COD Black Ops 2 outed by Amazon FR, Gameblog reports on it gets blacklisted by Activi

[solidsnakejej]

A listing for COD Black Ops 2 was listed on Amazon France for a few hours, a few sites picked up on the story and Activision demanded that they'd remove their stories, most did. Gameblog did not and now have been blacklisted by Activision.

http://www.gameblog.fr/news/27499-ac...liste-gameblog

[Viper]

Good for you, Gameblog.

[Crazybone126]

Blacklist them for what? Didn't they already confirm it was coming anyway, so what's the problem here?

[solidsnakejej]

No, they haven't confirmed Black Ops 2 is in development just a Call of Duty game.

[masteratt]

Good for you, Gameblog.

Why is it good for them? It's not like they are exposing some epic fraud. They are just being little stubborn about taking down news about what everyone knows is coming. Let Activision announce it in their own time :/


Anyway, Treyarch made the best CoD for me. Still loving the hell out of BlackOps, so bring their next game on.

[Viper]

Why is it good for them? It's not like they are exposing some epic fraud. They are just being little stubborn about taking down news about what everyone knows is coming. Let Activision announce it in their own time :/


Anyway, Treyarch made the best CoD for me. Still loving the hell out of BlackOps, so bring their next game on.

It's good for them because they aren't bending to the whim of Activision for an arcane demand.

All they did was report what they found on another web site.

You think Activision would have told IGN or Gamespot they'll blacklist them if they don't take it down? Hell no. Gameblog stuck by their dedication to their readers over the access of free review games.

[masteratt]

It's good for them because they aren't bending to the whim of Activision for an arcane demand.

All they did was report what they found on another web site.

You think Activision would have told IGN or Gamespot they'll blacklist them if they don't take it down? Hell no. Gameblog stuck by their dedication to their readers over the access of free review games.

IGN and Gamespot are professional enough not to report it in the first place I would assume. Or if they did would just take it down when Activision requests it. This is not an opinion piece or it doesn't have anything to do with being a whipping boy of the big company, it's simply to do with respecting when a company wants to announce their own freakin' game.

You say it's an arcane request but they plan all their marketing around it.

If the news is still up on IGN and Gamespot though, then you have a point but a very quick scan through their site doesn't show any Blops2 news.

There is a fine line between standing up for what you believe (i.e: if it was an opinion piece of something Activision didn't like) and being unprofessional and stubborn.

[solidsnakejej]

We see these reports all the time, how many times do you see a game outed by ESRB. Hell the PS3 slim was outed by Amazon and everyone picked up on it.


http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/pos...s-thanks-esrb/

and professional in games journalism? Really?


Journalist are there to report on anything they find within their field. This is the same as every rumor that goes out. Like Kotaku with the MW3 and Mass Effect leaks, did they get blacklisted by EA and Activision?

[masteratt]

Do you work at Activision? No. They might have their reasons, we don't know. Maybe they feel Blops2 news spreading will effect MW3 DLC sales or whatever, we don't know.

All I'm saying is, I feel they are right. If they don't want Blops2 news, don't post them, who cares. It's not like there is great detail or it's an amazing article. Just "blops2 coming leaks amazon".

GTA remakes aren't even in the same ballpark, it doesn't effect anything Take2 is currently doing. Not many gamers are going to go "oh shit I WAS going to buy MaxPayne3 but instead I'll wait for re-releases of GTA3 and VC on PSN.".

[Viper]

Exactly, Justin.

And IGN and Gamespot don't report everything anyway. They've slipped in coverage a lot the past few years.

Point is things get leaked all the time and rarely ever does a take down demand get sent out. Look at the stuff we reported about Sony with that insider we had. Sony never asked us to stop. And we do have working relationships with most major publishers including Sony.

If Acti wants to take out their "oh shit, they fucked up our marketing plans" frustration out on anyone, hit up Amazon France who should know better than publish a game page for a product not even announced yet.

And they whole 'I was going to buy X game but will now wait' doesn't fly either since a CoD game is knowingly released every single year anyway.

[solidsnakejej]

Do you work at Activision? No. They might have their reasons, we don't know. Maybe they feel Blops2 news spreading will effect MW3 DLC sales or whatever, we don't know.

All I'm saying is, I feel they are right. If they don't want Blops2 news, don't post them, who cares. It's not like there is great detail or it's an amazing article. Just "blops2 coming leaks amazon".

