Yesterday on Twitter, Jim Sterling posted a screenshot of an email he had received asking him to provide his review fees.
The email appears to be from a PR representative working closely with WB Games. The game in question is a cheap browser game simple called “Game of Thrones”. The game is developed by Chinese studio Yoozoo Games and published by WB Games.
So the concept of "paid reviews" is often conspiracy theorism…
— Jim Sterling (@JimSterling) February 6, 2019
… until a licensed Warner Bros. game asks me for my fucking review fees. pic.twitter.com/NwONMHCxYS
Of course, Sterling was taken aback by the offer as he is the one person that it doesn’t make any sense to make this offer to.
Jim Sterling is known for being a strong advocate against tactics like this. He doesn’t accept any sponsorships on his channel, and always pushes the pro-consumer viewpoint in attempt to better the games industry.
Within the comments of the Tweet, Sterling says that this happens fairly often even to him. While the offer to do the review doesn’t suggest Sterling had to give a positive review, he says that he still refuses offers to cover games.
Of course, it’s great the there are still people like Jim Sterling in the gaming world, but it’s shame to see WB Games’ PR department to not look where they’re treading.
On top of that, this is just further proof that paid reviews aren’t conspiracy.