Gaming Journalism *spin*

jason also reports that workers felt the work on the demo was a waste of time that could better be used for the real game instead. He presents it as something crazy/really bad. He didn't give context that it's quite normal for game devs to think like that, because frankly, from a development point of view yes indeed it was a waste of time. Time that better be used for the real game. IIRC many other big AAA game devs that were interviewed about this topic say that is the case, making demo waste time and resource from the main game.

but from other perspectives, making a demo could be important to build hype, pacify investors, etc.

 

Almost all game developers don't like making a demo for a tradeshow, but almost all of them realize they practically have to make one. CDPR devs are definitely no different than any other game dev out there with regard to this.

Regards,
SB

 

I'm not sure what has driven this comment, some of his more prominent reporting has been on Naughty Dog (crunch, sexual harassment) and Rockstar (crunch). As a reporter focussing on video games, you go where the story is and right now that's CDPR. It's not his personal quest, it's his job.

Should not not report on CDPR because they are in Poland?

 

Yeah I was pretty appalled.

His work on uncovering destiny behind the scenes were awesome. But now he became this... Yikes.

 

A "hit peice" on CDPR "every month since release"? So last month and this month. Why is this any different to his hit pieces' (reporting) on Naughty Dog on which he's reported on crunch pretty much every year? Or Rockstar? Or Ubisoft? Last year's toxic Ubisoft management reporting spanned more than a month. Sometimes information comes out slowly, sometimes people who have something to share feel empowered by seeing others speak out (e.g. Me too), it doesn't all happen at once.

Hey man, you're going to have to help me out. What is this different?

 

I haven't kept up with everything Jason has stated about CDPR, but if I'm not mistaken, he's not going after the developers or other hourly personnel, but the actual managers and executives who were proven to be distrustful through emails and firsthand employee accounts. Honestly, I have no sympathy for liars or douchebag managers, so I see no problem with Jason going after these types of people, regardless of the company or game.

 

Just FYI he used to write for Kotaku for years but left during 2020. Bloomberg is his new employer.

 

These articles appear to be objectively accurate summaries of the situation. So what's the problem? Are you calling for no reporting of bad news in video gaming?

No, the only person here who I feel has a personal fixation is you. For years Jason Schreier has reported on the video gamer industry, and often the less flattering aspects. He presumably goes where the stories are but my original reply to you wasn't about the nature of the story but the first line you wrote, which was:

Schreier is on a personal quest against CDPR, which is something he often does on independent publishers that don't originate on the US​

It was the weird anti-American bias you suggested that initially drew my attention and yet Mr Schreier is well known for, what as the word you used? "harass" Naughty Dog: an American company. And Rockstar: an American company. It seems like Mr Schreier goes where the bad news is.

I don't seem to be sharing your reality because if you look at all the accounts of "video game goons journalist clique from San Francisco" who played Cyberpunk behind closed doors at E3 2019, they were overwhelming possitive:

IGN. Game Informer. GameSpot. Some guy called Jason Schreier at Kotaku. Look what this motherfucker wrote:

Wow, what a piece of shit he is.

 

I've seen Jason be bit of a prick to top management of the studios he is currently-writing/has-recently-written a negative expose on. I've seen him bug and pick on Neil Druckman for weeks when TLoU2 launched for example. And it was not the first time I saw him do this exact sort of thing, although I don't remember precisely which studios were the previous victim.

So yes, he does behave a bit like he is on a personal quest for a while when he writes a "hit-piece" on a studio. Is it completely fair? I don't think so. Does it look a little childish and personal? Yes. Is it good that a journalist like him does exist though? Definetly yes. We need a couple pricks here and there to keep us in check. Is it about the country of the studio? I see no reason to make that association, seems more like paranoid accusiation to me, not that different from the many reaching PC police acusations CDPR recieved hundreds of as well.

 

I rarely agree with @ToTTenTranz on much but I'm with him on his Jason Schreier take. I think he definitely has it in for CD Projekt Red. Glad to see CDPR respond to him. He's an asshole. LOL

Tommy McClain

 

Took the words outta my mouth

 

He just tells the truth and it helps developer having a better balance life/job in the case of Rockstar and probably soon Naughty Dog(currently hiring tons of producer). He is not against the employee but just the bastard executives.

And CDProjet executives are just a bunch of asshole, hiding PS4 and XB1 version and just thinking about CDProjekt share and don't care about employer and worst for a company shareholders because of their dumbness. At the end thinking only about profit and the share they posses, they made some big errors.

 

Don't let my opinion on Jason cover up my disdain for the CDPR executives lies about the XB1 & PS4 versions either. They knew what they were doing with releasing that version prematurely. Their latest post is laughable. So they are assholes too. They have been rightly called out for their mismanagement, but what Jason is doing is not journalism. It's a witch hunt by an overzealous wanna-be journalist that thinks he's bigger than what he is. The only people involved that are not assholes are the actual developers working on the game & the gamers playing it. I think the sales & reviews are on point. I also feel CDPR may actually salvage the game. When they do I might actually try it out, provided it comes out on Game Pass. No way I'm spending money on the RPG genre that I don't like.

Tommy McClain

 

At the end what he does work at least for Rockstar and Naugthy Dog.

 

Schreier feels like he's as much activist as journalist. My issue is not the facts he's reporting so much as it is how front-and-center his editorialized perspective comes through the articles in combination with his active presence on social media where he comes across as some kind of self-appointed czar of workplace ethics and work/life balance. Having that clear agenda in his reporting almost certainly leads to an echo-chamber effect for the types of sources that are willing to provide information. People who are sympathetic to his cause and have bad stories to tell will actively share them, and those who don't/aren't will naturally try to avoid adding fuel to the fire and opt not to speak to him. Not every developer wants to throw their studio under the bus, not every developer hates crunch, not every developer is against a live-to-work ethos, not every developer is pro-union, but those people are never going to have their stories told and their perspective proportionately juxtaposed against those who are disgruntled because it works against the righteous indignation that has become Schreier's brand.

 

First crunch is part of the job. The problem is what is call march to the death basically when crunch is the normal way to go.

He calls out mostly the studios famous for the crunch culture like Rockstar or ND or CDProjekt not all studios/publisher are like this. EA is not like this, Insomniac games is not like this.