2K Games fires PR firm after it threatens press over Duke Nukem Forever reviews

XMNR: PR firm The Redner Group had some harsh words for game journalists and blogs that gave Duke Nukem Forever poor reviews. As a result, 2K Games has ended its relationship with the firm.

[ZombieAssassin]

Good for them I wouldn't want to associate myself with a firm that did such things either.

[captain-obvious]

2K is butt hurt over the reviews of the game that's for sure

but they just have to move on and try harder next time

[tdrules]

2k are not butthurt, their PR company misrepresented them captain skimread

[Paradicia]

captain-obvious... not so obvious :L

[kramun]

Captain-obvious needs more brain cells, that much is obvious.

EDIT:Also, where did this 'butt hurt' crap come from? I see it all the time and it's a pretty retarded term to use.

EDIT2: No one uses that in real life do they?

'Oh, you are so butt hurt!'

[captain-obvious]

im sorry
i didn't pay attention while i read that
i take what i said back

[HammockGames]

@ kramun

Agreed - "butt hurt" is probably the most overused term on N4G.

Judging by the frequency it's used, it would seem there's a lot of folks who've done prison time with poor soap handling skills.

[palaeomerus]

When it started out 'butt hurt' implied someone was angry and bitter and lashing out helplessly like a child who had just been spanked. The sodomy connotation came along after people started saying 'raped' instead of defeated.

[rob6021]

It's Pretty obvious why these companies are now using 3rd party PR teams to market games - It's because the business they do is shady. They wine and dine journalists, at the same time scheme how to punish journalists that do not play nice. And once someone messes up they can point the finger and cut and run. 2K, NO you don't get off that easy.

[darkequitus]

@captain

I'll give you credit for putting your hands up to a mistake. A rare thing on this site.

[zag]

I don't think 2K are fussed about Duke.

It's was meant to be made by apodgee but they didn't because their boss messed around for 10+ years, saying all sorts of stuff in the meantime.

Then it got taken off them and the money ran out and Apodgee went bankrupt.

2K is just picking up the pieces and outputting something for those people who stuck around the 15 or so years it took for this to finally come out.

I don't even think 2K even care much for the duke game.

People have knocked it because they think it's been made for the whole 15 years and think it should be some crysis toppler game but it won't because it's probably only took a year to make it.

[bumnut]

I can't believe you got disagrees for admitting you didn't read it properly and saying sorry.

[nickjkl]

technically

http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

2k still did what the pr firm said they were going to do

and black listed eurogamer

[no_more_trolling]

captain illiterate

[WhittO]

Well...they do you people think they are happy with the reviews!? NO they are not, so some might even say they are "butt hurt" (stupid saying lol)

[paintsville]

2K should fire the development team and the programmers first then worry about the PR. The game is bad PR all on it's own.

[SephirothX21]

I agree with the firm. How dare those sites have opinions. That game has been in development since before the first Duke game released and it gets 4 and 5s in reviews? Madness. Surely after all the years of blood sweat and tears, this game is true awesomeness. Nah forget what I said, it sucks.

[awi5951]

Its really time for the game industry to grow up! Companies have been doing this crap for years if your game sucks it sucks. Instead of attacking the reviewers how about you make a better game next time so they cant give you a low review.The movie industry learned this along time ago roger ebert can give movies low scores all day long hes not blacklisted for it. So these publishers and game makers need to change their ways and let reviewers do their jobs without threats of reprisal.

[t0mmyb0y]

Just because a game (movie) gets a bad review, doesn't mean it's bad. Duke Forever is classic Duke and for that I give it 8. It is in no way innovative or inspiring, it is entertaining. Isn't that what we play games for? watch movies?

[SephirothX21]

I personally haven't played the game but Gamespot's review describes the game as being a first-person shooter with very little first person shooting but with long boring and tedious driving and platform sections. The game has an average of around 4.5 out of 10. I think I can safely assume it sucks from that information.

[clarkdef]

Arghh you're just butt hurt man, take a look in the mirror' ya butt is hurting.

Everyone in here needs to pull their pants down and take a peak in the mirror.

