False information, Clickbait Journalism & Popular Misconceptions

[Nitro]

Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is a propaganda tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations and politics. FUD is a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative or false information—often against a competing product—and a manifestation of the appeal to fear.​

This thread is for highlighting inaccurate or incomplete information, examples of poor journalism, conflicts of interest, or popular misconceptions that refuse to die. Although Sony has been the target of considerable misinformation in recent years, the problem is not limited to one platform or publisher.



^^^
Windows Central's Daniel Rubino amplifying misinformation in April 2020.

The story alleged that Sony's new machine is vastly underpowered, difficult to develop for, and that production hardware was failing at an "alarming rate." Rubino's colleague, Jez Corden, supported these findings, stating anonymous "sources" had told him similar stories.

There are many other dubious reports I'd like to revisit over the coming days and weeks. In the mean time, feel free to discuss examples past and present.

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Spotlight: Florian Muller (FOSS Patents) - Microsoft lobbyist

Further reading: "Evangelism is war" is still alive at Microsoft

 

[Sircaw]

I am sure people will remember this beauty I made on Gaf.

 

[AshHunter216]

Need to add on Michael Pachter telling Destin Legarie that Playstation will be dead in 10 years thanks to Gamepass.

 

[Nitro]

^^^
Derek Strickland's work eventually earned him the Phil Spencer seal of approval.

Over the space of several weeks, a previously barren subreddit named r/gamingleaksandrumorurs sprang to life, abrim with single-purpose accounts dangling news of Xbox riches to come. Almost as though it became an official unofficial "leaks in lieu of launch titles" public relations push. Oh, and endless PS5 concern threads.

This specific rumor seems like projection in hindsight:

The latest rumor fresh out of the mill claims the Xbox Series X will have substantially more launch games and launch exclusives over the PS5. The rumor comes way of Russian video game journalist Anton Logvinov... The Russian games journalist claims the PlayStation 5 will not have a single major exclusive at launch, and its launch line-up will be heavily bolstered by enhanced versions of popular PS4 exclusives.

 

[Papacheeks]

Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is a propaganda tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations and politics. FUD is a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative or false information—often against a competing product—and a manifestation of the appeal to fear.

This thread is for discussing inaccurate or incomplete information, examples of poor journalism, or popular misconceptions that refuse to die. Although Sony has been the target of considerable misinformation in recent years, the problem is not limited to one platform or publisher.



An example of Windows Central's Daniel Rubino amplifying PlayStation 5 misinformation in April 2020. The story alleged that Sony's new machine was vastly underpowered, difficult to develop for, and that production hardware was failing at an "alarming rate." Jez Corden said the rumor is believable while Jason Schreier dismissed it as "nonsense."

There are many other dubious reports I'd like to revisit over the coming days and weeks. In the mean time, feel free to discuss examples past and present.

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@TubzGaming

Great thread @Nitro !

 

[FatKaz]

I am sure people will remember this beauty I made on Gaf.

To add to the ps5 running RE8 concerns it was that fraud dusk golem spreading that crap.

 

[Bryank75]

I introduce the one man FUD army...

Rumor: PlayStation 5 Price Leaks, and It Ain't Cheap

In an E3 interview, Michael Pachter has just predicted a $800 cost for the PlayStation 5. Read what he had to say about pricing here.

www.vgr.com

Sony 'Vastly Overpaid' in 'Desperation' for Bungie, Says Outspoken Analyst Michael Pachter

The Pach-Attack

www.pushsquare.com

https://www.dualshockers.com/michael-pachter-predicts-playstation-will-not-exist-in-10-years/

Michael Pachter: Sony Will Wait on PS5 Until After The Next Xbox Releases - PS5

Michael Pachter has made some new predictions about PS5 and Project Scorpio/Xbox Two. What do we think of these new claims? Find out in our full article!

ps5playstation5.com

Great thread idea @Nitro

 

[Nhomnhom]

I am sure people will remember this beauty I made on Gaf.

I love this stuff, not a single hit and in most cases we saw the exact opposite. It's actually impressive how they managed to miss with their FUD.

 

[Sircaw]

I love this stuff, not a single hit and in most cases we saw the exact opposite. It's actually impressive how they managed to miss with their FUD.

and there was so much more, I just got tired of writing it all down.

I remember @IntentionalPun challenging me and saying he would make a list as there was just as much Xbox fud.

