PR Firm Settles With FTC On Fake Game Reviews 105
eldavojohn writes "So, you pay a PR firm like Reverb to generate some positive buzz for your new mobile game, and what do they do? Hire employees to post fake glowing reviews of your game wherever it's being distributed. The FTC says that's not okay due to regulations enacted last year requiring that paid reviews disclose they are paid reviews. Originally, the fear was that this regulation would target the small-time blogger, but this news of Reverb settling with the FTC over fake game reviews shows that the FTC is also targeting big PR firms. They said, 'We hope that this case will show advertisers that they have to be transparent in their practices and help guide other ad agencies.' The article says fake reviews like those alleged in the complaint (PDF) are pretty much the norm on iTunes. Reverb denies that this settlement is any acknowledgment of wrongdoing; rather, just a timesaver over a costly court battle. Will the FTC continue to make examples of big PR firms? Wait and see."
Not just iTunes and games... (Score:4, Interesting)
Wait... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not just iTunes and games... (Score:5, Interesting)
If I were kind of the judicial system (Score:4, Interesting)
I would make it illegal to settle a lawsuit without admitting wrongdoing.
If you're innocent, then it's wrong for the plaintiff to get a dime from you. And if you're liable, then the results of discovery should be available to any other would-be plaintiff.
Settlements basically set up a shakedown system.
Re:Not just iTunes and games... (Score:3, Interesting)
They do it on blogs too. Unfortunately for them they can't capitalize on my site's high ranking for their restaurants because I track them down and expose them for what they are. See here: http://www.lazylightning.org/astroturfing-poor-attempts-at-changing-opinion [lazylightning.org]
If other sites were smart they'd be doing the same things. The actual userbase is far more pleased with the service you provide when you don't allow that sort of bullshit.
So tell me ... (Score:3, Interesting)
What is a review that isn't "fake" or paid for? Where do you find such a thing? Certainly not on the Internet.
There are two reasons for anyone to write something: they personally feel so strongly that they have to tell other people and they are getting paid to do it. The former is pretty much restricted to people with negative comments. So I guess that means any review that is positive is paid for.
Similarly, negative reviews about your competition are an extremely powerful tool if you assume that people are still reading fake, misleading reviews about anything. So that means a good portion of the negative reviews can be assumed to be put their by people trying to make their competition look bad.
So why would anyone believe a review on the Internet? Near as I can tell they are all fake or paid for.
Re:Business as usual (Score:5, Interesting)
I feel like there is a quality scale in gaming, and a tickle-your-fancy factor. Borderlands is a reasonable quality game, but it never quite tickled my fancy. Some reviews were strongly positive (decent quality, very much of interest to the reviewer), while others just went "meh" (decent quality, not of interest to the reviewer). By comparison, I loved that terrible Burger King Pocket Bike Racer game. It wasn't amazing or terrible, but it happened to strike a sweet spot in my personal brain between a love of bikes, a love of kart racers, and a love of really, really short racing games. Similarly, I'm a fan of DeathSmiles. It is of moderate to high quality. But the appeal is on a razor edge of gothic bullet hell players. No matter the quality level, I can't think of a single friend that would enjoy playing the game.
I find it's most useful to skim the reviews to get a sense for the overall build quality of the game. And if the soul of the game also genuinely appeals, go for it.
Full disclosure: I work in gaming.
Re:Cool. Can we do this to Fox News? (Score:3, Interesting)