There is a story about a supposed act of censorship from Electronic Arts that’s become quite viral. In fact, this case might be one of the most controversial ones of the year. Of course, we’re talking about the recent take-down of a reviewer who had a negative opinion on Anthem.
The reviewer Gggmanlives gave a brutal opinion about his experience with the game. Thus, the video was seemingly taken down per request by EA to protect Anthem’s image. However, there are a lot of mysterious circumstances surrounding the case.
Did EA Take Down An Anthem Review? Part 1 – The Story
Let’s start this report by analyzing the timeline of events. On February 22, 2019, the YouTuber Gggmanlives was sponsored by Electronic Arts to make a review of Anthem. The reviewer gave an “honest” review about the product. However, there were a lot of negative criticisms on his overall experience. You can watch a reupload of the review below:
Later that day, the review was taken down from YouTube. VG247 got a statement from Gggmanlives. The YouTuber claimed that “I basically wasn’t allowed to say anything negative about the game if I also had the watermark in because the watermark means EA endorses it and shares it through the Game Changers network or something.”
“I really don’t know what it all means. I was just told it was to be pulled down and was basically a breach of contract or something along those lines.” To make matters worse, Gggmanlives was also allegedly blacklisted from EA’s Game Changers program.
So, that’s the story, right? A YouTuber who made an honest review got his video taken down. What’s the big issue, then?
Did EA Take Down An Anthem Review? Part 2 – The Game Changers
Let’s start by addressing the Game Changers side of the story. Lee Williams stated that Gggmanlives was never blacklisted from the Game Changers. Instead, a member on their Australia team asked the video be taken down because some of their conditions on disclosure on sponsored content weren’t met.
We encourage the Game Changers to be honest in their content, it’s one of the most important parts of the programme and the community trusts them because of that honesty. Feel free to ask me or any of the game changers about how it works. More info here https://t.co/U6S8ZAyJ7q
— Lee Williams (@justbiglee) February 22, 2019
VG247 also talked to another Content Creator who was also part of the Game Changers. The creator said the following: “As far as understand it (when EA has asked me to work with them on paid content) they simply want coverage of the game. They’ve never had issues with me giving my full and honest opinion.”
The creator also gave his thoughts on the issue. Their theory was that Gggmanlives was sponsored to do a general overview of the game. Much like how some select content creators from Twitch were given access to Apex Legends before release. Mind you, there are a lot of Twitch events like this nowadays. Furthermore, EA themselves responded to the controversy by stating the following:
“In this case, the conditions for disclosure for this specific video were not met – which is something we adhere very strictly to – so we asked for it to be taken down and corrected. We’ve not asked for the content of the video to be changed, or ‘blacklisted’ the creator. Our full disclosure rules can be found here.”
Did EA Take Down An Anthem Review? Part 3 – The Inconsistencies
For starters, let’s analyze the elephant in the room. Why did Electronic Arts go after a single review that depicted Anthem in a negative light? For those unaware, Anthem currently sits at a 61 score on Metacritic. Furthermore, a lot of mainstream outlets like IGN have given pretty stern opinions about the overall experience. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of inconsistencies.
Skill Up gave an important insight regarding the situation with a rather long Twitter thread. The long-short of this story is that Gggmanlives statements have never really been proven. In fact, Skill Up points out that Gggmanlives told him that the ‘blacklist’ pressure (conveniently) came over during a phone conversation.
As an update, GGG just posted a section of the contract which supports his claim that there was no requirement for a 'Sponsored' watermark. He also says that the 'blacklist' pressure was delivered over a phone call, so it isn't possible provide evidence: https://t.co/BDkIW2wArW
— Skill Up reviewing #MetroExodus (@SkillUpYT) February 24, 2019
This only makes matters even more complicated. Especially because there’s no evidence of whether or not a blacklisting occurred. Not only that, but Gggmanlives has deleted the evidence that shows that there was no requirement for the ‘Sponsored’ watermark.
This leaves us with the possibility that the situation might have been a misunderstanding. Meaning that there was no blacklisting threat and the entire situation could’ve been resolved by a simple watermark change. However, we won’t be able to know for sure since negotiations were done behind closed doors.
Did EA Take Down An Anthem Review? Part 4 – Conclusion
Where does this incident analysis leave us? Well, for starters, this most certainly wasn’t an act of censorship against a YouTuber. However, there are a lot of factors that remain unclear. What was EA’s true involvement on the issue? Why are Gggmanlives’s statements so inconsistent? Does the Game Changers program offer review sponsorships?
We won’t know the answers of these questions until more information arrives from any front. However, something seems off about the circumstances regarding Gggmanlives’s takedown. Whatever the case might be, we invite our readers to check up on the facts and draw their own conclusions.
Like always, we invite people to join the VGR Forums to take part on the discussion. We’ll continue updating our readers with information as it becomes available.