That list never saw the time of day ofc.

 

[Nhomnhom]

and there was so much more, I just got tired of writing it all down.

I remember @IntentionalPun challenging me and saying he would make a list as there was just as much Xbox fud.

That list never saw the time of day ofc.

The full RDNA 2 stuff gets me every time. They got so hung up on anything that the Xbox had that the PS5 didn't and just assumed it would make a huge difference and in the end hardware VRS just sucked and nothing came out of it. Likely just another wrong decision by MS.

That's the thing about Xbox fan, they try to spin anything to make it look like MS made the best decision and since MS is so inconsistent they end up without any identity. They'll defend AA batteries for 15 years and yet go and buy an expensive premium controller with internal batteries.

In the end, after all the FUD and spin Xbox got completely outclassed, be it on real world performance, features, launch line up, crossgen games, current gen games, games with impressive graphics, supply, marketing, sales, gamepad features/quality, storage, VR support, even service in the end with PS+ Essencials and PS+ Extra.

 

[Nitro]

The original report stated that your system first had to sustain significant damage in order for liquid metal to escape, such as knocking it over or dropping your console from height. Over 35 million units have been sold-through. If there was a widespread problem, we would surely know about it by now.

We still see people on Reddit and social media expressing concern over the PS5's vertical orientation.

 

[Cool hand luke]

I am sure people will remember this beauty I made on Gaf.

Unbelievable. I want to see more on the bullet points around the Xbox era crew getting caught red handed.

 

[AshHunter216]

Not sure whether this article counts as FUD or just general biased author.

https://www.thegamer.com/playstation-plus-removing-marvels-spider-man-sony/

 

[Bryank75]

Everything by Takashi Mochizuki from WSJ Japan regarding Sony has been negative and mostly fabricated or a twisting of the narrative to fit his ends.

Anything he writes needs to be immediately questioned.

 

[Nitro]

Unbelievable. I want to see more on the bullet points around the Xbox era crew getting caught red handed.

On top of other things, they were observed clickbait or link farming. Members would monitor news aggregators looking for negative Sony/PlayStation opinion or press. A link to said story would be shared. Within a short period, a thread would be created on ResetEra by a random member discussing the topic, drawing wider attention, gaining further media interest. They believe strongly Xbox is the better console and that PlayStation's reputation is undeserved. As though they had taken it upon themselves to alter how Sony are perceived by the public. The group is obsessed with diminishing PlayStation's brand "aura" or "halo" through unceasing negative press.

 

[AshHunter216]

On top of other things, they were observed clickbait or link farming. Members would monitor news aggregators looking for negative Sony/PlayStation opinion or press. A link to said story would be shared. Within a short period, a thread would be created on ResetEra by a random member discussing the topic, drawing wider attention, gaining further media interest. They believe strongly Xbox is the better console and that PlayStation's reputation is undeserved. As though they had taken it upon themselves to alter how Sony are perceived by the public. The group was obsessed with diminishing PlayStation's brand "aura" or "halo".

I remember a lot of posts on era towards the end of last gen basically saying that the PS4 didn't deserve to do as well as it did and that all their games were secretly terrible.

 

[Nitro]

I remember @IntentionalPun challenging me and saying he would make a list as there was just as much Xbox fud.

That list never saw the time of day ofc.

There was some clown vaping into his Xbox Series X on launch day. Microsoft are sensitive to negative PR and shut that story down rapidly. Pretty tame stuff compared to the torrent of misinfo Sony has faced.

 

[AshHunter216]

There was some clown vaping into his Xbox Series X on launch day. Microsoft are sensitive to negative PR and shut that story down rapidly. Pretty tame stuff compared to the torrent of misinfo Sony has faced.

After last gen, having the best social media reputation became very important to them.

 

[Sircaw]

There was some clown vaping into his Xbox Series X on launch day. Microsoft are sensitive to negative PR and shut that story down rapidly. Pretty tame stuff compared to the torrent of misinfo Sony has faced.

WTF @Nitro, i liked that floppy nitro disk avatar.

 

[Gediminas]

There was some clown vaping into his Xbox Series X on launch day. Microsoft are sensitive to negative PR and shut that story down rapidly. Pretty tame stuff compared to the torrent of misinfo Sony has faced.

He wasn't vaping.
His xbox really broke.