[SephirothX21]

I'm butt hurt (stupid American saying) because Duke Nukem sucks? I couldn't care less. I've never played a Duke game and I never found the franchise appealing anyway.

[showtimefolks]

i say i am willing to pay $5. and it will be down to that 5-10 dollars range within few months.

do we expect any patch from gearbox to fix some obvious issues?

[SephirothX21]

A good patch would be one that wipes the game from existence.

[showtimefolks]

lol gearbox president said that his studio wanted the same vision for DNF that the original studio had now that the game is out i am wondering if the original studio was on drugs

hopefully DN franchise which gearbox bought will make some great DN games in the future for next gen console in development cycle of 2 years if possible

i am still hoping for a patch since i will pick this up for cheap down the road when its in my price line of 5-10 dollars

[FAGOL]

Wow that's just unprofessional. What was he thinking?

[soundslike]

Its twitter, he wasn't.

Fuck social media. On one hand he gave up the rights to his opinions by posting it, on the other hand its not like nobody in PR has ever felt like that before, it just wasn't broadcasted to the world.

Its a pretty high hypocrisy when everyone knows game companies have withheld games from ranting reviewers before, yet it is their job as PR people to lie and butter up so its not made into an issue.

There are no winners here, the whole practice of PR is disgusting in itself, if people weren't retarded and the company was doing good work, they wouldn't be needed...

[garos82]

i agree, pour your heart into your work and the people will be talking about it for you in good light. no need for pr team.

having said that i havent played the game so cant really say if the pr company was right to say that in the first place

[Adam2101]

i played the game and i prefer playing the original really.. the reviews gave the game justice imo

[viperman240]

Afraid of the truth were they? Why else would they have a reason to threaten.

See how gaming journalism is on the down slide.

[Nicaragua]

i think you just totally missed the point

[kramun]

Right over his head.

[radphil]

A swing and a miss on your part viperman

[rob6021]

Don't be naive people, you can bet your ass 2k let hired these guys with the intention they would push the boundaries of ethics. Do you guy remember the Strip joint converted into a press event for Duke Nukem? that was probably the Redner group's doing - of course approved by 2k. But when the sh*t hits the fan it's time to stop approving of their work. These groups are hired to raise meta critic scores unjustly. The point of this article is not a good one, its good that he missed it.

[Cheeseknight28]

There's a huge difference between using a strip joint to promote Duke Nukem, which makes perfect sense considering the game's content, and a PR company trying to strongarm reviewers who were doing their job. The group that 2K hired did their work and then tried to blackmail their clients. That goes against all practices of good business ethics.

2K should disassociate themselves from Redner. They are in the right here.

[Garethvk]

I have dealt with both 2K and The Redner Group for years. They have always been ethical and great to work with for me. I am willing to believe it was a simple acting out of frustration.

[Charmers]

Some of the reviews have been downright nasty and hate filled about this game. I don't agree with a PR company threatening to with hold games from reviewers. However reviewers do have a responsibility to review games in a proper fashion and some of the reviews I have read about Duke Nukem actually disgusted me.

I am glad I didn't listen to the reviewers and went ahead and bought the game.

[FragMnTagM]

I am glad I didn't listen to them either I am enjoying the game.

[Bonobo12345]

Well said, of course people are entitled to voice their opinions. But as a reviewer one should be civilized, You can give a game a terrible review but be civil about it at the same time, I've seen it so.

But through the anonymity of the web reviewers can be extra nasty, all for teh hitz..

[shayol33t]

"Bad scores are fine," the company said. "Venom filled reviews...that's completely different."

The guy said it himself, there's a difference between saying something is 'shit' and constructive criticism.

[Christopher]

Good on 2K. Now, all they need to do now is get a good development company to work on the franchise with a goal of making it relevant today rather than maintaining the clunky elements of FPSes from a century ago.

I do agree that a ton of game reviewers put more vitriol than necessary into reviews. But this isn't news anymore, just a sign of how far we've fallen that we consider certain people to be credible in the field of writing about games.

