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Will The Last of Us Part 2 Be Reviewed by the Press? (NO SPOILERS!)

redflamingolingo

redflamingolingo

Banned
Sep 21, 2019
2,594
Since the massive leak about a month ago and most businesses still working from home, I'm curious how or if this will affect the way Naughty Dog sends TLOU 2 to the press for review.

It's one thing to have people playing a game for review under strict NDAs at their offices but another thing entirely to do so at home with family members present. The conditions aren't nearly as secure.

I do think Sony wants to continue building hype around the game and to silence the naysayers responding to the leaked footage with an onslaught of positive reviews from the press.

But in these pandemic conditions I feel the risk of the entire game leaking is HUGE. People are ravenous for more spoilers and to spoil other people.

What do you all think? I think Sony will send copies to the bigger review outlets (IGN, Gamespot, Game Informer, etc.) and leave the smaller publications in the dark.

Since it is ND's biggest game yet, I also think embargo will be a bit closer to release than usual, maybe 3 days instead of ND's usual 5 to 7.

EDIT: I had no idea people played AAA games from home for review. I always thought publishers sent review code that was played in the office for some reason.
 
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Thiago

Thiago

One Winged Slayer
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,671
I don't think Sony will change the review strategy because of the leaks or covid-19.
 
Mifec

Mifec

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,805
redflamingolingo said:
It's one thing to have people playing a game for review under strict NDAs at their offices but another thing entirely to do so at home with family members present. The conditions aren't nearly as secure.
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I don't think you realize how people review games if you think this is how games are reviewed.


People play games for review all the time, in front of their family. No one cares.
 
edo_kid

edo_kid

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,095
You do realize that people reviewing games at those big outlets also do it at home right?
 
Raijinto

Raijinto

self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
10,091
Of course it will. Sony would be weird to hide their game like this.
 
Yuntu

Yuntu

Prophet of Regret Corrupted by Vengeance
Member
Nov 7, 2019
10,820
Germany
Do that many reviewers work from an office? LIke I doubt Easy Allies for example only play games for reviews in their studio (even before the current situation).
 
Marble

Marble

Banned
Nov 27, 2017
3,819
redflamingolingo said:
Since the massive leak about a month ago and most businesses still working from home, I'm curious how or if this will affect the way Naughty Dog sends TLOU 2 to the press for review.

It's one thing to have people playing a game for review under strict NDAs at their offices but another thing entirely to do so at home with family members present. The conditions aren't nearly as secure.

I do think Sony wants to continue building hype around the game and to silence the naysayers responding to the leaked footage with an onslaught of positive reviews from the press.

But in these pandemic conditions I feel the risk of the entire game leaking is HUGE. People are ravenous for more spoilers and to spoil other people.

What do you all think? I think Sony will send copies to the bigger review outlets (IGN, Gamespot, Game Informer, etc.) and leave the smaller publications in the dark.
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Sorry, but what makes you think reviewers played games at the office before COVID? I'm pretty sure most of them have a private room in their home to "work" and don't want to jeopardize their job by letting family members/friends watch.
 
Famassu

Famassu

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,186
I did all my game reviews from home back in the day when I still did that, even for big franchises like Legend of Zelda.
 
BoxManLocke

BoxManLocke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,160
France
Um yeah Sony isn't going to pass up the marketing opportunity of an excellent critic score just because the chances of leak are very slightly higher than usual (also the more we get closer to release date, the less a leak is likely to matter).
 
eso76

eso76

Prophet of Truth
Member
Dec 8, 2017
8,167
Uh, it's not like the Press has large buildings where reviewers gather and hide to play videogames.
 
8bit

8bit

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,390
Probably not, I imagine Mr. Sony has banned the press from even talking about it.
 
Plinkerton

Plinkerton

Member
Nov 4, 2017
6,085
No. No media outlet will review one of the biggest games of the year.

Of course it will be reviewed. Why wouldn't it?
 
