UK Tomb Raider PR firm called out for “trying to fix Metacritic scores,” issues statement in reply
This story first broke last Wednesday when a UK journalist wrote on his twitter account that EidosÂ’ British PR firm Barrington Harvey sought to prevent any review lower than 8.0/10 for Tomb Raider: Underworld (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PC, PS2) from getting published until three days after the game has launched. Since then, Barrington Harvey issued an official statement regarding the issue. Check it out in the full article.
This story first broke last Wednesday when a UK journalist wrote on his twitter account that EidosÂ’ British PR firm Barrington Harvey sought to prevent any review lower than 8.0/10 for Tomb Raider: Underworld (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PC, PS2) from getting published until three days after the game has launched.
When asked about this, a rep from Barrington Harvey explained,
ThatÂ’s right. WeÂ’re trying to manage the review scores at the request of Eidos. Just that weÂ’re trying to get the Metacritic rating to be high, and the brand manager in the US thatÂ’s handling all of Tomb Raider has asked that we just manage the scores before the game is out, really, just to ensure that we donÂ’t put people off buying the game, basically.
Bad move, old boy.
Of course, the general reaction wasn’t a favorable one when people heard about it. Journalists and gamers alike went up in arms and scathing criticisms about “unethical” behavior filled the net in the interim. I think Kotaku phrased it best when they asked, “What the holy hell?”
Enter Barrington and Harvey’s damage control: Simon Byron, one of Barrington Harvey’s directors, issued an official statement on the matter saying,
Barrington Harvey is not in the position of telling reviewers what they can and cannot say. We love Tomb Raider and believe it merits a score of at least 8/10, but if someone disagrees thatÂ’s entirely their prerogative. No problem at all. Seriously: no problem.
Our original NDA stated that in order to receive an advance copy of the game, reviewers agreed not to post reviews ahead of 5:00pm, Wednesday 19th November 2008. Nothing else. No further obligations whatsoever.
I do agree that it’s perfectly reasonable to hold reviewers to schedules posited in a non-disclosure agreement but they really should have prevented *all* reviews from seeing the light of day and not just the ones below 8.0.
Game reviewers are under pressure to release their findings quickly and ahead of the competition. That’s sort of why they look for advanced copies in the first place. Telling them they can *only* publish their reviews early if they publish it with a high score is no different than offering them cash make bogus reviews.
… but that’s only my opinion. Feel free to share yours in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you think.
The full version of Barrington Harvey’s statement can be viewed in the source link below.
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