Video Game Company To Wii Reviewer: Save The Panning For Later, Okay?
The subject of how game companies communicate with game reviewers came up a few times while I interviewed former
GameSpot reviewer
Alex Navarro. And wouldn’t you know that, without missing a beat, he was able to produce a memorable note he received a couple of years ago.
This, he said, demonstrated the way the communication sometimes works. “I have a note in my hand that came from a PR person surrounding a certain Wii launch game,” Navarro told me.
This is the note he was sent by a publicist whom he declined to name:
If the review is 9.0 or higher you can post immediately. Lower than 9.0, could you please hold until launch day, November 19th? Thanks.
“And that’s not the first time I got something like that,” he told me. Navarro said GameSpot ran their review for this game based on a copy bought in a store. And they panned it.