Kohnke v. Perpetual Suit Unveils 'Pay For Good Reviews' Angle

Posted by Zonk on Thursday December 13, 2007 @07:46AM from the pay-for-play dept.

The recent debate brought about by Jeff Gerstmann's dismissal from Gamespot has focused a lot of attention on the role of advertiser manipulation of reviews. Now a lawsuit brought by PR firm Kohnke Communications against what remains of Perpetual Entertainment has unveiled an interesting element of their business relationship. From the language of the agreement: "Kohnke's public relations campaign was successful in creating pre-release 'buzz' around Gods & Heroes, and in convincing reviewers to write positive reviews about the game. In addition, on information and belief, Perpetual had signed up more than 100,000 beta testers for Gods & Heroes, a large number for an unreleased MMO." For another viewpoint on the Gerstmann issue, Dean Takahashi just recently interviewed the former reviewer.

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Re:Gerstmann interview not exactly revealing by El+Gigante+de+Justic · 2007-12-13 09:52 · Score: 3, Insightful

It could also be that while they fired him to appease Eidos, they also offered him a substantial severance package as long as he stays quiet about what actually went down.