[quote]The Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with Warner Bros. over claims that the publisher failed to disclose that it had paid prominent YouTubers for positive coverage of one of its video games. The FTC charge stated that Warner Bros. deceived customers by paying thousands of dollars to social media "influencers," including YouTube megastar PewDiePie, to cover Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor without announcing that money had changed hands.
Under the terms of the agreement, Warner Bros. is banned from failing to disclose similar deals in the future, and cannot pretend that sponsored videos and articles are actually the work of independent producers. "Consumers have the right to know if reviewers are providing their own opinions or paid sales pitches," director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection Jessica Rich said in a statement. "Companies like Warner Brothers need to be straight with consumers in their online ad campaigns."[/quote]
[url=http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/12/12157310/pewdiepie-youtubers-sponsored-videos-ftc-warner-bros]The Verge[/url], via [url=http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/12/12157310/pewdiepie-youtubers-sponsored-videos-ftc-warner-bros]FTC[/url]
Y'know, Warner Bros. probably would've gotten the title of worst game company of 2015 if it wasn't for Konami (I know this whole Mordor fiasco went down in 2014, but still), and they don't really seem to be making up for it unlike EA or Ubisoft, but hopefully this will remind them.
I don't really understand why they needed to bother, they had a pretty good game on their hands as it was. I'm sure it would have sold well regardless.
That clickbait title on the article, they just put PewDiePie in there for more clicks.
He did disclose it enough according to FTC rules just not in the best way.
TotalBiscuit wrote about it as well.
[media]https://twitter.com/Totalbiscuit/status/752857606222479360[/media]
[quote]Under the terms of the agreement, Warner Bros. [b]is banned from failing to disclose similar deals in the future[/b][/quote]
[i]"You broke the rules. As punishment, you are hereby [b]banned[/b] from breaking the rules."[/i]
[QUOTE=Jimesu_Evil;50696367][i]"You broke the rules. As punishment, you are hereby [b]banned[/b] from breaking the rules."[/i][/QUOTE]
It's probably to allow them to REALLY drop the hammer if they do it again
[QUOTE=usaokay;50695983]Probably didn't have a lot of faith since the LOTR brand isn't as hyped as Game of Thrones. The Hobbit didn't help bring back the levels of LOTR.
Plus, a mature game that acts as an original story within the LOTR world seems silly.
Also, yes, it's a good game, but that's irrelevant in this case.
The only issue at the end of the day was the ethics regarding Youtubers who didn't disclose that their video was sponsored, so the opinion was mostly fueled by the money offered and could potentially trick people (the quality of the game is still irrelevant and could happen with any other game). Remember when Dunkey posted a negative video from a Microsoft-sponsored game and MS ended up not paying him because of it?[/QUOTE]
If I remember correctly, the whole Nemesis being removed from the PS3/360 versions was a big deal as well. At least, it was a deal breaker for me until I got a PS4.
[QUOTE=usaokay;50696020]tbh, PewDiePie is a more recognizable name than anyone else because of the whole news about him being the most subscribed and having his own show and appearing in South Park and having his own book and etc etc.
Even people who have little to no interest in video games have heard of him.
It's less clickbaity and more of a usage of a recognizable name the average schmuck would know.[/QUOTE]
Lets do that with murderers and rapists too, just namedrop distant relatives the murderers have that are famous and claim they did it.
As a usage of a recognizable name the average schmuck would know ofc...
[QUOTE=Blizzerd;50696435]Lets do that with murderers and rapists too, just namedrop distant relatives the murderers have that are famous and claim they did it.
As a usage of a recognizable name the average schmuck would know ofc...[/QUOTE]
You're being ridiculous. PewDiePie was paid to promote the game, and he only sorta-kinda disclosed that it was a paid promotion. Furthermore, I'm sure WB would have been happy to let him not disclose that they had paid him if he wanted to. He's relevant enough to be put into the article.
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