[SuperSaiyan4]

Is one of the worst games I have played this gen, even after installing the game to the hard drive on my 360 the game is plagued with constant 35-45sec load screens. You get to play for around 5-6mins then are hit with those loads constantly on top of which very poor visuals, texture streaming, jaggies AND has crashed my console twice since playing and even turning off the console doesnt work you have to literally unplug it from the mains!!

I have beaten the game and will be trading it in this Friday for Dungeon Siege 3.

[CrzyFooL]

Good idea.

[Garethvk]

Thats why you use a PC and get great performance.

[Saryk]

I expected the game to get bad review because it is not PC (Politically correct). The pussification of the American male, haha!

Edit: But honest reviews are just that and no one needs to be silenced for being so!

[Biggest]

Yup. That is the ONLY reason it is getting horrible (not bad) reviews. Minus the crude dialog and images, DNF might have the best storyline, gameplay, and graphics of all time. Yeah. That sounds about right.

-_-

[Why o why]

Our industry isnt immune from bias backhanders or corruption of varying degrees. Why does this surprise anybody? Theres a lot at stake

[MilkMan]

RIGHT ON BRO!

[Limit760]

Good for 2k. i wouldn't associate with them either.

[rob6021]

This is why they hire 3rd parties, so when a group 2k chose to represent them not necessarily does something shady, but gets CAUGHT doing something shady - they can cut and run and look like the good guy. 2k does not deserve a pass here.

[sajj316]

Twitter strikes again

[xyxzor]

Having worked directly with this firm myself this is sad. People need to understand these PR companies are involved in a game's development nearly as much as the developers. Sure, he shouldn't have said what he did, but it was also taken out of context like everything usually is.

His firm brings up a valid point, though it will obviously be drowned out within all the negative press and it has to do with entitlement. Sites these days feel entitled to receive review copies and/or other goodies in order to help promote a product, and they think that gives them full reign to slander any game they want. I'm all for constructive criticism and complaints, however needlessly insulting a product like Duke Nukem: Forever is not okay. I don't care how popular your site is, or how much pull you think you have, you need to show the same courtesy and respect that these PR guys show you on a daily basis.

These sites are showing their true colors now. Before they would happily receive products from this firm and now they are hanging them out to dry for a few hits.

Well done. Bravo.

[ZBlacktt]

Recall the story that broke back when FFXIII first came out? There was a story of one of the big time companies giving a review score. Yet the person giving it had not even played the whole game yet. Like not even half. He was quickly busted by the readers.

[xyxzor]

Unfortunately that happens, I'm certainly not saying PR companies and publisher aren't guilty, but in this case several sites have overstepped their boundaries. As a owner of a gaming site myself, I wouldn't stand for this type of behavior from my staff.

[Croash]

Hey ZBlacktt, wasn't that Jim Sterling's review?

I remember that because that's how I got to know about him and Destructoid, and everyone was talking about how he didn't have half of FF XIII's story related trophies but still earned (= sync) trophies from another game after posting his review.

Anyway we, as players, need to know what we're about to buy and reviews/reviewers are supposed to be helpful. Sometimes it seems like they don't realize the impact they have on sales and on how one would represent himself an entire franchise basing himself on reviews. They should always be accurate.

Of course, if the game is bad, it's bad. If everyone gives a similar score, then nobody's credibility is in danger.

[shayol33t]

Pretty much exactly the same as a lot of GT5 reviewer complaints...from the reviewers who hadn't played enough. Bad Ai, no damage, etc, all of which improves as you level up. Call it a learning curve if you will, clearly some reviewers didn't bother passing it.

Its this whole push for reviews days before the game is actually released (not saying this should get all the blame) pushing some reviewers to cut corners, etc.

[ZBlacktt]

Sucks when this happens. So many reviewers just follow suit of their peers and give bad scores as well. If I have doubts, I rent it first and go from there.

[Darkseeker]

2k games revived a game that was in limbo for almost 14 years. I don't think they had high expectation for this.

To tell you the truth, those reviews were probably right on the mark.

13 years ago, this game would have blown my mind, but playing it today, I thought this was dated and should have been left buried in the past.

Duke had its time a decade ago, but today, he should remain dead.

