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The Verge Under Fire For Publishing Info About ‘Deadlock,’ Valve’s Secret Shooter (www.forbes.com)

submitted 3 months ago by ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net to c/games@lemmy.world

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[-] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 138 points 3 months ago

Valve gives you access to a game and tells you not to spew your mouth off. A gentleman's agreement if you will.

You spew your mouth off and valve takes access away.

shocked pikachu face

This is a non-issue of you ask me. A person, who happens to be a writer, got access to the game through a steam friend and was asked not to talk about it but thought they could just not agree to a warning and write about it anyway? I got access too and i didnt write about the game. I get to go back and play it today, they cant.

[-] timestatic@feddit.org 15 points 3 months ago

So what. They already have their article and it will be out anyways within like two years latest probably. The value of talking about deadlock is much higher and valve profits from this advertising as well.

[-] Strykker@programming.dev 43 points 3 months ago

The so what is that this writer for the verge will likely never be trusted with NDA type pre-release access for any other games going forward, and this may even impact all of the Verge.

This isn't just a one and done kind of issue, this will be seen by the entire industry as a "can't trust that guy with pre-release access"

[-] SmilingSolaris@lemmy.world 16 points 3 months ago

The Verge isn't pulling the article and they are currently backing their journo. The whole site is blacklisted at this point.

[-] corbin@infosec.pub 6 points 3 months ago

They didn't get an NDA.

[-] Strykker@programming.dev 16 points 3 months ago

Sure they don't have any trust from the industry anymore.

It doesn't have to be a legal document for there to be consequences.

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[-] SmilingSolaris@lemmy.world 26 points 3 months ago

Except this is a game industry reputation ruined. It isn't just valve, why would any dev ever give the verge access again knowing that they will not only disrespect your requests but bitch and moan if you hold them to it.

It's a full rep killer. They will never have early access again for any company.

[-] corbin@infosec.pub 10 points 3 months ago

That's not how this works. The Verge didn't break an NDA or embargo because they didn't get either of those things. Valve allows random people to invite other random people to play, with just a "pretty please don't talk about this game" warning. There was already people talking about it online and leaked footage.

[-] SmilingSolaris@lemmy.world 18 points 3 months ago

They didn't break any laws, they broke trust. Random people can leak all they want, they don't have institutional standing and respect. If what you said was true then it'd be pretty weird that every other institutional news, even gaming focused ones, have honored that request. Because doing otherwise is a dick move that kills your reputation, and the gaming industry is legendary for blacklisting for far less disrespectful moves. Downright petty with it.

[-] Pika@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 months ago

even if it doesn't, they lose consumer respect as well, I personally won't engage verge anymore because as someone who wants to go into the development trade, it puts a bad taste of any platform to blatantly disrespect a creators wishes like that.

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[-] snailfact@infosec.pub 90 points 3 months ago

I can’t believe their secret game they gave to 10 thousand people got leaked

[-] Arrkk@lemmy.world 76 points 3 months ago

I think the thing everyone is forgetting is that valve isn't stupid, there's no way they didn't realize you could work around accepting the (legally unenforcable) NDA, and it's open invite.

Valve 100% knows that keeping it "secret" is good for hype and was expecting this to happen at any time, and the nominal ban was expected, but nobody is gonna get sued either.

More people are talking about Valve's "secret" new game because of this than would be if they openly announced it.

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

Yeah exactly. It's quite likely they didn't really blacklist The Verge anyways, just won't send them invites any more for this particular game. Best kind of marketing is hype marketing, and this is how you fuel the hype.

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[-] RangerJosie@sffa.community 51 points 3 months ago

What was so secret about it?

[-] Cyv_ 88 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

So apparently they had a bit asking players to not share info about the game, but you could technically back out of it without agreeing so legally they can post whatever they want. It feels like a case of "this is legal to do but maybe kinda shitty and valve might be upset". Basically the agreement was informal and not enforceable and the verge just said fuck it. They did get banned afterwards, but I think that and not working with them in the future is all valve can do.

Edit: didn't even require agreement, so honestly it's kinda fair game. I was a bit hostile calling it shitty, I felt like it was a loophole or something but it's more Valve just saying "hey pls don't" and the verge replying "no thanks", and eating the game ban since that's all valve can really do.

[-] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 22 points 3 months ago

If 10,000 people are doing something, it is NOT secret, and journalists must report on it for the general benefit of society.

Valve has their head in the clouds if they thought they could keep an informal secret among the population of a small town.

