The Curious Case Of The 'EA Game Dev' Who Said He Received Death Threats - Sensationalist Headlines

Thought this should be posted separately because I'm honestly surprised, actual honest to god Journalism work by [I]Kotaku.[/I] more so than actual huge news stations, it's as if the world has flipped upside down, it's also amazing that one twitter account can claim something and everyone believed them up until this point. [url]https://kotaku.com/the-curious-case-of-the-ea-game-dev-who-said-he-receive-1820474458[/url] [QUOTE]Earlier this week, a man with “Game Dev @EA” in his Twitter profile wrote that he had received death threats from angry Star Wars Battlefront II fans. His story was covered by news outlets like USA Today, the BBC, and Yahoo. Vice wrote an editorial about it, CNBC ran a headline about it, and the tweet was retweeted by hundreds of people. There’s just one lingering question: Does he actually work at Electronic Arts? With around 5,000 followers on Twitter, BiggSean66 doesn’t have a particularly huge audience or platform, but when he tweeted Monday that he was “up to 7 death threats, and over 1600 individual personal attacks now,” he went viral. Gaming and mainstream outlets picked up his story, writing about how the outrage over Star Wars Battlefront II’s microtransactions led to gamers threatening BiggSean66’s life. Hundreds of developers and journalists also quoted him, sent sympathies, and talked about the incident on Twitter, condemning those who felt the need to sent death threats to BiggSean66. Yet, after speaking to several current EA employees, cross-referencing his details with Linkedin and Facebook pages, and reaching out to BiggSean66, I’ve become convinced that he does not actually work for EA. In fact, since I sent him several messages yesterday and this morning, he has changed his Twitter profile to remove all mentions of EA.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=jonu67;52894034]Thought this should be posted separately because I'm honestly surprised, actual honest to god Journalism work by [I]Kotaku.[/I] more so than actual huge news stations, it's as if the world has flipped upside down, it's also amazing that one twitter account can claim something and everyone believed them up until this point.[/QUOTE] Kotaku might have a few absolute stinkers, but I've generally found some of their articles on the Games Industry I've been looking up for my course to be pretty high quality.

Jason Schreier also wrote that really in-depth article about what happened with Visceral and the Star Wars game they were working on, so his articles at least seem to be quality.

[QUOTE=ThatSprite;52894081]Kotaku might have a few absolute stinkers, but I've generally found some of their articles on the Games Industry I've been looking up for my course to be pretty high quality.[/QUOTE] Until proven otherwise, this is a "a broken clock is right twice a day" situation, given their biased slandering they're reputed for.

[QUOTE=ThatSprite;52894081]Kotaku might have a few absolute stinkers, but I've generally found some of their articles on the Games Industry I've been looking up for my course to be pretty high quality.[/QUOTE] you're making a big mistake

[QUOTE=usaokay;52894095]Focus on Jason Schreier's articles then. He does a lot of investigative work in the gaming press. Also, he has a book out now that details the inner workings of several popular games as of recent.[/QUOTE] I think quite a few of them were done by him, looking back at them. Maybe I was just looking at the right ones

[QUOTE=Van-man;52894136]Until proven otherwise, this is a "a broken clock is right twice a day" situation, given their biased slandering they're reputed for.[/QUOTE] Didn't they also do that expose on Mass Effect Andromeda and the clusterfuck going on behind the scenes? Not saying Kotaku is gold, but they do have their moments. Seems to be recent though.

[QUOTE=torres;52894149]Didn't they also do that expose on Mass Effect Andromeda and the clusterfuck going on behind the scenes? Not saying Kotaku is gold, but they do have their moments. Seems to be recent though.[/QUOTE] Then it's very recent, but maybe they actually are trying to clean up their reputation by either giving the clickbait writers the boot or forcing them to be like actual journalists.

[QUOTE=torres;52894149]Didn't they also do that expose on Mass Effect Andromeda and the clusterfuck going on behind the scenes? Not saying Kotaku is gold, but they do have their moments. Seems to be recent though.[/QUOTE] As was said earlier, a broken clock is right twice a day. Kotaku is the trash compactor of the journalism world.

[QUOTE=Cyke Lon bee;52894263]As was said earlier, a broken clock is right twice a day. Kotaku is the trash compactor of the journalism world.[/QUOTE] Well I don't think they'll ever fully recover from what can loosely be described as a PR nightmare from a few years back. They do seem to be at least trying to fix it, even if its because they realise that they won't survive at all otherwise

[QUOTE=Biohazard99;52894361]Well I don't think they'll ever fully recover from what can loosely be described as a PR nightmare from a few years back.[/QUOTE] Which was…?

[QUOTE=IKTM;52895116]Which was…?[/QUOTE] Was it not their journalists that were some of the five guys? They also tried to shutdown talk about it and cover it up. [editline]16th November 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=I_Forgot;52894102]Jason Schreier also wrote that really in-depth article about what happened with Visceral and the Star Wars game they were working on, so his articles at least seem to be quality.[/QUOTE] Why is this guy among such shitters? He deserves a better publisher.

Kotaku's parent company gawker was also dismantled, Kotaku's new owners are likely trying to salvage it and reduce the independence that previously allowed them to just go nuts. Their reputation has historically been awful and they're unlikely to ever recover from it, nor should they, but i wouldn't be surprised to see more instances of half decent articles amoungst the trash.