It is ironic to complain about advertisers having leverage over GameSpot while at the same time complaining that too much content is locked up for subscribers only. Both criticisms are fair, and they show the impossible position that GameSpot is in. If they didn't have special content for subscribers, there would be no reason to subscribe, and then they'd be even deeper into their advertisers' pockets.
It could be that professional games reviews aren't a viable business model. Too many amateurs doing it for free to have a viable subscription model, and too many moral hazards in the advertising model.
I played a lot of Diablo 2 when it came out. On Blizzard's official message boards, a portion of the player base used to beg Blizzard for the chance to pay a monthly fee for things like more bag space, the ability to share bags between characters, enhanced guild functionality, etc.
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It is ironic to complain about advertisers having leverage over GameSpot while at the same time complaining that too much content is locked up for subscribers only. Both criticisms are fair, and they show the impossible position that GameSpot is in. If they didn't have special content for subscribers, there would be no reason to subscribe, and then they'd be even deeper into their advertisers' pockets. It could be that professional games reviews aren't a viable business model. Too many amateurs doing it for free to have a viable subscription model, and too many moral hazards in the advertising model.
I played a lot of Diablo 2 when it came out. On Blizzard's official message boards, a portion of the player base used to beg Blizzard for the chance to pay a monthly fee for things like more bag space, the ability to share bags between characters, enhanced guild functionality, etc.