The power of the publisher: Why does the games media sit back and take it?

In the wake of 2K Games - or a PR firm the company hired - threatening to withhold review code to websites that reacted infavourably to Duke Nukem Forever I've decided to pen a couple of my thoughts on the issue. 

It's easy to blame the publisher for its Ivory Tower arrogance, but what irks me more is that the games media is so passive. Its passivity, of course, is down to market competition, comparatively low wages, and a lack of a homogeneous “journalistic ethic.”

2K should now be banned across the board. All UK publishers should not promote any story featuring any of their games. Eurogamer should not review their games nor should VG247 give them any news coverage. CVG, RPS et al. should all be in on it.

The power has to be with the publication, not the publisher. This reeks of journalism in the 80s where a politician could call an editor and get a story pulled. Now the power is with the paper (maybe too much, some might argue) and the powers-that-be simply need the publication for exposure just as much as the publication needs them; a two-way street.

In the video game industry, publishing houses can pick and choose who they want to cover their stories. Where’s the balance in that? How can we now trust the next review of Duke 5 in 13 years’ time? How do we know how far their influence reaches? Why should we blindly trust a reviewer to be impartial when his or her editor just sits back and takes it?

A blanket UK boycott against all 2K products (or if you count Eurogamer then you’ve got Germany, Portugal, Denmark etc. etc.) Hopefully the coverage blackout will effect certain wings of the 2K corporation financially and they’ll soon think twice. But if editors continually focus on finance, oneupmanship and the “exclusive” above and beyond principle, ethics and the balance of power between the publisher and the publication, the industry will never be considered a real home for journalistic talent as question marks will always hang over just how much a publisher has influenced certain sections of it.

Which is a shame, as on the whole, and the people that I’ve met and worked with are just as talented as any broadsheet writer and more than deserve to be recognised as such. Site owners and editors need to  stand up and be counted. For the sake of their craft and their reputation.