275

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

submitted 1 month ago by ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net to c/games@lemmy.world

91 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 142 points 1 month 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 7 points 1 month 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 42 points 1 month 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 1 month ago

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

load more comments (5 replies)

[-] SmilingSolaris@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month 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.

load more comments (5 replies)

load more comments (6 replies)

[-] snailfact@infosec.pub 92 points 1 month ago

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

[-] Arrkk@lemmy.world 78 points 1 month 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 1 month 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.

[-] Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago

As someone whose played it I can say that it has some cool concepts but it's sorta mid atm. It's what to be expected for an alpha game though, I just hope they push the aethetic harder and not just use it as set dressing cause so far the aethetic is the most unique part about it. The rest is just overwatch meets leagueDota but slightly jankier (Again, to be expected since it's alpha.)

[-] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 2 points 1 month ago

Those are my thoughts as well, though I've only had the chance to play a couple of matches so far. When I heard about the concept it sounded cooler than it feels so far, but maybe I just need to get used to it. So far the gameplay loop hasn't really clicked for me, and balancing the hero shooter aspects with MOBA stuff like farming and buying items hasn't felt smooth, fluid or natural.

I do imagine - much like MOBAs - it's more fun playing as a squad though. I've only done random matchmaking.

[-] Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

Dude glad it isn't only me. The moba aspects slow it down but the shooter aspects speed it up and it hasn't felt like a good mix so far. I know I'm the bad one so I can't be too harsh but it felt like I was just getting one shot like in Call of duty but also I had to just grind resources like in mobas. My least favorite aspects of both games.

That's sorta why I like overwatch, plenty of weps that aren't guns and you don't get one shot most of the time, especially if you aren't playing a squish hero. No grinding either besides charging your ult, it's more objective based which is fun.

load more comments (8 replies)

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca 36 points 1 month 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 1 month ago

they were at least reputable with standards

I think you must be talking about a different website?

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] glitches_brew@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month 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.

[-] chrischryse@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

I used to think they were reputable until they came out with that PC building video

[-] dantheclamman@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

LTT posted a do-over video with Stefan. He seems like a decent guy. Have followed him since then. https://youtu.be/QKzmYsySGFQ?si=AlEpsycL5ifF3RxD

load more comments (4 replies)

[-] helenslunch@feddit.nl 35 points 1 month ago

Clickbait title. I can't find any justification for calling a player being banned as The Verge "under fire".

[-] reksas@sopuli.xyz 16 points 1 month ago

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

[-] corbin@infosec.pub 9 points 1 month ago

They did ask Valve:

Though Valve didn’t respond to my requests for comment

load more comments (7 replies)

[-] ccunning@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

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

[-] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month 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.

[-] ccunning@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Ok - but they all originate from Valve, right? They couldn’t just put it behind a paywall or “NDA”wall?

[-] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

From my understanding users of the beta can then invite others to join as well, Valve isn't necessarily directly choosing who has access. So if Valve didn't send the invite themselves they wouldn't know to specifically put someone under a more strict NDA or whatnot because they're a journalist. Could they have done more to restrict all users from sharing information? Yes, since apparently you just have to hit escape to bypass the agreement pop up, and there's no other sort of NDA or contract or w/e in place upon joining.

I'm just speculating, but I think they chose not to do that so people could openly get their friends playing with them instead of going through waves of sign ups and hoping to get in together, or otherwise risk people losing interest when they can only play with randos. I could also see a line of thinking where you assume people want to talk about the game, so let them bring others in to play with them and that gives them someone to talk to about it too instead of just spilling the beans for randos on the internet.

[-] ccunning@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

That’s all I’m saying. Valve is the gatekeeper and left the gate wide open. They blew it and they’re looking for someone else to blame.

[-] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 month ago

Valve fucked up but the Verge still broke the social contract regardless of whether they're legally in the clear or not.

Doing something just because "it's legal" doesn't make it a moral justification. My wife and I have a joint bank account. It is legal for me to take money from it and gamble it all away, the gate is "open" but that doesn't make it morally justifiable.

[-] moody@lemmings.world 7 points 1 month ago

Meh, I don't think there's anything morally wrong with what he did. What he did wasn't just legal, it's literally his job. The only issue is that Valve is now angry at him for their own failing.

To continue the same analogy, they didn't just leave the gate open, they literally invited a bunch of people and told them to invite other people. I'm not sure what they expected if not this exact situation.

[-] dormedas@lemmy.dormedas.com 11 points 1 month ago

Valve isn't really angry as far as I can tell, or have heard. They're about as angry as any other person which goes and posts this stuff online: revoking access. If Valve wanted to expand their testing userbase without people leaking it online, they would have sought NDAs and other legally-binding agreements with testers and - by extension - journalists who can test the game.

load more comments (3 replies)

[-] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 month 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 9 points 1 month ago

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

[-] corbin@infosec.pub 3 points 1 month ago

Valve barely talks to press anyways, in a very similar fashion as Apple. At worst, maybe The Verge won't get a Steam Deck 2 review unit ahead of time or something.