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Jeff Gerstmann Fired

Guybrush ThreepwoodGuybrush Threepwood
edited December 2007 in General Chat
(sorry this is a bit late, it's due to the thread problems)

Long time staff member (11 years) Jeff Gerstmann has been fired from Gamespot due to... well, read news article and take what you believe with a pinch of salt.
A huge thread on the forums erupted, and is still going strong with 14,142 posts.
Even popular site Penny Arcade covered the news.
...plus, here is some player reviews of the game that is rumoured to have got him fired.

If this means nothing to you, Jeff Gerstmann reviewed all of Sam & Max Season 1 and was set to review the new game.

Comments

  • pfafferpfaffer
    edited December 2007
    adventuregamers.com even had an article on editorial integrity after this. Pretty funny. I hope he comes out with a tell all and capitalizes on all the attention while he's got it. At least get something out of the unfortunate situation.

    The one thing is that there could be nothing to this, but Gamespot is in a huge lose-lose situation. Either clear their name and get legal backfire from Gertsmann or keep quite and lose the respect of their readers.
  • BadwolfBadwolf
    edited December 2007
    I don't think Gamespot disabling user voting on Kane and Lynch did them any favours. If anything, it just told users that their reviews weren't wanted either, if they were bringing the game's score down to 2.3.
  • Guybrush ThreepwoodGuybrush Threepwood
    edited December 2007
    pfaffer wrote: »
    adventuregamers.com even had an article on editorial integrity after this. Pretty funny. I hope he comes out with a tell all and capitalizes on all the attention while he's got it. At least get something out of the unfortunate situation.

    The one thing is that there could be nothing to this, but Gamespot is in a huge lose-lose situation. Either clear their name and get legal backfire from Gertsmann or keep quite and lose the respect of their readers.

    Gerstmann can't legally comment at this time.
  • fpostmafpostma
    edited December 2007
    Badwolf wrote: »
    I don't think Gamespot disabling user voting on Kane and Lynch did them any favours. If anything, it just told users that their reviews weren't wanted either, if they were bringing the game's score down to 2.3.

    To be fair, that's about the only thing they DID right at GS. Those weren't review in any meaningfull way. Just garbage message with a 1.0 attached. Hundreds in a couple of hours, all useless really.

    GS is between a rock and hard place here, they didn't fire Gerstmann (CNET parent comp. did) and their public is now distrusting them. Which they can't fix themselves, they don't even KNOW why he was fired. CNet ain't talking to anybody and that seems to include GS staff. Well except their PR people who had a something of a 'FAQ' drafted which contained verrry little answers :)

    CNet has dug themselves a nicely deep hole and they've not yet figured out how to get out of it. They're close though, they've appointed some vice-director or such to investigate this problem. Sooo.. he'll blame someone for something and fire him/her and everything will be fixed :)

    Sorry... cynical today :D
  • ShaggEShaggE
    edited December 2007
    Gamespot has been horrible for years now. The site itself is a sensory overload of ads and useless "features", the forums are as bad as GameFAQs' used to be, the reviews are often written with huge bias...

    It feels like a souped-up GeoCities site, really. It's a shame Happypuppy.com isn't around anymore, they were like GameSpot without the crap.
  • Murray the ChaoMurray the Chao
    edited December 2007
    Yes, I am familiar with what how Jeff Gerstmann was fired by Josh Larson, and I have put a certain curse on Josh.
  • Guybrush ThreepwoodGuybrush Threepwood
    edited December 2007
    fpostma wrote: »
    Which they can't fix themselves, they don't even KNOW why he was fired. CNet ain't talking to anybody and that seems to include GS staff.

    Actually, they do, they just can't tell everyone for legal (once again) reasons.
  • fpostmafpostma
    edited December 2007
    Guybrush Threepwood wrote: »
    Actually, they do, they just can't tell everyone for legal (once again) reasons.

    I'm not so sure, they can guess of course but CNet management seems to have to done this all by themselves. The only reason why GS staff can't talk much is that they want to keep their job. There is no law against telling why you fired an employer (though CNet would love for you to believe so).

    The funny thing is, keeping all quiet isn't going to solve this. They will eventually need a new Chief Editor for starts :)
  • Guybrush ThreepwoodGuybrush Threepwood
    edited December 2007
    fpostma wrote: »
    I'm not so sure, they can guess of course but CNet management seems to have to done this all by themselves. The only reason why GS staff can't talk much is that they want to keep their job. There is no law against telling why you fired an employer (though CNet would love for you to believe so).

    The funny thing is, keeping all quiet isn't going to solve this. They will eventually need a new Chief Editor for starts :)

    There is no law, but it is a CNET policy. If the staff were to talk about it at this time, they'd be fired.
  • TelltaleToolTelltaleTool
    edited December 2007
    Actually, there is a law. If they detail why he was fired, they're open to a libel/slander suit. Most employers are only allowed to acknowledge that someone worked there, and for how long.
  • fpostmafpostma
    edited December 2007
    tabacco wrote: »
    Actually, there is a law. If they detail why he was fired, they're open to a libel/slander suit. Most employers are only allowed to acknowledge that someone worked there, and for how long.

    Most employers don't WANT tell more because of opening themselves up to a possible libel/slander suit yes. There is no law whatsoever making it illegal to tell another company you fired someone for say stealing from you, unless some judge thinks it unfairly hurts the ex-employee chances of finding another job (which would be his/her own fault but hey). Broadcasting it to the general public might be overdoing it, but that only holds if Jeff truly was at fault.

    Jeff's silence is far easier to understand; severance-deal :)

    CNet doesn't have a reason for firing Gerstmann that will appease the general public. So they opt to not say anything, won't solve much though.

    It's an amusing PR disaster, one that will most likely be used for years to come as a fine example how NOT to handle things :) They could easily have fired him using the regular procedure instead of locking him out of his office without anybody knowing in advance, that doesn't exeactly inspire good thougts.
  • RasherRasher
    edited December 2007
    People are surprised that gaming websites and magazines are beholden to major publishers? Sad to say that most gaming sites that we depend on to honestly review and tell us about games care more about advertising dollars than readers and respectability.

    Hey, I understand. It's tough out there and even tougher with in the current economy. That's why I stopped reading reviews or take them with a huge bowl of salt when I do read them. I depend on friends and people I know through forums to get information on games I'm thinking about buying.

    I hope some good comes out of all of this. I hope it open the eyes of some of the editors that run these sites to the fact that they are losing the trust of their readers.
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