CONFIRMED: Jeff Gerstmann was fired from GS due to reviews - SW Magazine

LIVE from System Wars this is

SYSTEM WARS THE MAGAZINE

JEFF GERSTMANN EXPLAINS WHY HE WAS FIRED FROM GAMESPOT

Willy:

Jeff Gerstmann returned to Gamespot offices today after Giant Bomb was bought by CBS (Gamespot's parent company) in part to explain why he was terminated from Gamespot.

After many years of using a complicated and elaborate mathematical review score system, Jeff Gerstmann decided to implement the modern scoring system Gamespot uses today, which featured half point intervals. However, a side effect of this new scoring system was that the average scores of games went down by a full point, which upset many publishers who advertise on the site.

After Ratchet and Clank Future recieved a disapointing score, Jeff (as Editor, he stood by the score) was approached by Gamespot's business management to discuss why the score was so low. This is common in gaming websites, even happening as far back in the 90's with PS1 games, back when Gamespot was an independent website. However, the Gamespot managerial team (which was new at the time) was not used to these advertising issues.

Problems kept increasing after the Ratchet and Clank review, culminating with Jeff's Kane and Lynch review, which resulted in Eidos pulling out their advertising from Gamespot. This was NOT the reason for Jeff's termination, as it was theorized before.

However, the managerial team could not trust Jeff, so they fired him on November 28, 2007.

CBS INTERACTIVE BUYS GIANTBOMB.COM

Willy:

Jeff Gerstmann announced today that Gamespot's parent company CBS has acquired both Giant Bomb and Comic Vine. Giant Bomb, a gaming site that was founded by former Gamespot staff after Jeff was fired on November 28, 2007, became a very popular site for a lot of old-school Gamespot members, which had over a million visitors from the US, and over two million globally.

Jeff was a "founding father" of Gamespot, he has been with the site since 1996; however, this does NOT mean that Gamespot and Giant Bomb will merge. If anything, the new deal will help Giant Bomb, it will allow them to show less intrusive ads and have better technical support behind them.

Jeff built up a very unique reputation in System Wars with his controversial reviews; such as giving Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 a perfect score, while flopping Zelda: Twilight Princess with an 8.8. The latter score got death threats from Nintendo fans. You could almost argue he was the original Tom McShea.

It has been theorized that Jeff was fired from Gamespot after he gave a negative review of Kane and Lynch, which was posted at the same time as the game was being advertised on Gamespot. Whether the theories were true or not, he will disclose the exact reasons for his termination at 4 PM PST today.

JEFF GERSTMANN WILL BE APPEARING LIVE HERE TODAY, DISCUSSING HIS TERMINATION AND RETURN TO GAMESPOT OFFICES

Original Announcement of the Aquisition

Original Announcement of Gerstmann's firing from Gamespot

PAST ISSUES:

SW Magazine Issue #3 - Posted a month after Jeff was fired

edit*** remember to read the op first. :P

How will he fair on the reviews of the next Mario and Zelda games?

so is this week game journalism Free Agency week as well??

How will he fair on the reviews of the next Mario and Zelda games?

FireEmblem_Man

so is this week game journalism Free Agency week as well??

enzyme36

[QUOTE="enzyme36"]

so is this week game journalism Free Agency week as well??

lbjkurono23

ahhh yes... so did Giant Bomb get McShea?

[QUOTE="lbjkurono23"][QUOTE="enzyme36"]

so is this week game journalism Free Agency week as well??

enzyme36

ahhh yes... so did Giant Bomb get McShea?

[QUOTE="FireEmblem_Man"]

How will he fair on the reviews of the next Mario and Zelda games?

lbjkurono23

Hmm..... interesting

with Jeff and Mc Shea the opportunities for lulz will be doubled

Better not review Kid Icarus :x

Edit: Oh wait he's still a part of GB lol. Sheep are safe.