[GarandShooter]

13 years ago you were 13 years younger with tastes that were 13 years less mature.

It is an error to think this game would appeal to anyone (almost anyone, I generally hate generalizations) beyond those looking to relive the nostalgia of Duke's glory years.

I find it hard to believe a dev or publisher wouldn't be able to see this.

[PSjesus]

I feel sorry for him,maybe unprofessional but also the people who reviewed this game (1up:F)for bad jokes

[pandehz]

I believe 2K dont mind too much about the reviews.

I guess they just wanted to release the game after so many years of studio shifting.

I dont even think this one is about profit, prolly a tribute or something I guess.

[Tzuno]

Free expression for everyone and duke is a turd game.

[liore]

To be fair all gearbox softwares games are crude with terrible graphics and have always had their critics

[WillGuitarGuy]

Wait, so you're saying Borderlands was bad? I love that game.

[buckley]

Bravo, 2K. Any PR firm I've worked with accepts negative reviews just as graciously as positive ones, provided that the review is fair and backs up its points. If you're just spitting vitriol with no basis, you're not going to get any more games from PR firms anyway.

But if this PR firm was threatening to withhold games just because they weren't receiving glowing reviews, shame on them, and they deserve to be fired. 2K is willing to sleep in the bed they made, and it steps them up a bit in my book.

[AdrianHD]

I wish more people would read in between the lines. Redner explicitly said that it wasn't the negativity that peeved him, it was the tone. The fact is, you can read a ton of Duke reviews and many will be plagued with that underlying feeling that the reviewer is egging at it more because of the legacy behind the game. Which is not okay.

[buckley]

You're right, can't argue with that.

[spektical]

right on! fight the system!

lol

[darksied]

I agree with what 2K did here ... but boy, some of those reviews out there. It's like these guys are looking for ANYTHING to start up some controversy and they see this 14-year-in-development game and they say "here's what's going to get us hits." Bashing bad reviews is one thing, but the guy is sorta right; bad scores are one thing, but people shouldn't be HATING on the game unless they're pissed it's taken this long, or duke nukem 3d screwed their wife, or ...

[Incipio]

PR firms are supposed to do their best to improve relationships between companies, publications and the public. Not get all defensive and pissy because they don't like the tone of reviews. That's just juvenile, immature and taking things a bit too personally. It's all about being professional when it comes to PR. Doesn't matter WHAT is thrown at you, you stay cool and respond in calm, collected ways. That's how a good PR firm would and should operate.

[BrianC6234]

The Internet sure is good at ruining people's careers. Let this be a lesson to everyone. Don't say anything online unless you're really sure you should. Not if you represent a company. It will come back and haunt you. As for Duke Nukem, gamers should ignore reviews on that game. You either want it or you don't. Don't expect it to be a great game. Maybe you should wait for a sale price. It will probably be in the $29.99 area soon anyway.

[xTHRASHx]

OH NO!!!

Man I know a bunch of the folks at Redner. This is sad that they all must suffer for the decisions of some people. Journalist love goes out to the folks affected.

[rob6021]

It's clear the PR department was flustered because their attempts to pander journalists had failed with duke. Which is of course the reason 2k chose to hire them. Companies want PR agencies to be successful at raising meta-critic numbers.

[Ethereal]

Yikes, although I think this was a good move by 2K Games.

[Thoreau]

the game is trash and 2kgames fires their pr team? killing the messenger are they. how about firing the creative director fire duke nukem.

[BEEFSTYCK]

Great move by 2K. How does a PR Firm think that a tweet like that was a good idea? It's their job to make sure things like this don't happen.

[LeShin]

I'm reading the comments above and one thing stands out to me. Whether the guy from the PR firm is right or wrong in what he said is actually irrelevant, but it seems a lot of you are hypocrites. How can you say 'Reviewers are entitled to their opinions' and then diss the PR firm guy for expressing his? Or are theses guys exempt from having the freedom of speech and having an actual opinion too?

The only people that should be annoyed at what the PR company said, are 2K Games if they felt that the firm were not representing their interests (hence why they got fired)

I really don't mind people defending their work, they have a right too, doesn't necessarily mean I have buy it though. I bet most of you here would do the exact same thing if the roles were reversed.