Oh, come on, everyone and their grandmas know that there will be a new COD every November. It ain't gonna do shit to the sells. If their to stupid to understand that well that is another thing entirely.

The GTA stuff is just the one of the top of my head that I could find, there are more.

[masteratt]

I don't get your argument there. Just because other companies slip up and don't cover their leaks, doesn't mean Activision is wrong to do so.
Most are calling for more professionalism in the gaming space, this is how you get to it. Not "oh a leak happened, oh well".

As for your specific example, it falls into rumours and speculation. Not a concrete leak from a retailer.

And I don't know which excuses fly or don't. As I said, I don't know their reasons, I might have been way off with that, as it was just a guess.

@solidsnakejej : See third paragraph of this post, that was just a guess reason on my part. Not why Activision really did it. So a bit pointless to continue on that front as we won't ever really know.

[solidsnakejej]

The argument is that Activision is trying to bully small sites into doing something that doesn't actually harm anything. They didn't do it against Kotaku when they leak MW3 info, they still have that info up.

What would you say if CNN, NY Times,or any news organization were threaten to take down certain information by a company or the government? Leaks happen in all areas, Journalist report on them, that is what happens.

[Crazybone126]

Doesn't really matter to me, we all know they are going to announce it next month, then have a trailer in April/May during the NBA playoffs. It's been the case for the last three years. Call of Duty is leaked EVERY year. EVERY YEAR! And on top of that, it's ALWAYS in the February/March time frame. ALWAYS.

It's coming to the point that they shouldn't even waste all that money marketing the game anymore. When your average consumer says "There's always next November" when they play a shoddy new entry into the series, I think the job has been fulfilled. Time to put some assets elsewhere. How about into the game itself because it's obvious they don't. Otherwise, the same issues wouldn't be present every release.

I also wonder how this is all going to work out. I'm sure the Wii U is going to have this as a launch title. Would the Wii U version use a next-gen engine (there are reports there's a next-gen CoD engine in development) or will it just be a port of the 360 (probably).

GTA remakes aren't even in the same ballpark

Each Call of Duty isn't a remake of a previous entry in the series? It sure feels, looks, and seems that way.

Later this year, I'll be playing on a brand new console with brand new games. I think it's safe to say, me and Call of Duty are pretty much done. I didn't bother buying or even playing MW3, and the same is more than likely to follow this year. They bulldozed the series into a hole. The day's going to come when people think "Oh shit, I'm playing the same game every year" and sales will begin to fall just as they did with the Guitar Hero series. And look where that series went. Guitar Hero was just as popular in its heyday. Then Activision said "Let's do yearly releases..." And a couple years after that, it was gone. Actually, towards its demise, Guitar Hero was releasing semi-annually. And also how they TREAT Call of Duty doesn't help it either. Compare how DICE and Whoever the hell is developing Call of Duty interact with their fans and take in their requests etc. It's atrocious how the Call of Duty side's business model is.

[masteratt]

Again, rumour and speculation. Kotaku says

Multiple sources

in that article. It's way too wide and open and falls into that category.

This case is a concrete leak by the retailer.


Sheesh guys this really blew out of hand, I am not here arguing for [or against as you guys see it] the rights of journalists or whatever. I am just saying IN THIS SPECIFIC CASE, Activision's actions are professional and in my opinion, correct.


Crazybone's reply just makes me think people are reacting this way because it's the devil that is ACTIVISION and they spawn the evil that is COD

[solidsnakejej]

The Kotaku leak was confirm by Infinity Ward later in the day:http://kotaku.com/5801682/some-info-...nity-ward-says

And in this case it's just the existence of a game we all knew was coming that is all. Nothing about the story, nothing about the gameplay, just the existence which we'll know in the next couple of months.

[masteratt]

Yeah exactly. So just leave it to Activision to do it officially, then post it. They are not asking for much here.

[solidsnakejej]

Well Joystiq has now posted the news, let see if they get blacklisted

Edit and Gamespot:http://www.gamespot.com/news/call-of...report-6350628

Eurogamer:http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-france-report

[Crazybone126]

Of course they won't. They're too big of a site who's reviews are crucial to them on Metacritic. They probably pay them to do good reviews anyway though. Come on here, it's ACTIVISION.

So there it is Masteratt. I don't like Activision. And don't forget, I've talked to their PR managers and see how they actually are that the general public doesn't see.

[Viper]

Justin...go post it here. See if we get blacklisted.