14 DAY TRIAL // Apparently, the marketing company behind the promotion efforts for Monolith's action adventure video game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is taking a lot of flak for its sleazy practices.
As detailed by Jim Sterling in the latest episode of the Jimquisition, over on The Escapist, publisher Warner Bros' marketing partner, Plaid Social, has placed heavy restrictions on YouTube commentators looking to talk about the game and stream gameplay footage.
According to Sterling, who claims to have gotten hold of one of the contracts that Plaid Social issued to would-be reviewers, the company requested that commentators provided with pre-release codes offer various forms of all-positive sponsored content, tailored to the firm's needs and wants and subject to approval before publishing.
Popular YouTube streamer TotalBiscuit brought the issue to light, when he revealed that he turned down the contract that came bundled with an early code, stipulating the alarming conditions.
The contract specifies a ton of unethical practices for reviewers to abide by, such as a minimum amount of time to persuade viewers to purchase the game, as well as restrictions pertaining to the mandatory social outlets and media formats, all of which had to include positive feelings toward the game.
The strangest of the rules was, though, the fact that reviewers had to discuss the game's narrative, but to do so without mentioning the Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit books or movies, or any of the characters included in them, which is downright absurd.
The funny part is that it was all for nothing
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor received praise from both critics and players, with solid reviews across the board, and did not need the assistance (or rather hindrance) of some shady marketing ghouls in order to fool customers into unwittingly buying it.
On the contrary, the game was lauded for its many innovative aspects, and mainly for delivering an experience that is at the same time similar as well as distinct to the one gamers can get while playing an Assassin's Creed title, thus not being a simple rehash of some infiltration and brawling mechanics in a different setting.
The story follows a fallen ranger who gets revived by a wraith, an ancient elf that enables him to exact his revenge on the orcs who murdered his family before his eyes, and the wraith to take his on the Dark Lord Sauron.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is available on Windows PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions scheduled to come out on November 18 in North America and November 21 in Europe.