I was never a regular visitor of their site and so I won't personally feel much of an impact. I think if there's truly a demand for their content that something else can rise from the ashes. I just don't have a feel for how much demand there is for a replacement. If they are good writers, I'm sure they'll be able to move on to jobs in other gaming or entertainment genres if necessary.
Originally posted by Tracho12 Hate to see Massively go but I have to disagree with his take.
It's definitely a sign of the times. Not so much in regards to MMOs or gaming but in regards to corporate America.
It's eerily reminiscent of NCSOFT shutting down CoH while it was still profitable. Small gains just aren't enough for these big businesses. If they ain't raking in the dollars hands and fists, they'll shut it down and find a project that will.
This ^
We are living in the age of mega greed. It won't end well but as long as the executive gets a golden parachute they don't care. Society at large is in trouble as long as this attitude is prevalent.
Originally posted by Burntvet Considering what a sham so-called "Gaming journalism" is I have no sympathy.
Publishers/advertisers conspire with gaming website who offer puffed up reviews of products, to get people to buy the games. The publisher/developers then kick down cash in the form of "advertising dollars" to the sites. And writers get their piece of the pie too for writing the puff pieces, that might as well be written by the publisher's marketing staff.
And who pays for that? The consumer who bought a hyped up POS game after reading an "official review".
So, one less site shoveling the BS.
The End
Both of you, please step away from the tin foil hats.
This is a widely known industry practice, and a lot of authors/websites have even admitted to it or "downplayed" the importance.
Look, it isn't always blatant, but it is often done with a nod and a wink, and after all everyone has to make a living right? And everyone understands how it works.
Websites are not stupid, and they know if they give MMOs a truthful but less than good review, that publisher is not going to advertise on that site any longer. And further, that publisher is not going to give people from that website an info about any future games or access at shows/conventions. So sites/authors over-inflate review scores (on top of writing endless puff pieces hyping up these games) in order to make nice withe publishers and keep the gravy train rolling.
The authors are not stupid either. They know when they get an assignment from an editor to do a "first look", they are being asked for a bunch of overly positive hot air to hype things up. This is doubly true for "official reviews" where higher ratings can directly translate into more sales. Also, writers know that people that write unfavorable reviews get fired.
And on top of all that, you have sites, like this one, that "sell" the very games they review.
See that "store" button on the top right side? It is not there for free, they get a piece of everything they sell from a click-through.
At some point, people decided it was ok for there to be collusion because at the end, the bad product they stuff the public with only cost $50-$60. Or that they could get away with it because a large part of the video game buying public is younger and perhaps not savvy about such things.
None of that matters, because none of that is "ok". (And in other industries it is literally illegal.)
Comments
This ^
We are living in the age of mega greed. It won't end well but as long as the executive gets a golden parachute they don't care. Society at large is in trouble as long as this attitude is prevalent.
It's sad news, I looked at their website most days, have a nice life Massively staff and commenters. C'est la vie.
This is a widely known industry practice, and a lot of authors/websites have even admitted to it or "downplayed" the importance.
Look, it isn't always blatant, but it is often done with a nod and a wink, and after all everyone has to make a living right? And everyone understands how it works.
Websites are not stupid, and they know if they give MMOs a truthful but less than good review, that publisher is not going to advertise on that site any longer. And further, that publisher is not going to give people from that website an info about any future games or access at shows/conventions. So sites/authors over-inflate review scores (on top of writing endless puff pieces hyping up these games) in order to make nice withe publishers and keep the gravy train rolling.
The authors are not stupid either. They know when they get an assignment from an editor to do a "first look", they are being asked for a bunch of overly positive hot air to hype things up. This is doubly true for "official reviews" where higher ratings can directly translate into more sales. Also, writers know that people that write unfavorable reviews get fired.
And on top of all that, you have sites, like this one, that "sell" the very games they review.
See that "store" button on the top right side? It is not there for free, they get a piece of everything they sell from a click-through.
At some point, people decided it was ok for there to be collusion because at the end, the bad product they stuff the public with only cost $50-$60. Or that they could get away with it because a large part of the video game buying public is younger and perhaps not savvy about such things.
None of that matters, because none of that is "ok". (And in other industries it is literally illegal.)
they are not done they are still around on twitter and facebook and eventually their own site.
They will actually return soon (tm) on their new website "Massively Overpowered". See their Twitter announcement:
https://twitter.com/MassivelyOP
And the website apparently will be: massivelyop.com
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert