In 2015 Machinima was sued by the FTC for paying influencers on behalf of Microsoft/Xbox to promote the Xbox One without disclosing that they were paid. FTC won the lawsuit, and even though Microsoft wasn't directly punished, they did receive a formal warning.
I think this is happening again, so many YouTubers, streamers, and gaming influencers have suddenly become super pro Xbox this gen.
I remember the Vice President of IGN, Justin Davis, stated " I play an Xbox game literally every night". His gamertag was checked and people saw he hadn't been played on his Xbox in 2 weeks. Afterwards, he quickly made his Xbox profile private and accused the people of exposing him as "toxic". This isn't the only case of this happening, a few other big names I've noticed that have suddenly become Xbox superfans/defenders this generation are: Austin Evan, Kevin Kenson, Derick Strickland (DeekeTweak), Danny Pena, Parris Lily, MetalJesusRocks, Jeff Grubb, John Riggs, Alanah Pearce (Sony employee btw lmao), Tony Polanco, Gene Park , Digital Foundry team, Lamarr Wilson, and more.
Most recently: BenjiSales, GenkiJPN, ,and Chris Dring.
BenjiSales - a guy that covers gaming news and refused to report on the negative Xbox leaks because he "felt bad" for Xbox, yet he rushed to talk about TLOU2 factions being in development hell (rightfully so)
Chris Dring - covers UK/EU game sales and lied about Starfield selling better than FF16/RE4 and then when asked why said "add in GamePass numbers"
GenkiJPN - covers gaming topics related to Japan, was pretty fair in his discourse and then became very pro Xbox these last few weeks and acting as if year old AA JRPG ports to Xbox was some huge amazing success that "we" need to celebrate
These 3 are the reason why I'm making this thread, beginning of the generation they were relatively normal folks, but now they've become irrational Xbox defenders. I highly doubt it's a coincidence
I think this is a repeat of the early XB1 generation and Xbox is 100% compensating influencers in some way, maybe not explicitly monetarily but other benefits.
Or I could just be wrong and paranoid lol
GenkiJPN with Phil Spencer after being invited to their TGS booth
Parris Lily acting as if his own mother was insulted when the Xbox leaks broke out, this is who Sony sends free products to.......
I don't even need to say anything about Austin Evans, one of the most egregious shills I've ever seen. Tried spreading FUD about the first PS5 revision, implying that it would have serious heating issues, and 2 years later obviously nothing is wrong with it. Instead of just admitting he was wrong he cried about how "Sony fanboys" were harassing him.... If anyone is in Microsoft's pocket, it's 100% this clown.
Jeff Grubb gave Returnal a review score of 6 and admits that he didn't even complete the game before putting out his review
Still hilarious to me that Xbox had Lamarr Wilson do an "Xbox controller collection" video when they literally sent him all of these Xbox controllers for free
BTW - these are just a few of the people that claim to be "neutral" , Microsoft also has a ton of people who are openly pro Xbox and don't try to hide it like Tom Warren, Jizz Corden, Destin Legarie, Ryan McCaffery, Klobrille, Culteastwood, Miles Dompier, Florian Mueller, MrMattyPlays. and a bunch more I'm too lazy to name. They also seem to have several gaming forum moderators in their pockets.
The worst part about this is, whenever you politely inform these people that they're spreading objective misinformation, they label you as "toxic" or "console warrior" and sic their weirdo obsessed followers on you. And Xbox 100% condones this as they have their executives following some of the worst fanboys in the space.
I'm convinced Xbox is back to their old tricks again, too bad the FTC probably has much better things to do than waste resources on gaming shills
www.ftc.gov
I think this is happening again, so many YouTubers, streamers, and gaming influencers have suddenly become super pro Xbox this gen.
I remember the Vice President of IGN, Justin Davis, stated " I play an Xbox game literally every night". His gamertag was checked and people saw he hadn't been played on his Xbox in 2 weeks. Afterwards, he quickly made his Xbox profile private and accused the people of exposing him as "toxic". This isn't the only case of this happening, a few other big names I've noticed that have suddenly become Xbox superfans/defenders this generation are: Austin Evan, Kevin Kenson, Derick Strickland (DeekeTweak), Danny Pena, Parris Lily, MetalJesusRocks, Jeff Grubb, John Riggs, Alanah Pearce (Sony employee btw lmao), Tony Polanco, Gene Park , Digital Foundry team, Lamarr Wilson, and more.
Most recently: BenjiSales, GenkiJPN, ,and Chris Dring.
BenjiSales - a guy that covers gaming news and refused to report on the negative Xbox leaks because he "felt bad" for Xbox, yet he rushed to talk about TLOU2 factions being in development hell (rightfully so)
Chris Dring - covers UK/EU game sales and lied about Starfield selling better than FF16/RE4 and then when asked why said "add in GamePass numbers"
GenkiJPN - covers gaming topics related to Japan, was pretty fair in his discourse and then became very pro Xbox these last few weeks and acting as if year old AA JRPG ports to Xbox was some huge amazing success that "we" need to celebrate
These 3 are the reason why I'm making this thread, beginning of the generation they were relatively normal folks, but now they've become irrational Xbox defenders. I highly doubt it's a coincidence
I think this is a repeat of the early XB1 generation and Xbox is 100% compensating influencers in some way, maybe not explicitly monetarily but other benefits.
Or I could just be wrong and paranoid lol
GenkiJPN with Phil Spencer after being invited to their TGS booth
Parris Lily acting as if his own mother was insulted when the Xbox leaks broke out, this is who Sony sends free products to.......
I don't even need to say anything about Austin Evans, one of the most egregious shills I've ever seen. Tried spreading FUD about the first PS5 revision, implying that it would have serious heating issues, and 2 years later obviously nothing is wrong with it. Instead of just admitting he was wrong he cried about how "Sony fanboys" were harassing him.... If anyone is in Microsoft's pocket, it's 100% this clown.
Jeff Grubb gave Returnal a review score of 6 and admits that he didn't even complete the game before putting out his review
Still hilarious to me that Xbox had Lamarr Wilson do an "Xbox controller collection" video when they literally sent him all of these Xbox controllers for free
BTW - these are just a few of the people that claim to be "neutral" , Microsoft also has a ton of people who are openly pro Xbox and don't try to hide it like Tom Warren, Jizz Corden, Destin Legarie, Ryan McCaffery, Klobrille, Culteastwood, Miles Dompier, Florian Mueller, MrMattyPlays. and a bunch more I'm too lazy to name. They also seem to have several gaming forum moderators in their pockets.
The worst part about this is, whenever you politely inform these people that they're spreading objective misinformation, they label you as "toxic" or "console warrior" and sic their weirdo obsessed followers on you. And Xbox 100% condones this as they have their executives following some of the worst fanboys in the space.
I'm convinced Xbox is back to their old tricks again, too bad the FTC probably has much better things to do than waste resources on gaming shills
Xbox One Promoter Settles FTC Charges That it Deceived Consumers With Endorsement Videos Posted by Paid ‘Influencers’
A California-based online entertainment network has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it engaged in deceptive advertising by paying “influencers” to post YouTube videos endorsi