EDIT: I also agree with BrianC6234 about what he said about reviews. If anything, you should read the review just to see the technical details of the game, forget the score and even the reviewers 'opinion' as it may not be the same as yours....as I found out with GTA4, COD2, Lair...etc

[mendicant]

I'm going to buy Duke Nukem just for that. Well done 2K.

[M-A-R-S-H-A-L-L]

It's really messed up that this happened. Reviewers are supposed to give a fair review of the game, not bash the crap out of it. Maybe the PR guy shouldn't have said what he said but I would have been just as pissed off as him if I had to deal with that.

[Garethvk]

This is not the full story. The firm issued an apology as they only had part of the message go out. He was sending it out over Twitter and only part of the message went out due to character limits. That being said, it was a dangerous area to go towards as while I understand there frustrations, thats not the way to do it.

[Garethvk]

This is what was sent out.

Hello,

I would like a quick moment of your time to humbly ask for your forgiveness. I made a major error in judgment. I acted out of pure emotion without any thought to what I was saying. It is with a sad heart that I come to you now asking that you forgive me. I posted a Tweet this evening saying that I was reviewing The Redner Group’s policy for future reviews of video games based on today’s Duke Nukem Forever scores. I must state for the record I was acting on my behalf. 2K and all other clients had nothing to do with my comment. I want to be very clear that this came through me and was in no way affiliated with any of my clients especially my former client 2K.

Though I didn’t name names, I did say that I thought some reviews had gone too far in tone. Meaning, that the tone of some of the reviews was poor. I respect the scores, it had to deal with the tone. I was unable to properly convey that in 140 characters. But that it beside the point. We are all entitled to our opinions regardless of score, tone or meaning. My response was a juvenile act on my part. I know better and my emotion got the best of me. I have worked very hard on this project. I want it to succeed. I just got upset and acted out.

I believe we are all allowed to voice our opinions and that opinions by their very nature are correct. Many of you quickly pointed out my error in judgment. For that I thank you and apologize.

I truly respect what you do. You have helped me achieve a little bit of success in this industry. I depend upon you. Your coverage is of the utmost importance to me. You have helped me secure coverage for all of the projects that I have touched. I have tried to treat you all with respect, dignity and honesty. Tonight I threw that all away, and I am extremely sorry.

The video game industry is an industry that I love. I have tried to dedicate myself to this industry. Tonight I failed the industry.

With much respect, I hope that when we meet again you will be able greet me with a smile and without malice. I will gladly do the same.

I am truly sorry for what I did. I know better than that. If I have caused you any issues, now or in the past, I apologize.

Best of luck,

Jim Redner

a follow up said

Thank you for your response. I want to stress that I acted on my own. I have alerted 2K to my tweet and they will decide what their relationship with The Redner Group is going forward.

I really feel awful. I really didn’t mean what I said. I was acting out, like a child. I was hurt and wanted to do something about it. I poured my heart into this project and it I take it personally when things don’t go well. I know better.

I apologize. Your review, though important, is not going to have any effect on future dealings with 2K or me.

Please forgive me. I acted incredibly stupid and childish.

[Garethvk]

The big issue is that many sites chose to blast the game based on the history it had. I like it, it is retro and not groundbreaking but for what it is its fun. Had the game come out 7 years ago people would be calling it a cutting edge game. I am sure it was a case of 2K wanting to get some of their investment back and Gearbox owning the franchise rights so if they do another game they can do it up with cutting edge gameplay and graphics. They were handed a game that was a disjointed combination of several maps and levels that had undegone numerous restarts and redesigns due to engine changes and so on on.
They had to decide to either start over again or to combine what was there, polish it as best they could and send it out. The fact that it was released after all this time is a story in itself.

[dumahim]

Maybe I'm misremembering this, but wasn't there an article a week or two ago about comments from someone with Gearbox saying that if reviewers don't like they game, that they'd be dealt with?

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

it don't suck... you're just missing out on having "good ole' fashioned fun" (Human Giant reference) haha!