Kotaku and Polygon messed up big time with their Yooka-Laylee articles

Both Kotaku and Polygon are notorious for using misleading and clickbait headlines on their articles. But they might just have out done themselves this time. As they´ve written lies about Yooka-Laylee´s Kickstarter campaign.

Playtonic (the makers of Yooka-Laylee) could actually sue Kotaku and Polygon for libel and defamation.

[Majin-vegeta]

God I hope they hit both of these sites with a hard lawsuit.

[Hoffmann]

I just wish that more people would stop to visit those websites.

[Stringerbell]

Its funny with all the stink these sites caused last year- and how a good chunk of this community cried foul on them... Their articles both good and bad continue to get approved and produce a fair amount of comments.

[Gazondaily]

Well that might be the case but this article doesn't exactly produce it in a very genuine way when it lumps up the quotes like this:

“Right now, passionate, optimistic backers who want to see their favorite old franchises return to life are being misled right and left about the “real” costs behind a game” “Campaigns like Yooka-Laylee” “The amount asked for initially has nothing to do with the real cost of making the game.”

And then the actual stuff reads like this:

http://thegg.net/wp-content...

Not really a fan of the two sites myself but this article is just written unprofessionally and the points aren't even sound:

"I may not know all that much about lawsuits. But both Polygon and Kotaku has dragged Yooka-Laylee´s name in the dirt with their articles. So they have hurt the trustworthiness of the Kickstarter campaign. And i´m quite sure that you could get sued for that."

[Volkama]

Stringing together quotes like that is definitely a poor show. Except when cassetteboy does it.

This article will probably get plenty of support from people that hate these sites, but polygon's article in particular covers quite a genuine issue with kickstarter. If games that are already fully funded are taking so much of the limelight where does it leave the "real" projects that depend on a successful campaign to ever get made?

Maybe they don't get seen, and never get made. Maybe it does no harm what-so-ever. I dunno, but it does seem discussion-worthy.

[Gazondaily]

Yeah it definitely does, i agree. It strikes at the heart of what kickstarter is actually about, if indeed it is true.

I'm not going to just derirde it as "oh Lolygon" as some others inevitably will.

[d0x360]

Yes it is a genuine issue that should be covered. However they are using an age of a completely innocent game to promote this which isn't cool. It automatically associates that image with bad news.

A great example of misuse of kickstarter funds is Tim Schaeffer but they never mention him...why? Buddy buddy.

He blew through and wasted massive amounts of money on broken age and not a peep was said. So much money the game was cut in 2 and the second half delayed a year then when it launched IG was half a game the first was and it was poorly done.

[-Foxtrot]

Whaaaa...both corrupt sites had SIMILAR articles....I'm so shocked /s

Why are these sites still around, it's a shame GG wasn't turned into something it wasn't so they had enough backing to hurt these guys hard.

[Godmars290]

Because like a badly made game which still manages to sell, they make money.

Much of the reason GG came into being is because the income of sites like these is based on quantity of traffic rather than quality of content. Why they could say, why they thought they could say, that they no longer needed the part of their audience who actually read their articles.

[00]

they are just upset that no matter how hard they plug their corrupt indie Friends, they still can't get enough people interested in them compared to the likes of yooka-laylee and bloodstain etc. you know real indie devs who want to make games for the consumer and not their little clique.

[Outthink_The_Room]

Yooka-Laylee was being made, regardless of Kickstarter. Same with Bloodstain. The Kickstarter is to show potential investors that they have a backing.

Instead of looking at Kickstarter funding the game, think of it like a survey. A survey that people paid to take, so they the developers, can show a publisher they have a guaranteed X amount of sales and should fund the project.

That's all these Kickstarters are nowadays. They are basically Surveys and Focus Group reports to show investors.

[mixelon]

But Kotaku and co helped publicise and get funding of Yooka-laylee and bloodstained. They have *nothing* against these games.

Their writers are excited about them, even. http://kotaku.com/banjo-kaz... and http://kotaku.com/the-succe... - they contributed significantly to both games through their publicity, so that theory seems a bit silly.

[gamey]

That's a very reality-based thought process you have there. I'm not sure it fits the narrative though. Here's an example "Whaaaa...both corrupt sites had SIMILAR articles....I'm so shocked /s Why are these sites still around, it's a shame GG wasn't turned into something it wasn't so they had enough backing to hurt these guys hard.".-Foxtrot. Now THAT'S the kind of hard-hitting incisive comment that generates the applause around these here parts.

[Activemessiah]

So what's new...

[Articuno76]

“The amount asked for initially has nothing to do with the real cost of making the game.” – Katie Chironis, Polygon"

1) That seems true to me and 2) It's not uncommon either as Kickstarters aren't used to fund games outright but "kickstart" them into production.

I see no issue with what Polygon said, other than it being kind of pointless to state in the first place because "well, duh".

[antias]

Kotaku + Polygon + Gamasutra = Axis of Evil.

[Godmars290]

Didn't Gamasutra lose their "Hitler"?

[WeAreLegion]

Thanks for not being afraid to hit the big sites with stuff like this. They need to be held accountable.

[Volkama]

It's been cool to "hit" polygon ever since they reviewed TLOU. Not sure it takes much courage to try and call them out...

[Summons75]

Are you surprised? They are both huge sites for clickbait articles. They show clear favoritism toward games and publishers and bash others they just don't like for no logical reason. I still remember clearly how Kotaku MADE UP an article about a "Square Enix Source" claiming Final Fantasy Versus 13 was canceled....boy how WRONG they were. Funny how now all their Final Fantasy 15 articles are made purely to suck up to Square now after getting caught with their pants down.

[gamey]

This crazy artice was complete clickbait. It was poorly written, full of conjecture and weird vitriol and I sure hope the writer never thinks about going to law school! Or maybe they really need to, I'm not sure. It's getting a pass because some people think kotaku and polygon are EVIL gaming sites, so...great article!

[Germany7]

It's really sad how people still access these sites, probably they are against games as well.

[gamey]

I probably visit about 10-12 gaming sites regularly including Kotaku and Polygon. It's not even close to sad, it's great! There's no big bad guy here. It's made up. Some people just seem to need an enemy and they'll make one up if they don't have one. As to your second point, I just don't know how you would begin to think that. Those sites exist around games and the people who read them are gamers. No conspiracy, it's actually pretty simple.