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EA Fishing For High BF3 Review Scores In Europe?

It seems we can't get past a major game release without running into this controversy.

According to a recent report concerning the Norwegian press, it seems Electronic Arts might be sending out feelers for those more willing to give Battlefield 3 a high review score.

Evidently, several sites, including Gamer.no and Gamereactor.no, received a strange response to their request for early BF3 review copies. The critics in question were sent a questionnaire, which at first seems pretty standard; it asks for name and contact info, etc. But a couple questions have left some people scratching their heads:

"Has he expressed enthusiasm or concern for BF3?"

"Is he a fan of Battlefield?"

Then there are questions that deal with EA's primary competition for BF3; Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. "Is he a fan of Call of Duty?" just doesn't seem to fit...why is EA asking about this? Now, in the past, EA has made it plain that they put a heavy emphasis on review scores, and several DICE and EA employees have expressed great distaste for CoD. But is this really what we think it is?

Well, we haven't heard of anything like this happening in the US. For example, we were asked to confirm an address and a platform preference, but that's it. So maybe we shouldn't leap to inaccurate conclusions just yet.

Related Game(s): Battlefield 3

Tags: bf3, battlefield 3, ea, battlefield 3 reviews

10/18/2011 8:54:57 PM Ben Dutka

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Comments (17 posts)

Killa Tequilla
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 @ 10:08:29 PM
Reply

Dice is asking for high review scores on BF3?

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Underdog15
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 6:13:46 AM

not really asking... but it could be interpreted as trying to figure out which reviewers to give early copies to depending on who is more likely to give it a high score.

Anyways,the answer to your question is in the article.
Last edited by Underdog15 on 10/19/2011 6:14:46 AM

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saini
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 @ 10:38:18 PM
Reply

i think they want there game to be reviewed by someone who is not BF3 fan but a COD.... LOL ;)

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daus26
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 10:17:04 AM

That would be really courageous, and bold of DICE and EA.

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Akuma07
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 5:36:55 PM

It makes sense.

I think they are just trying to work out, if they are a CoD fan, and they give BF3 a bad score, then they know why?

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CheddarClyde
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 @ 11:17:21 PM
Reply

It may be nothing like you said, but I believe backroom shenanigans like the whole Kane and Lynch debacle from a few years back are probably more common nowadays than we realize. The movie industry has been guilty of this for years, and with the gaming industry bringing in more money it shouldn't be too surprising that the companies with the most influence and power would resort to tactics like these. It doesn't help that many of the major gaming sites are owned by or partnered with much larger companies that may have a sizable financial interest in not only whether a particular game is successful, but also in the negative perception of that game's direct competition.

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Qubex
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 2:00:47 AM
Reply

Look, we live in a competitive world, so I am not surprised if EA is possibly trying to gather some intelligence on who may be hostile to their game. Ultimately they are looking for glowing reviews. They need every sale they can get to challenge CoD domination.

What EA are probably trying to achieve here is to scavenge for information in a way that is not make that too obvious; however, admittedly, as Ben revealed in the article, they are asking odd questions which must raise suspicion. Surely EA understands that it is immaterial whether or not a potential game journalist loves the previous DiCE outings or not? I mean, we are all looking for credible journalism, credible review scores that tell you how it really is, from multiple perspectives.

The quicker these corporate practices are a thing of the past, the better for the whole industry. Why? Because we then make sure that only quality truly succeeds and is worthy of remaining on shelves...

Q!

"play.experience.enjoy"
Last edited by Qubex on 10/19/2011 2:02:00 AM

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wackazoa
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 9:43:45 AM

I have suspected EA of doing this with Madden and NCAA Football due to their high review scores yet broken gameplay and heavy fan criticism from the fans on thier message boards. Im starting to wonder about if EA's tops dont condone this behavior....


Money will make you crazy.... and there is alot to be had with high reviews.

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Snaaaake
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 2:05:30 AM
Reply

People nowadays are so sensitive, those are only questionnaire, it's not like EA will go out and kill those who said they're not fans of Battlefield.

Who knows, maybe this is to avoid getting panned by the CoD-crazed reviwers out there.

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mk ultra
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 2:14:02 AM

yeah, who would get a questionaire from EA and say they hated Battlefield and loved MW unless they seriously didn't want a review copy.

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Beamboom
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 3:18:45 AM
Reply

I believe every publisher do this. They all are collecting these kinds of data in one way or another.
Those of us who keep an eye on meta rating sites must all have noticed how the first published reviews almost without exception are amongst the highest ratings that game receive. This is no coincidence.

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berserk
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 7:10:23 AM
Reply

Just prove they are more scared to take on mw3 then they will ever admit .

The beta made me cancel my pre order but good reviews ( user review )might help change my mind .

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daus26
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 8:59:51 AM
Reply

I think this is the right move. Those that are fans of the series should be one of the early ones to review the game. It would have to be really unbiased though. Of course, it's not all fair, but first impressions are important.

Anyway, the early review scores would really only affect the casual fans, and that's big. I don't see anything wrong with this.

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Ichigo40
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 9:10:59 AM
Reply

With all of the hype that this game and Call of Duty are getting I'm not surprised to see one of them do this...I'm sure we'll see something pop up saying the same thing about Modern Warefare 3

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DjEezzy
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 11:04:35 AM
Reply

These reports are always coming from some obscure source or obscure country. Makes me question if it isn't some troll just trying to start a fire where they shouldn't. Just to start another controversy, as if there is enough around these 2 games as it is.

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NonProphet
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 11:40:56 AM
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Instead of sending a questionnaire they could just have an intern read a given sites reviews of the games they're asking about, all that info is there on most sites. Then they wouldn't look like they're trying to cook the early review scores.

Also, even asking which console a reviewer prefers gives a vague indication of whether they're a COD fan or a BF fan.

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Lairfan
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 5:19:07 PM
Reply

Oh for goodness sake. Why can't they just let their game speak for itself? This is obviously designed to see who already likes BF and will give it a higher score, and IMO its completely unfair.

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of other companies do this too, but that doesn't make it right.

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