Jim Sterling has been greylisted by Microsoft PR?

Saw this on NeoGAF & Reddit & stole post:

(Linked to time in video)

Is he joking? Or is MS really mad at him about something? That is horeshit if true, I mean over what? He doesn't just praise everything, so they brush him off?

He starts talking about how he is too unpredictable so they don't talk to him, a little past the 6 min mark.

Edit: Looks like there is something to it.

Jim's comment on the talking point:

Clarification:

Sony's reaction to the Escapist hiring me was to congratulate the site.

MS' PR department's reaction was to hope the Escapist puts a leash on me.

And again:

...There's no actual conversation, and that is the thing I am talking about. MS' PR wing has been doing a lot of talking ABOUT me, and no talking TO me.

Usually, publishers are actually very accepting of my opinions and coverage, even if it's harsh, and even if they don't agree. Very rarely, a company pulls the kind of stunt where it strings someone along and talks vaguely to them without having the stones to actually tell that person what the problem is, and then they hear about it from friends and colleagues.

And then they make smarmy little tweets one morning for no reason other than to highlight the problem with not actually telling someone directly what the problem is.

Heh, that's weird. I guess they want predictable people preaching their gospel.

That's odd. I'm not one for Jim's content, but 'greylisting' him seems very harsh. It's almost worse than straight blacklisting him because it lets the PR guys make snarky comments rather than being forced to try to ignore him. It's real hard to do any job without a clear idea of what's going on, nevermind all the added stress from the console release run-around.

@crembaw:

I think it's ridiculous and troubling that Microsoft's PR firm (and Microsoft by extension) thinks it's acceptable to treat someone like this.

(Also, the rest of this video is hilarious btw)

That's real smart, just when the PR department was getting beat this whole year by Playstation go ahead and get a very vocal Jim Sterling on the internet to talk about your bullshit out in the open. Bravo, well played!

Jim has produced some great content over the last months. I originally wasn't a fan of his and while I still don't always agree with his point of view I have a lot of respect for the guy. No matter how you feel about him though stuff like this is never acceptable. At least tell him what's going on instead of just talking and tweeting about him.

Who cares, MS PR can choose who they do or don't talk to. Go ahead and blow this out of proportion like everything else Xbox related.

I couldn't understand one word he said in the video. I don't even know who he is.

Can you link to some of it? I'm new to the guy and he seems like an absolute pile of shit. Somebody posted a thing with him talking to Marcus Beer a few weeks ago and that was meant to be 'truth' but it was absolutely nothing.

I dunno about any of this drama but that top 10 list is phenomenal.

Wow, i've hated Jim Sterling's content since forever but he was actually pretty likeable in this video. Maybe it's because I can't see him standing at a podium wearing leather gloves and sunglasses like a pillock (which i'm aware is a character choice, but it's also a character choice for Joey in Full House to not be funny and I don't like Joey in Full House either).

Also his sense of humour seems like a poor man's Stewart Lee now instead of a poor man's Frankie Boyle. And since the former is the best thing happening in british comedy and the latter is the worst, I guess i'm obligated to change my opinion of Jim.

Don't have an opinion on Sterling but I do like that video.

I don't even know what grey-list is?

@blu3v3nom07: It's like a black list, but less ominous.

Seesler like Breakdown incoming

Hoooly shit that video's great.

After reading that long Polygon article (through worth reading) about the beginnings of Xbox Live its a bummer to constantly read about MS being so uncool.

Wouldn't the predictable thing be to bash Microsoft at the moment?

I think it's pretty easy to get on Twitter and talk a bunch of shit about a big corporation who probably doesn't really care what he thinks, and isn't going to engage with him anyway. People who pull this kind of thing come off as immature twits, no matter how accurate their side of the story may be.

If you really want to know: It is a "Dead To Me List". They won't seek to discredit him or attack him in any way but as far as they are concerned he is just another random guy and random guys don't get interviews or early access or whatever.

The end of that video was hilarious

I really can't stand Jim Sterling. He's loud, brash, and annoying. Maybe I would like him more if he was my one-stop shop for gaming humor, but I keep up with Giant Bomb, Penny Arcade, Totalbiscuit, and Yahtzee. So I get all the same jokes but from people who aren't insufferable.

Judging from the video posted in this thread, and a few of his Jimquisition videos, I don't blame Microsoft for gray-listing him. They're a business. What would they gain by letting this guy get special early access to their games, if he's just going to make silly little parody videos?

"Sure, Jim Sterling, here's special early access to Halo 5. Oh, he's made a video about it! Things I Would Rather Do Than Play Halo 5. Let's see...'watch Biodome'...'eat a bowl of rubber'...'dive into a pit of hissing cockroaches'. Great! Get him on the shortlist for our event next week where we're showing off Destiny!"

How else is he supposed to deal with it? I get where you're coming from, but it ignores the fact that Jim is involved with reviews in some capacity for The Escapist (I assume he's Reviews Editor like he was at Destructoid, but I don't know for certain) trying to cover this console launch and the company who is launching the console and decides when embargos end is ignoring him except, seemingly, to talk shit about him to his co-workers. They are actively making his job and that of his employer's way harder. That's a really shitty thing to do, like Jim or not.

