Activision Blacklists French Site Gameblog for Outing COD:BLOPS2

Because until now, no one had suspected Activision would be coming out with this game!

"There's also mention of a few other sites that took down the same news post as soon as asked to."

That's the part that is most ridiculous IMO. Companies bowing to pressure from Activision like this...pathetic

What's the problem?


It's not like they can't review the game after it's released.

Its within Activision's right to do this. If you want to get early review copies don't piss off the company that gives you those copies.

Quote from GreggerG : "There's also mention of a few other sites that took down the same news post as soon as asked to." That's the part that is most ridiculous IMO. Companies bowing to pressure from Activision like this...pathetic

I agree.. Once again I say, "fark you activision"

Quote from appleyum : What's the problem? It's not like they can't review the game after it's released.

Quote from judgedee : Its within Activision's right to do this. If you want to get early review copies don't piss off the company that gives you those copies.

They pulled advertising dollars as well (which does affect the site's bottom line)...

Quote from thermoelectron : They pulled advertising dollars as well (which does affect the site's bottom line)...

Well that's their own fault. Biting the hand that fed them is not too smart.

I can see this is a big deal if it was a bad review and Actiction pull out (granted it is still within their right).


This is different. There are business strategy reason or contractual obligation why they might not want their confidential information revealed or letting competitor know.

It is within Activision's right to make a request and pull advertising dollars, etc...but if ALL the sites denied their request were they going to stop advertising on all of them? Were they really going to blacklist them all and reduce the exposure their games will get? Doubtful, because they know that is something they need. With very few exceptions (when they know a game is bad), sending out pre-release copies for review is very, very important to get good scores in front of gamers...of course the COD drones will buy regardless, so it matters little on that series. This is a bullying tactic plain and simple, some of the frightened sites cow-towed, and that is unfortunate.

Besides, when did reporting facts like this (the fact that Amazon had this game listed) necessitate a shit storm from a bully of a company that has a bigger opinion of itself than it probably should? No company should be able to force a 'take back' on a news story. Freedom of press and all.

EDIT: To clarify, I don't care about Activision blacklisting a website per say...My stance is that it is ridiculous for Activision to demand a story be taken down when the story was simply reporting a fact and responding this way when it was not.

EDIT2: Uh-oh...Game Informer [gameinformer.com] (you know, the magazine/website that is owned by GameStop, which probably sells about 2 million of each COD game) has reported on this, too. Think Activision will threaten and/or blacklist them as well?

Quote from GreggerG : It is within Activision's right to make a request and pull advertising dollars, etc...but if ALL the sites denied their request were they going to stop advertising on all of them? Were they really going to blacklist them all and reduce the exposure their games will get? Doubtful, because they know that is something they need. With very few exceptions (when they know a game is bad), sending out pre-release copies for review is very, very important to get good scores in front of gamers...of course the COD drones will buy regardless, so it matters little on that series. This is a bullying tactic plain and simple, some of the frightened sites cow-towed, and that is unfortunate. Besides, when did reporting facts like this (the fact that Amazon had this game listed) necessitate a shit storm from a bully of a company that has a bigger opinion of itself than it probably should? No company should be able to force a 'take back' on a news story. Freedom of press and all. EDIT: To clarify, I don't care about Activision blacklisting a website per say...My stance is that it is ridiculous for Activision to demand a story be taken down when the story was simply reporting a fact and responding this way when it was not. EDIT2: Uh-oh...Game Informer [gameinformer.com] (you know, the magazine/website that is owned by GameStop, which probably sells about 2 million of each COD game) has reported on this, too. Think Activision will threaten and/or blacklist them as well?

I agree with the sentiment, but surely you understand that "Freedom of the Press" doesn't apply here, right?

Quote from godfather927 : I agree with the sentiment, but surely you understand that "Freedom of the Press" doesn't apply here, right?

It is not a legal matter so "freedoms" aren't really relevant. Activision has the freedom to pull advertising and invites to its media events all they want. It was just the first thing that came to mind when thinking about how a website should be able to report facts and I typed it out.

If Activision wants to be like the kid that throws a hissy then takes his ball and goes home then so be it. Nothing illegal or anti-freedom there.

Quote from GreggerG : It is within Activision's right to make a request and pull advertising dollars, etc...but if ALL the sites denied their request were they going to stop advertising on all of them? Were they really going to blacklist them all and reduce the exposure their games will get? Doubtful, because they know that is something they need. With very few exceptions (when they know a game is bad), sending out pre-release copies for review is very, very important to get good scores in front of gamers...of course the COD drones will buy regardless, so it matters little on that series. This is a bullying tactic plain and simple, some of the frightened sites cow-towed, and that is unfortunate. EDIT2: Uh-oh...Game Informer [gameinformer.com] (you know, the magazine/website that is owned by GameStop, which probably sells about 2 million of each COD game) has reported on this, too. Think Activision will threaten and/or blacklist them as well?

The thing is we are only hearing from one side of the story.

They could have been totally jackass about not dropping the story. We do not the conversation that went between them. Then again this is a French website we are talking about...

Where was this blacklist when Kotaku leaked CoD:MW3's story before the game was even formally announced? Heck, Kotaku reported the same thing about Black Ops 2, but they aren't reporting being blacklisted - I just hate Activision's hypocrisy in handling this (it's in their rights).

Quote from thermoelectron : They pulled advertising dollars as well (which does affect the site's bottom line)...

correct me if i am wrong, so what you are trying to say is that this french website is poorly managed?