It has been theorized that Jeff was fired from Gamespot after he gave a negative review of Kane and Lynch, which was posted at the same time as the game was being advertised on Gamespot. Whether the theories were true or not, he will disclose the exact reasons for his termination at 4 PM PST today. Willy105

i'm very curious about this part.

Who da f*** is this guy again?

Who da F*** is this guy again?

finalstar2007

Who da f*** is this guy again?

finalstar2007

Who da f*** is this guy again?

finalstar2007

People really care about this?

[QUOTE="finalstar2007"]

Who da F*** is this guy again?

Eponique

It's an insult to relate Gerstman to Mcshea... It really is

It's an insult to relate Gerstman to Mcshea... It really is

Pikminmaniac

[QUOTE="Pikminmaniac"]

It's an insult to relate Gerstman to Mcshea... It really is

Eponique

[QUOTE="Eponique"][QUOTE="finalstar2007"]

Who da F*** is this guy again?

It's an insult to relate Gerstman to Mcshea... It really is

[QUOTE="Pikminmaniac"]

[QUOTE="Eponique"] Tom McShea x 1000000. PinnacleGamingP

It's an insult to relate Gerstman to Mcshea... It really is

tom reviewed the first infamous and gave it a higher score than the metacritic average. not the work of a 360 fanboy.

People really care about this?

Chutebox

[QUOTE="PinnacleGamingP"][QUOTE="Pikminmaniac"]

It's an insult to relate Gerstman to Mcshea... It really is

tom reviewed the first infamous and gave it a higher score than the metacritic average. not the work of a 360 fanboy.

Jeff gave Halo 3 a 9.5. Lemming confirmed. [spoiler] :roll: [/spoiler]

So this is what a man of journalistic integrity looks like?...

[QUOTE="Chutebox"]

People really care about this?

Shinobishyguy

Jeff gave Halo 3 a 9.5. Lemming confirmed.

RoslindaleOne

if they had multiple games like sony does, and not just a couple, it wouldnt matter much to them, but this is all they got, even bungie left it and they still wanna milk it cuz thats all they got. 360 got no game.

so does this mean that the giant bomb crew is gonna start reviewing for GS, or will they still be in their own site?

so does this mean that the giant bomb crew is gonna start reviewing for GS, or will they still be in their own site?Shinobishyguy

Though they might do some colaborations here and there,just like they did with the folks of the other WM sites.

[QUOTE="Shinobishyguy"][QUOTE="Chutebox"]

People really care about this?

Willy105

so does this mean that the giant bomb crew is gonna start reviewing for GS, or will they still be in their own site?

Shinobishyguy

so does this mean that the giant bomb crew is gonna start reviewing for GS, or will they still be in their own site?

Shinobishyguy

I only started posting here properly like a year and a half ago maybe 2 years and all this stuff is going WAY over my head lol All this talk suddenly about GS and GB and I had no idea what was happening. Now it's a little more clear

Wasn't this confirmed ages ago?

I mean it's not like you need to see or gain evidence to know he was pulled from the site due reviews.

I don't know why everyone thinks GB and GS are actually going to stay separate. Bean counters aren't going to look at a speadsheet that shows CBS's two vaguely different but separate gaming sites are based out of the same building and say "yep, this is a sound financial arrangement with no potential for cost-savings".

After Jeff gave Ratchet and Clank Future a disapointing score, he was approached by at the time's Gamespot business management to discuss why the score was so low.

Willy105

He didn't review R&CF unless you are saying they approached him beecause he was the boss of the review team or something like that?

[QUOTE="Willy105"]

After Jeff gave Ratchet and Clank Future a disapointing score, he was approached by at the time's Gamespot business management to discuss why the score was so low.

Wanderer5

He didn't review R&CF unless you are saying they approached him beecause he was the boss of the review team or something like that?

GB will stay the same, and that's good, the GS crew now kinda sucks. Only Justin Calvert is good.

[QUOTE="Chutebox"]

People really care about this?

Shinobishyguy

It'd be awesome if he posted here. :PStevo_the_gamer