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At a recent Watch Dogs press event held in Paris, Ubisoft reportedly gave every journalist in attendance a free Nexus 7 tablet. The tablet was part of a "gift bag" that contained the tablet with a number of videos, screenshots, and links loaded onto it beforehand.
Many are calling the tablet a "bribe" made to journalists in return for more favorable review scores when the game nears release.
Some of the journalists in attendance have publicly revealed that the Nexus was given to them by Ubisoft, with some even vowing to give the device to charity.
An Ubisoft rep did issue a statement to OXM about the matter:
This came after a small blog entry from OXM detailing the event and the gift that they were given.
Many are calling the tablet a "bribe" made to journalists in return for more favorable review scores when the game nears release.
Some of the journalists in attendance have publicly revealed that the Nexus was given to them by Ubisoft, with some even vowing to give the device to charity.
An Ubisoft rep did issue a statement to OXM about the matter:
During a recent Watch Dogs preview event, a number of UK journalists were given gift bags containing a tablet that was preloaded with Watch Dogs videos, screenshots and relevant links. This isn't in line with our policies for working with journalists who cover our games, as we understand that gifts of this kind might be misconstrued. We apologize for the error and are sorry for any confusion.
This came after a small blog entry from OXM detailing the event and the gift that they were given.
What strikes me most about Ubisoft's gift isn't how cynical, but how breathtakingly unaware it seems. Reader trust will always be more bankable than publisher hands-outs, and in my experience, games journalists have never been under greater pressure to deal with the industry honestly and responsibly. The ubiquity of modern internet ensures that scandals travel at light speed, and online communities like Reddit are only too happy to hunt down and spotlight any news a publisher may hope to "bury". Making such a move in the current climate isn't so much naughty as it is doomed to backfire, like trying to infiltrate a wolfpack while clothed in bits of char-grilled beef.