SuperOctopus

SuperOctopus

Member
Apr 22, 2020
2,696
In my opinion, they cannot release a game like TLOUS 2 without having the massive positive buzz from the press that will come with it. Since spoilers are already out there, they will be careful so that not a lot more will come out of it. I'm sure they already have a list of reviewers that they trust to do a review without talking about specific story points, it's not uncommon for reviewers to have stuff that they cannot talk about when writing reviews. If I remember correctly, God of War reviews did not go into the story much.
 
FelipeMGM

FelipeMGM

#Skate4
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
3,012
Reviewers play the game at home most of the time. Its a very demanding job despite some thinking otherwise
 
Astandahl

Astandahl

Member
Oct 28, 2017
9,034
Tofer said:
Has there been any juicy tweet hinting at the quality of the game from reviewers?
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Not yet. We won't probably get a lot of tweets considering the leak shitshow where people kept posting spoiler on twitter/ yt etc...

Having said that, pretty much everyone was extremely impressed by the September 2019 demo in the preview event.
 
AntiMacro

AntiMacro

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,152
Alberta
SuperOctopus said:
In my opinion, they cannot release a game like TLOUS 2 without having the massive positive buzz from the press that will come with it. Since spoilers are already out there, they will be careful so that not a lot more will come out of it. I'm sure they already have a list of reviewers that they trust to do a review without talking about specific story points, it's not uncommon for reviewers to have stuff that they cannot talk about when writing reviews. If I remember correctly, God of War reviews did not go into the story much.
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They just slap an embargo on talking about past 'plot point A' for a week post release or whatever. There's no 'trusting' people not to tell, they explicitly warn you against talking about the things they consider too much of a spoiler.
 
Tovarisc

Tovarisc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,507
FIN
Real question is does reviews for the TLOU 2 matter outside of self-justification for praising it as best game ever made etc?

If ND didn't absolutely fucking bungle it up in dogshit press will drown it in 9s and 10s.
 
HardRojo

HardRojo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,231
Peru
Yes, they'll review it. I do think the leaks will affect scores in some instances though (but I don't really care, I'm just mentioning it).
 
Alex840

Alex840

Member
Oct 31, 2017
5,134
OP, you realise most people review games at home anyway, rarely to people go to their office to play a game.
 
CaviarMeths

CaviarMeths

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,655
Western Canada
I would assume the vast majority of review outlets do not have their writing staff working on site in an office. Most of them probably don't even have an office. Playing review copies at home is the norm and has been for decades.
 
Tovarisc

Tovarisc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,507
FIN
Nightengale said:
Reviews threads on ERA for big AAA exclusives are like a Steven Seagal film-caliber entertainment, like watching Shane Mcmahon doing big stunts in chaotic wrestling matches.
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Then someone sows in some dissent with spicey opinions and all bets are off...

When talking reviews during COVID it made me wonder more about previews. For e.g. CDP had planned press hands-on events for CP77 to get some preview buzz, surely those plans are dead now?
 
Iwao

Iwao

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,865
LOL. Of course they will.

A good portion of reviews nowadays are digital codes.
 
deepFlaw

deepFlaw

Knights of Favonius World Tour '21
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,515
Nightengale said:
Reviews threads on ERA for big AAA exclusives are like a Steven Seagal film-caliber entertainment, like watching Shane Mcmahon doing big stunts in chaotic wrestling matches.
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I was going to disagree, but I guess most tweets on my Twitter timeline about wrestling aren't exactly about enjoying what they're looking at, so I guess it tracks.

But, honestly, I wish they weren't a thing. It starts with mindless obsession over metacritic scores anyway, and then some review is even vaguely critical and the thread devolves into grossly going after that review even though nobody's even played the game to speak from experience, almost every time. In between you get some people actually discussing what's been said about the game in the reviews, but you could just have that alone without caring about scores and be better off. It just feels like a bad thing to keep around.
 
Decarb

Decarb

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,678
redflamingolingo said:
Lol.

I just didn't think the majority of reviewers played at home for some reason, especially high-profile AAA games.
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There are some publishers that would fly journalists to "review event", arrange for hotel/food etc and then let them play the game over 3-4 days before flying them back. Never liked this practice personally.
 
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