Hitman: Absolution Review Coverage Raises Questions Over Ethics in Games Journalism

We've covered the topic of game journalism numerous times here on Gameranx, with our correspondent Rowan Kaiser writing that "games journalism needs more honesty and fewer standards" in an article published less than a week ago.

It's never too soon to revisit the topic, and today's kerfuffle on Twitter over MCV's coverage of Hitman: Absolution's review scores gives us ample reason to do so.

For those of you not quite in the know, the British gaming publication MCV posted a small round-up of good reviews of Square Enix and IO Interactive's newly launched game, Hitman: Absolution, under the header: "Critics delighted with Agent 47's Return in Hitman: Absolution." The piece, which could be better described as an "advertorial" (a portmanteau of editorial and advertisement, obviously) claimed that the game received nothing but good reviews from critics.

"The review embargo for Hitman: Absolution broke overnight, painting a very welcoming picture," wrote Parfitt, who cited the high scores of IGN (9/10) and CVG (9/10) as evidence of positive reviews all around. He dubbed Eurogamer "grumpy" for giving the game a middling score of 7/10—and was called out for it by RPS writer John Walker over his Twitter account.

Upon receiving the negative feedback, the writer of the piece appended several addenda, with links to more negative reviews, offset by a few more positive ones from GamesRadar (4.5/5), Spong (8/10), and GamesMaster (9/10).

The issue has yet to blow over on Twitter, as the publication MCV faces increased scrutiny for its role in the recent "Doritosgate" debacle, in which one of its editors allegedly threatened Eurogamer with a lawsuit for being mentioned in their weekly "Lost Humanity" column, the aftermath of which can be read here.

At the moment, John Walker appears to be doing his best to call out the publication's practice of hosting a "recommended" section on its website to promote games to retailers. For his efforts, he may have been described as "king of the trolls" by a Capcom staffer.

Personally, I can only express my delight at how games writers are, more and more, willing to have this discussion and make serious attempts to define the role of journalists in the game industry. We can only climb upwards from where we are.