Luke Smith vs. Square/Enix

Luke Smith, news editor over at 1up, recently posted a protesting blog entry which openly defied a draconian edict laid down by Square/Enix. The company required news organs to refrain from discussing many aspects of the Valkyrie Profile title, coming out in the U.S. later this year but already available in Japan. Gamers With Jobs has a good synopsis of the situation. From that article: "Is he being a bit overly dramatic on this issue? Perhaps. But it is an interesting illumination of a larger issue, to do with the quality of communication between the industry and games journalists. Smith is certainly not the first to express dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs."

Comments

Angriest Man in Games Journalism?

[neonprimetime]

Luke Smith is the angriest man in games journalism.

Yeah ... all three of them got in a room and beat each other ... Luke Smith was the last man standing.

Here's a crazy idea...

[Lendrick]

How about simultaneous releases?

I, for one, am tired of waiting six to twelve months for games to be localized, and all the while running into little spoilers that diminish my enjoyment of the game when it finally arrives. Though it may be a bit harder to pull off, it would be nice if non-Japanese gamers weren't treated like second-class citizens when it comes to release dates.

Lame

[nacturation]

Here's the text of what they've requested:

With summer in full swing, the sun's come out to say hello, and our Japanese counterparts have unleashed a behemoth known as VALKYRIE PROFILE 2: SILMERIA in their home land. While the game sits in stores thousands of miles away, it's inevitable that some of you will import it to sample the delight that will be coming to North America in late September.

With that in mind, I feel it is necessary to highlight some key areas that you should not include in your coverage:

* Please do not write about spoilers of any kind

* This includes spoiler elements of the main plot, the appearance of Freya and Lenneth as playable characters and of course, the ending

* Please do not post CG movies of any kind

* This is a Square Enix staple that runs the gamut for Japan releases, so please refrain from posting videos of our CG or pivotal cutscenes, you will be able to post CG from the English game at a later date

* Please do not post music of any kind

* Do not sample or record the music from the game, there is an official OST out for VP2 and we can't infringe on its copyright

The majority of this boils down to "don't spoil it for the gamers". Of course, this just a polite request and, given that the Japanese version has already been released, Luke Smith doesn't have to follow any of this as he points out. However, Square Enix doesn't have to do any favors for him either. I wouldn't be surprised if 1Up gets cut out of the loop when it comes to any prerelease events.

Re:Lame

[ChaosDiscord]

I've copied most of Square Enix's request, but skipped over the most important part! Go re-read the article. At the very least, scan or search for "The following areas are embargoed until the corresponding dates:". The text below that is white-on-white to prevent spoilers, so in some web browsers you'll have to select the text to see it. The key point is that information about specific areas in the game is "embargoed" until a set of seven different dates, all of which are before the game's release. While much of the request is legit, the embargo list isn't about spoilers. This is about waiting so that Square Enix can announce it themselves (presumably on their web site). This is about yielding to Square Enix's marketing effort. That's the point where Square Enix crossed the line. Asking journalists to help them with their marketing is inappropriate.

Re:Lame

[ChaosDiscord]

However, whatever their reasoning it's still a matter of biting the hand that feeds you kind of thing.

Well, that's part of the point isn't it? Video game journalism has incentives to cozy up to publishers, compromising the resulting reporting. Square Enix wouldn't have asked this if they didn't think at least some journalists would agree. What does it say about the state of video game journalism that a publisher believes it can ask journalists to stay silent about publically available information solely for marketing reasons? (Of coruse, this is hardly unique to the video game journalism; it's distressingly common in political journalism.)

The journalists are partialy to blame; they trade integrity for "exclusive preview" access and early copies so they can release a review simultaneously with the game's release. Readers enjoy the lion's share of the blame; they demand those previews and instant reviews while not caring about the cozy relationship between game publishers and the media. It is good for everyone to be regularly reminded of this cozy relationship.

Re:Is that legal?

[KillerCow]

Can a private corporation legally dictate what a news agency can and cannot say?

No, but they can cut the news agency off by not helping them write stories anymore.

See the Propaganda Model.

Uh... huh.

[RyoShin]

Reading the blog, it looks like their "embargo" didn't really bar talking about it all, merely talking about certain things; in short, no spoilers (including character descriptions and CG movies) and no sampling/uploading of music from the game. The later seems somewhat obvious, as its most likely copyrighted (I've seen few news sites post just the music.)

However, they can't talk about spoilers? I can understand this demand if 1up got a scoop on a game that's still in production. I can understand this if 1up got a scoop about some utlra super secret sidequest and were to only do teasers until a certain date (or it became public some other way.)

But telling them to keep quiet about a game taht has been out in Japan for months, widely available to anyone with the money for an import? What, is Squeenix hoping that someone with a Geocities account can get details out earlier than a gaming site?

It doesn't look like they're threatening anything, either- it's just a "hey, if you would, could you not do this stuff please? kthx" letter.

Crymore Luke

[Sage Gaspar]

The "draconian" edict they passed down was a politely-worded suggestion that the news media doesn't post directly-ripped music, directly-ripped CG samples, and gross plot spoilers. There is one part of the letter where it "embargos" certain areas of the game for discussion until certain dates, I'm guessing to try to drum up interest for the game so that they don't blow everything immediately and have attention die down.

Is this a marketing ploy? Ya, I'm sure it is. But it's tit-for-tat. Square lets out information and demos to game media, Square asks for a little something back. The media can choose whether they want it or not. If not, fine, then their relationship with Square sours a little. Whoopdeeshit. If yes, then a couple salivating fans have to wait a month or turn to fansites to get their information.

Luke did a good job of drawing his line in the sand to rally the ill-informed reactionaries and the 15-year-old fanatics to the aid of his page impressions, but he needs a reality check.

It worked

[sqlrob]

How many of you have even heard about this game before this flap? A game that wouldn't normally even be a blip on the radar has made /.