I used to loathe Sterling too, but his Jimquisition series is the thing that made me turn the corner on him.

Well if he's going to be abrasive and hyperbolic he should probably expect people to avoid dealing with him if they have the option.

Who?

I like Jim, but then I like everyone so that isn't saying much. I've never listened to something he's said and strongly disagreed, mostly the opposite. I'm sure this will get sorted out soon enough.

I'm beginning to like the dude to be honest.

He speaks the truth,we need more video game "journalists" like him.

God I love Sterling. Everything that he puts out is incredibly dumb yet most of what media surrounding video games put out is just as equally a dumb and in a non-ironic way. I'll take Sterling making stupid top 10 lists over people making shitty click bait articles over "Resolution Gate" and whatever other dumb bullshit people are making way to fucking big a deal with at the current moment.

I believe he is the worst so seeing him blacklisted ins't surprising. People like him shouldn't be allowed to have an opinion. Also he uses a fedora from time to time. I will never trust a guy with a fedora. Fuck fedoras.

...Seriously?

Didn't you get the memo? Anybody can just say words over video game footage, so we're to have absolutely no sympathy for any video game reviewer complaining about anything.

Look, just because a bunch of dorks and douchebags wear fedoras doesn't mean we need to dismiss them outright. I like them. Plus I'm Italian, so if anyone should be wearing them, it's people like me.

Well, MS did ban users for getting early XBox Ones instead of letting them go nuts and becomes their best Viral PR machines. So yes MS makes horrible decisions in hopes to make some kind of casual audience who are going to buy an ipad air anyway.

I can't stand Sterling. I think he has a very abrasive/annoying personality. Also, has this in any way been confirmed or is it just a rumor that people are running away with?

@subjugation: Read the GAF thread, he posted there himself.

The first thing that struck me about this whole thing is just how different in frankness and maturity he approached this issue with in contrast to Sessler's meltdown a few weeks ago. If Sterling was more like Sessler, he would've starting shouting "OH MY GOD YOU GUYS SOMETHING BAD IS GOING ON WISH I COULD TELL YOU ABOUT IT BUT I'M WORRIED" and spending the next several hours being vaguely apocalyptic and going on about how he was scared of how he'd be out of work.

Instead, he immediately identified the issue, didn't hide his actual anger and frustration with it all, specifically called out Microsoft PR, went on Gaf and answered questions instead of hiding any details, and said that even if he did end up blacklisted, hey, that would suck, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. That's called being mature, comfortable in yourself, and not pulling stupid bullshit as if you think your job is on the same level of secret agents. (In fact, when invited to the Sony review meeting in New York, he refused to go out of principle.)

Regardless of whatever you think of Sterling, he should be treated like everyone else. He has ever right to express his thoughts and do his job just like everyone else. He handled this in the best way he could and more people should behave like this.

@blu3v3nom07:

Great to see that's it's been handled!

Microsoft doesn't talk to me, what the hell. Preorder cancelled.

What nerds are favouriting tweets like the above? Really?

I dunno about Microsoft, but I know for a fact that he was blacklisted by Konami after he made a video giving them a bunch of shit for the way they treat some of the smaller developers/titles they publish (not sending out review copies, actively trying to bury small releases, etc.)

I don't agree with him, like, half the time, but at least he's not a corporate shill like so many other "journalists" seem to be.

I favourited this:

lol

Exactly.

That top 10 PS4 game vid is annoying and not funny. I could only bear to watch it for a minute or two.

"haha he counts firmware as a game" but then he talks about firmware forever and ever while showing footage of nothing related. x(

@crithon said:

MS didn't ban anyone. They just blocked them from using XBLive until closer to the 22nd release date. They said it's because they are still making changes to Live (not now, but back when these got shipped early)...it's probably more likely due to partner and media agreements. Sony would have done the same thing, business is business. Either way it's far from "banning users" which implies a more permanent restriction. (It also didn't help that the main user that got one took to youtube claiming to be the #1 Source for Xbone coverage, etc.)

As far as Jim, I don't feel bad at all for him. You can be negative without being a jerk about it. The Giantbomb crew are brutally honest, if a game's crap they'll call it out. But none of them are greylisted...that's because they don't jump on the interwebs being total jerkfaces and "hipster-like" hating everything cause they think it's still cool to do that.

Also, hey, lets get on twitter and whine now that our doucheness has actually produced consequences. Life's so unfair when we don't get special treatment.

Who is Jim Sterling? Why is this a thing?

@planetary: Apparently he a guy who likes to shit on companies and gets upset when they don't like him?

That's kind of my take on it. I like some of the stuff Sterling does, but he likes to play hardball and then gets upset when companies play hardball back.

Yah in a perfect world you might be able to say so-and-so blows and they'll laugh and say "oh we'll try harder next time" and keep up a friendly working relationship - but in the real world if you talk a lot of trash about some company it's not completely unnatural for them to be hesitant in interacting with you.

If you want to call people out then thats great and much appreciated journalism, but be prepared to buy games on launch day or get them from colleagues when the people you've been calling out decide to not send you press kits anymore.