The Problem With Slant: Kotaku vs Eurogamer

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Do you ever wonder why so few people have any trust in “mainstream” media outlets outside of the ones that conform to their own “Reality Bubble?” There’s a little term that is little known outside of the journalism community known as “Slant.” Slant, simply put, is the journalist’s “spin” on the story, when they have a point of view and write to conform to the viewpoint. See, unlike journalism of the past, right around the mid 80s, just as 24 hour News Networks were coming into their own due to the rise of cable subscriptions and the increasing popularity of Creative Non-Fiction, slant began to be introduced as an important journalistic tool. Simply reporting the news, as done by stalwart journalists like Walter Cronkite, was considered 1) passé (old news, if you’ll pardon the pun), and 2) not what brings in the money, because even though news had been supported by advertising in the past, this was the era of new, bigger, more, and now the news departments were expected to generate revenue where they may not have had to do so in the past.

I say all of this, not because I’m a “mainstream news” skeptic, but to set the stage for my topic today. While nominally about the video game industry, this isn’t actually a “video game” post, but a post about writing, ethics, and journalistic standards. When is it okay to “fudge the facts” in order to have a good (negative) story that you know will generate controversy versus when should you tell the truth (or in this case, truthfully report on the story?)

“Slant” and “Click-Bait”

So, for those that don’t know, Kotaku is a video game “news” site. I put the “air quotes” around “news” because I find their level of reporting to be closer to opinion/blog territory than an actual news site. Almost every post that I have the misfortune to click on seems to have some sort of opinion peppered throughout the article. I rarely visit them because, even though they are popular, they have a fairly low reputation among gamers, now even more so as their shining star of investigative reporting, Jason Schrierer, has moved on to a new site. While definitely not the only ones that engage in slant-based journalism, they are, in my opinion, one of the more obvious ones.

Take this particularly egregious example of “news,” for instance: “Nobody Played Godfall On PS5, So It’s Coming To PS4.” This little “gem” of a piece manages to be snide and wrong, pretty much all at the same time. Well, that’s what so insidious about the way slant works–the writer isn’t wrong about the actual news piece that Godfall is coming to the PS4–I watched the same developer showcase as the writer of this article–and Gearbox, the publishers of the game, made that announcement. What I take issue with is the interpretation of that announcement.

The author goes out of his/her way (hey, I’ve already done my due diligence by looking at the author’s previous stories for Kotaku to get an idea of what they’ve already written) to be as snide as possible in the headline. Not only does the author cast the game in an unfavorable light, but the author does so without providing any sales data to back up his/her aspersions. Yes, in the gamer community, it is generally inferred that Godfall didn’t do well, but if you’re reporting something to me, the reader, you should report it and keep your opinions/editorial content out of it (unless you make it clear that it is an OPINION–which, by the way, the site has a section for and this article is NOT in that section). Not to bring academics into this, but the first rule of English 102: Research and Argumentation is that if you make a claim or assertion, you need to back it up.

Which is what I’m going to now with my assertion that the writer is engaged in using slant for “clickbait” purposes. Here’s my evidence:

EuroGamer Says . . .

So, here is what a Eurogamer article from 6 November 2020 (that’s November 6, 2020 for my American brethren) says:

Godfall is a six-month timed PS5 console exclusive, Sony has confirmed.

Godfall’s PS5 launch trailer was published overnight, and at the end it reveals the particle effect-heavy looter RPG will remain a PS5 console exclusive until 21st May 2021.

Wesley Yin-Poole, Editor (Eurogamer)

This quote is from an article on Eurogamer titled simply: “Godfall is a six-month timed PS5 console exclusive, Sony confirms.” While the article does dip into a bit of speculation, it is a reasonable one (that it might appear on Xbox someday) given that it is only a timed exclusive. Now, I remember reading this during the run-up to the release of the two consoles. While obviously, there’s not going to be any data on a pre-released game (at that point), the author of this article on speculates on the possible systems based on the information, but not on the chances that the game will be a hit or miss in terms of money or sales.

Being Snide Doesn’t Help Credibility

Actually, unless you are a “commentator,” being paid for your opinions, very little in the way of emotions helps if you are a journalist. I see this in so many areas now, especially since the rise of social media, and the blending of news, facts, and opinions.

I saw the Eurogamer article, read it, processed it, and then promptly forgot it (hey, I’m working on a dissertation, there’s only so much that I can keep in my brain at any one time), but when I saw the Kotaku article, something in my mind said, “that doesn’t seem right.” I’m pretty sure the game wasn’t the highest selling game of the launch window, but something in the back of my mind said, “wasn’t it always supposed to be a limited time exclusive?” I did a quick google search–literally, I keyed in “Godfall timed exclusivity” and up popped the Eurogamer article (less than 5 seconds from wondering if I was right to knowing I was right).

As I close, I have to note that this isn’t just a Kotaku issue (even though they’re one of the most egregious at the moment). I’ve seen it in multiple outlets and sites covering everything from sports to entertainment, and yes, to video games. While I don’t want to call out tons and tons of outlets, I feel compelled to mention that I can tell that there are a few outlets that have a clear Xbox/Microsoft focus that bleeds through their reporting–and these are major, reputable sites, who I no longer visit because the slant of their stories clearly reveals their biases (they would prefer nothing more than a future where GamePass was the defacto standard for all games no matter the question of longterm viability for the video game industry–basically, if the site is always yammering on with the benefits of GamePass while at the same time dogging Sony for everything it does–i.e., Spider-Man exclusivity in various games, for example, it’s a pretty good bet that their biases are firmly in Xbox-Land).

I implore writers and journalists on the web: Just report the story and trust that I’m smart enough to draw my own conclusions about what you report. And if you’re going to make a statement, please be ready to back it up with data/evidence.

Otherwise, it’s only an opinion that you are masquerading as fact.

Sidney

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