[-] Cyv_ 60 points 3 months ago

This isn't some grand conspiracy it's a closed beta for a video game. It's pretty normal to have an NDA or embargo agreement to get access. It sounds like valve just goofed the implementation. So yeah it's totally legal for them to post it, valve just might avoid giving them early copies in the future.

[-] RangerJosie@sffa.community 29 points 3 months ago

Totally. Verge just lost their access to breaking gaming news. They'll be blacklisted from now on.

That said, I don't know anyone who goes to The Verge for breaking news on gaming.

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[-] gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago

There is no NDA for Deadlock, and anyone in it can invite anyone they want, as often as they want. It's not like Valve has no idea how to privately test their game. I think they made these decisions deliberately.

[-] Cyv_ 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

A bit of the eula says not to share info about the game, but you can literally back out without accepting the eula, and still play. So I don't know if I'd call it intentional, but there's definitely no legal reason they can't post whatever they want. They just got banned for it and might have damaged their relationship with valve somewhat. Depends on how much valve cares tho.

Edit: it wasnt even a eula apparently, just a "pls dont tell people ok?" Pop up. Thanks to the folks clarifying <3

[-] gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago

There's no EULA just like there's no NDA. That pop up and a one sentence post about not sharing info about the game on the forum is all there is.

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[-] Ashtear@lemm.ee 17 points 3 months ago

Don't know why you're getting crushed for this. It's not even just about this particular game; one of the major players in the largest entertainment industry on the planet is doing something highly unusual. That's in the public interest.

Lemmy users should know better, too, as The Verge was one of the leading reporting outlets on what happened on Reddit last year. Adversarial tech journalism is part of what they do.

[-] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 12 points 3 months ago

Adversarial journalism is always spun as "journalism out of line" when this is the foundation of all journalism.

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[-] Azzu@lemm.ee 19 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

There isn't even an informal agreement. It simply says not to share anything. Not even "by playing this, you agree not to share anything". It's just "please don't share anything" without any action required by your side.

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[-] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 12 points 3 months ago

Valve got burned many ages ago with Half-Life 2 and they only go to press about a game when it's in the final phases of development, to release.

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

Bullshit. The actual reason will be that this is far better marketing once you're at a level of Valve. Shit gets leaked anyways, might as well make it intentionally so to fuel the hype cycle.

[-] Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca 38 points 3 months ago

It's just bad faith reporting. It reminds me of Kotaku sneaking into conventions before they opened to report what games were there.

It lowers my opinion of The Verge, I used to think they were at least reputable with standards, but that's a real tabloid move.

[-] meliante@lemmy.world 18 points 3 months ago

they were at least reputable with standards

I think you must be talking about a different website?

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[-] glitches_brew@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago

They literally included a screenshot of valve asking to not share information about the game with a little quip about how they pressed escape instead of ok. Blantant disrespect to valves wishes even if it's not a legally binding agreement.

They chose getting clicks over doing right by valve. Shame on them.

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[-] reksas@sopuli.xyz 16 points 3 months ago

Decent thing to do would have been ask valve for time when they want the article published

[-] corbin@infosec.pub 9 points 3 months ago

They did ask Valve:

Though Valve didn’t respond to my requests for comment

[-] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 months ago

Then don't post it.

[-] corbin@infosec.pub 10 points 3 months ago

If every news outlet avoided a topic because the company wouldn't outright confirm its existence, we would never have reporting based on leaks and rumors. That's dumb and would make journalism worse for everyone.

[-] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It wasnt a rumor or hearsay but literally breaking a gentlemans NDA.
I havent played it but as I heard they requested not to show it and the journalist supposedly recorded whole gameplay and wrote about it?
Seems like a clear deal to me to cut of and ban his account for breaking an agreement for early access.

Reporting about leaks and rumors is totally fine. But that's like being the primary reporter of a whistle blower

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[-] ccunning@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago

Why wouldn’t they just put journalists they gave access to under embargo?

[-] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 33 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It's not clear if he actually got access from Valve or from a friend or someone else. The article simply states

Earlier today, I received a no-strings-attached invite to play Deadlock on Steam.

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[-] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 13 points 3 months ago

At the end of the day, the editors will have to answer to not receiving access to Valve for statements or tips moving forward.

[-] timestatic@feddit.org 8 points 3 months ago

Honestly I don't think valve is as mad as you would think

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[-] blackstrat@lemmy.fwgx.uk 10 points 3 months ago

"Leaked".

All leaks are deliberately orchestrated to fan the hype train.

[-] dev_null@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 months ago

Lol no definitely not all

[-] tlou3please@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

Eh. I find it difficult to have any sympathy for Valve. Sounds like it was only a matter of time before someone did this. If anything this is just free marketing.