As most of the gaming community knows by now, last Wednesday a controversy was stirred up at GameSpot about the firing of a well known figure, Mr. Jeff Gerstmann. Gerstmann was a reviewer and prominent figure in the GameSpot community for 11 years and with his "firing" came great distrust from gamers everywhere.
The most popular conspiracy theory that seems to be in almost everyone’s head is that Gerstmann was fired because of a bad review he gave for Kane and Lynch Dead Men by Eidos. Some may agree, some may not, but finally we get answers from GameSpot themselves! Well, kind of. The most important questions are officially answered but really don’t tell us much that we already didn’t know.
Q: Did Eidos’ disappointment cause Jeff to be terminated?
A: Absolutely not.
Q: Did Eidos’ disappointment cause the alteration of the review text?
A: Absolutely not.
Q: Did Eidos’ disappointment lead to the video review being pulled down?
A: Absolutely not.
Q: Why did the Kane & Lynch ads disappear from GameSpot right as the "Gerstmanngate" controversy began to heat up?
A: Advertising sales on GameSpot are sold by the day. The end of the Kane & Lynch "skin" promotion had been predetermined long beforehand. Internal documentation filed before the review appeared shows that the site skin was scheduled to run from November 17 to 29, 2007. Site-wide ad campaigns automatically change at midnight, hence the "skin" being removed after hours.
Can this all really be a coincidence? Unfortunately because of human resource procedures and in coordinance with California state law, the true story has not been made public. Will we have to wait until Gerstmann writes it in his autobiography? Do you believe CNET and GameSpot are telling the whole truth? You can find the whole interview on Spot On: Gamespot on Gerstmann.
