
So, he didn't change his story, then?
There's an embargo until the 21st, where he's based.
The game releases on the 19th, where he's based.
He was sent a review copy.
He was asked not to publish a review until 2 days after release, based solely on his location.
He told them to go fuck themselves.
You got upset about this thread.
And tried to blame him by saying he changed his story.
When he didn't.
Got it.
It's Shenmue. People will look for any reason to shit on it.
It's shenmue, the publisher/developer could do any dishonest, outrageous or shady things and people will be lining up to defend them.
