1Up.com’s Sam Kennedy posted one of the most thoughtful and in-depth pieces anyone could hope to read about GameSpot’s November dismissal of editorial director Jeff Gerstmann.
Gerstmann reportedly lost his job over a less than glowing review he bestowed upon the Eidos title, Kane & Lynch. Eidos allegedly withdrew its lucrative advertising from GameSpot, resulting in GameSpot’s CNet ownership deciding to jettison Gerstmann, although CNet vehemently denied those claims.
The fact that CNet acknowledged Eidos expressing its displeasure about the review notwithstanding, Kennedy feels GameSpot wrecked its credibility with gamers, as well as with its staff:
It was clear (GameSpot staffers) largely lost faith in their management and place of employ. At worst, they worked for an organization that caved to advertiser pressure, at best, they worked for an organization that simply didn’t care for honest criticism anymore.
The inherent problem in all of this is the extremely high editorial standard GameSpot was built upon. The editors at GameSpot — these are a bunch of guys who worked there because they believed so much in the site’s integrity. You take that away and, well, I don’t know how that can work.
Gerstmann has not discussed the circumstances of his dismissal; nor will we likely see CNet or GameSpot get into specifics due to employment laws. However, it looks like Gerstmann will be back with a vengeance. Said Kennedy:
As for Jeff, word on the street is that he’s teaming with GameSpot founder Vince Broady (who recently left Yahoo) to build a new game site to “take on GameSpot.” Now that would be interesting, would it?
We would give that a 9/10, easy.
