Has the proverbial lid just been blown to smithereens? The biggest non-secret in the gaming industry is what I am referring to; whether or not some games are given better scores because the developers and/or publishers threaten the websites conducting the reviews. This has become increasingly common in the thoughts of many gamers. Big AAA title hits and we are bombarded with nothing but positivity, but when we play it we question if the same game was reviewed.
Bad news for the gaming industry
BadFly Interactive recently released the title “Dead Effect 2” on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
It is a sci-fi horror shooter that has been having moderate success on Steam since its launch in May 2016, which makes the reveal all the more concerning and puzzling.
BadFly CEO, co-founder, and creative director Lubomír Dykast reached out to several game websites offering review codes, with the hope of generating a little more positive buzz about the company's new releases, but this is definitely not what transpired. In the email, Dykast spoke about how they were an indie developer and specifically asked for reviewers to take this into consideration. This is all normal, and completely expected in this day and age of small developers attempting to stand their ground with industry powerhouses.
The problem arose with the closing of the email.
“Also, we're working on several other games that are definitely interesting, and if your review or preview of "Dead Effect 2" is very negative, you won't receive any keys from us in the future.”
Is there a larger problem here?
Whether intentional or not, that line right there has opened a whole can of worms BadFly has been trying to clean up.
It would and could be super easy to ridicule this small developer for making a claim such as this, I’ve seen this happen, too. There’s no justice in this, though. Instead, I want to stress, there are a great deal of journalists out there who still valiantly hold their integrity to a higher standard. I won't say there aren’t some who would fold on a whim, but there are still a great deal of good ones.
BadFly’s slip up, if nothing else, has brought to light an issue with how some handle things. I have not played "Dead Effect 2," nor have I received a code asking me to do so. BadFly has stated, since the exposure of the email, that they will not hinder nor block anyone from receiving a code for review on this or any of their other projects.
Hopefully, this will be true, but only time will tell how things will shake out.
