This morning, GamePro and 1Up ran stories related to Kohnke’s complaint against Perpetual Entertainment. In the complaint, Kohnke writes that they were “successful in creating pre-release ‘buzz’ around Gods & Heroes, and in convincing reviewers to write positive reviews about the game”.
Both articles then link this into the recent controversy over at GameSpot who allegedly fired their Executive Editor Jeff Gerstmann after he penned a negative review of Kane & Lynch, a major advertiser on that site. GameSpot has denied that the dismissal had anything to do with that review.
WarCry contacted Kohnke Communications for their reaction to the allegations that have spread in the wake of their lawsuit. Kohnke Vice President Sean Kauppinen gave us this response:
Kohnke VP Sean KauppinenRecommended Videos“This has gotten completely blown out of proportion so I have to say something. This was nothing more than a typo in the complaint. The game was never released, so it should be clear we didn’t mean “reviews,” but “previews.” It’s a missing letter in the complaint that, unfortunately, changes the meaning of the sentence to something we never intended to suggest.
“Flat out, we don’t convince people to write positive reviews. Period.
“Positioning a game to highlight the positive points is essentially what PR agencies are hired to do, but ultimately the journalists in our industry have very strong ethics, do their homework on games, and write what they feel is their true opinion.
“Anyone who knows me or anyone else here at Kohnke knows that we would never attempt to influence a score from what a journalist thought a game deserved.
“To reiterate, we’re not paying anyone off to review games, this is not related to Jeff Gerstmann, the Illuminati, or HGH in baseball. It’s a typo.”
When reached, P2 Entertainment President Chris McKibbin had no comment on anything related to the case, which includes this particular controversy.
