The game industry is dysfunctional in a lot of ways. Employees are overworked, underpaid, and fired at the drop of a hat. Working conditions can be utterly terrible. And the industry has, at best, a complicated relationship with the journalists that cover it. Just ask Jeff Gerstmann.
So, whether it’s a CEO throwing a hissy over somebody reporting a sequel a few hours before he was about to announce it or a PR firm threating to not hand out review copies because critics were honest about their terrible game, we’ve kind of come to expect tone deaf and idiotic behavior by major game companies towards, well, anybody calling themselves a reporter. But this collection of questions for EA’s new “Battlefield 3” take the cake. Here’s what they were actually trying to make Scandinavian journalists answer before providing a copy of the game:
Did the reviewer personally review BFBC2 or Black Ops?
What score did he give it?
What is his past experience with Battlefield?
Is he a fan of Battlefield?
Is he a fan of Call of Duty?
Has he been playing BF Franchise? BFBC2? 1943? BF2?
Has he expressed enthusiasm or concern for BF3? What are they?
Did he play the beta? Did he enjoy it / get frustrated with it?
What is his present view on the game?
In other words, “we’ll give you a copy if your reviewer loves the franchise unconditionally and hates the crap out of our competitors, otherwise go away.” Nice one, EA. Good to see you’re on top of that, instead of that minor identity theft problem.