Developer calls accurate Borderlands 2 report "shoddy journalism"

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford is known for speaking his mind, and he seemed particularly annoyed when the news of Borderlands 2 broke last night. Eurogamer was given information from an unnamed source that the game was in development, with a major announcement coming soon. Pitchford called stories about Borderlands 2 "shoddy journalism" on his Twitter account. Here's the problem: the story was 100 percent true.

[MysticStrummer]

Sorry Randy. I love Borderlands and look forward to the sequel, but to call an accurate news report shoddy journalism is stupid. Either one of your team or someone at Game Informer couldn't keep their mouth shut. That's not the reporter's fault. Now get back to work on Borderlands 2.

[Persistantthug]

Insomniac got mad at him for sniffing around their unannounced story and implied he was wrong.

But as it turned out a few weeks later....

he was pretty much spot on.

[DarkTower805]

Lol, they stole your thunder Randy?

[Eiffel]

@Persistantthug despite they had been talking about going multiplatform before HipHopGamer said anything, same with Bungie, they want full control over any new IP they produce.

[Canary]

Er, no. It's shoddy journalism.

You do NOT print stories unless you can verify sources. Which means you have to have multiple sources. A single unnamed source is insufficient.

It's shoddy journalism and it's lazy journalism--so about average for gaming journalism, really.

EDIT: Prodigy... that doesn't matter. Rumors are not news. That's tabloid journalism... a vein of "journalism" defined by it's unreliability, laziness, and sensationalist attitudes.

You know, come to think of it, gaming journalism pretty much IS tabloid journalism.

[Hockeydud19]

I'd be kinda mad too ya know. It's like a surprise birthday party that you planned, but someone goes and tells the person that there's a surprise waiting for them.

[pr0digyZA]

Not unless it was stated as rumour, which it was, then we can either believe it or not.

Edit: exactly, it is unfortunate but that is the gaming way, its a way of gaining hype around a product and getting people to your websites for hits. Also its about being first with the story.

[colonel179]

Well, it IS shoddy journalism, because even if the story is true, it should not be published because the game is not announced yet. It is integrity, which almost none of the journalist have, and not just in gaming.

[DarthJay]

Journalism in 2011 is not the same as journalism in 2001 or 1991 or 1981. For better or for worse, this type of story has become the norm. They got information that they were 100% sure about and ready to run with. They reported it, and did so very accurately.

That is journalism. Getting the story right. They clearly caught wind of the announcement and probably even saw the Game Informer cover. There really isn't much of a need to run and find another source for the sake of doing so, especially when they aren't naming names anyway. Would you have suddenly felt different if they made source plural in their article?

They got the story, they knew they were right and they went with it. That is above the norm for journalism in 2011, which is actually pretty unfortunate. There is no set of rules that has to be followed. If you're right, you're right. If you're willing to stand by it, then it is what it is. It goes on a million times a day, every day, and it's only going to continue to be dumbed down from here in this age of Twitter.

Clearly Randy is not happy that his super huge announcement got scooped a day early, and that is understandable. He has a right to be upset. Taking it out on the site that reported it is not the right way to go about it, though. They got the story right and he makes himself look like an ass in the process. Again, he has a right to feel the way he does, but it could have been handled better. At the end of the day, it's not the end of the world.

And yes, I don't consider 99% of the websites posting here journalists by any stretch of the imagination. Most sites are really just glorified message boards.

[Redgehammer]

It is shoddy, I don't understand why Eurogamer didn't contact Gearbox, and say "hey what kind of exclusive information will you share with us, if we do not run this story that we are sitting on?" I lost a little respect for Eurogamer because of this incident. However, I blame the source for being untrustworthy. Alas, there are so many unethical people in this world that are in positions of trust, and that is a shame.

[vortis]

Didn't matter. It was going to Game Informer.

If some small no-name site got the scoop they wouldn't be able to run it anyways...they'd have to wait until the bigger sites got their share and the small site would receive NOTHING in return.

It amazes me how fascists and oligarchic the gaming "journalism" biz has become, where only the upper echelon of mags and sites deserve to run exclusives. If you call that ethical then you, my friend, are way off your rocker.

[likedamaster]

Dead wrong. They broke embargo, it's as simple as that.

[SuperStrokey1123]

lol at the pic

[iNFAMOUZ1]

um who cares? the games coming out anyways

[wallis]

http://www.borderlands2.com...

Dude... c'mon Randy.

C'mon man. I'm trying to like you but seriously? It's the next issue of gameinformer for crying out loud.

[RandomDude655]

Games Journalism is shoddy, even if they were right in this instance.
They don't even finish games they review.
They state things that aren't even in the game (hailstorm in resistance multiplayer).
They don't check their facts, and click the "go live" button instead.
They whine about their jobs constantly
They pander to the extreme factions within gaming, and not the levelheaded
Just be happy you have jobs losers.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Thank you.

[xPhearR3dx]

Ummm not all games journalist are like that. I actually complete the games I review before I write a single word. Sometimes I even go for 100% completion before I review a game, just so I experience everything the game has to offer.

[Hockeydud19]

Same here. It's the sites that make tons of money that don't care. My site is newer and we're just doing the best we can to be respected. We don't go and compare every game to COD or Gears etc and we especially don't post random rumors that we aren't 100% sure about. Sure we could go say Red Dead 2 annoucement iniment and we'd get 1000's of hits, but when people find out your wrong you lose respect.

[likedamaster]

Nail on the head.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Yeah its not only "Shoddy Journalism" but unprofessional Journalsim. Like this summer when EA was talking about Battlefield 3 and they told people its a PC game first, and when they showed console footage all started bashing the devs twitter account forcing him to turn down any questions. Which in this case the announcement broke street date,?? which Randy was gonna announce anyway? stupid Journalists....

[sickpup]

Learn to keep a better secret or you should have announced it at E3 like all the other major companies.

[Redgehammer]

I disagree. The breach of trust probably came from a weasle that broke a confidentiality agreement to leak the information. It's a shame that some people do not honor their agreements, and feel the need to spoil premade plans.

[lzim]

like a school yard full of children screams when the ice screem truck rolls up: YAY!!!

[Mike_Tha_Hero]

I understand it's his business but I really don't like people who have that "it doesn't exist unless we say so" attitude.

Obviously if legit info is gathered proving the game's existence it doesn't matter if GearBox says it's true, facts or facts.

In terms of shoddy journalism we can even look at N4g; a lot of the BIG leaks tend to be brought about by moles and snooping and a lot of the time these tactics show no results, other times they do.

Being apart of a news team myself, I refuse to gather information this way, it's just not fair to the company to have to try so hard to extract information out of them that they aren't ready to give.

[Hockeydud19]

I'm especially mad about the sites who go and post Gears 3 leaked stuff etc. That's just stupid.

[palaeomerus]

You think 2K didn't give him a nasty call about this and ask him what's up with the leak? He has a right to be pissed. 2K PR probably thinks he screwed them over and undercut them until they find out otherwise.

[MasterD919]

There was plenty of room at E3 for Borderlands 2...

Didn't need a top secret announcement....this is what happens when you try to keep secrets Randy.

[dumahim]

Developers and publishers have too much power over gaming journalism as it is. I don't really have a problem when someone's got the cajones to stand up to them now and then and not play by their silly little games. If they want to be upset, find out who leaked the info. Don't take it out on a website who got it and ran with it.

Edit: It's not like GameInformer still won't have exclusive details. Pretty tough to keep a secret making a print magazine. Too many hands in the pot and takes too much time.

[themerchant]

The guy is an idiot.