This is a non-issue of you ask me. A person, who happens to be a writer, got access to the game through a steam friend and was asked not to talk about it but thought they could just not agree to a warning and write about it anyway? I got access too and i didnt write about the game. I get to go back and play it today, they cant.

[–] timestatic@feddit.org 7 points 3 months ago (2 children)

So what. They already have their article and it will be out anyways within like two years latest probably. The value of talking about deadlock is much higher and valve profits from this advertising as well.

[–] Strykker@programming.dev 42 points 3 months ago (6 children)

The so what is that this writer for the verge will likely never be trusted with NDA type pre-release access for any other games going forward, and this may even impact all of the Verge.

This isn't just a one and done kind of issue, this will be seen by the entire industry as a "can't trust that guy with pre-release access"

[–] SmilingSolaris@lemmy.world 16 points 3 months ago

The Verge isn't pulling the article and they are currently backing their journo. The whole site is blacklisted at this point.

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[–] SmilingSolaris@lemmy.world 25 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Except this is a game industry reputation ruined. It isn't just valve, why would any dev ever give the verge access again knowing that they will not only disrespect your requests but bitch and moan if you hold them to it.

It's a full rep killer. They will never have early access again for any company.

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[–] snailfact@infosec.pub 92 points 3 months ago

I can’t believe their secret game they gave to 10 thousand people got leaked

[–] Arrkk@lemmy.world 78 points 3 months ago (13 children)

I think the thing everyone is forgetting is that valve isn't stupid, there's no way they didn't realize you could work around accepting the (legally unenforcable) NDA, and it's open invite.

Valve 100% knows that keeping it "secret" is good for hype and was expecting this to happen at any time, and the nominal ban was expected, but nobody is gonna get sued either.

More people are talking about Valve's "secret" new game because of this than would be if they openly announced it.

[–] Carighan@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

Yeah exactly. It's quite likely they didn't really blacklist The Verge anyways, just won't send them invites any more for this particular game. Best kind of marketing is hype marketing, and this is how you fuel the hype.

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[–] RangerJosie@sffa.community 51 points 3 months ago (2 children)

What was so secret about it?

[–] Cyv_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 88 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (13 children)

So apparently they had a bit asking players to not share info about the game, but you could technically back out of it without agreeing so legally they can post whatever they want. It feels like a case of "this is legal to do but maybe kinda shitty and valve might be upset". Basically the agreement was informal and not enforceable and the verge just said fuck it. They did get banned afterwards, but I think that and not working with them in the future is all valve can do.

Edit: didn't even require agreement, so honestly it's kinda fair game. I was a bit hostile calling it shitty, I felt like it was a loophole or something but it's more Valve just saying "hey pls don't" and the verge replying "no thanks", and eating the game ban since that's all valve can really do.

[–] Azzu@lemm.ee 18 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

There isn't even an informal agreement. It simply says not to share anything. Not even "by playing this, you agree not to share anything". It's just "please don't share anything" without any action required by your side.

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[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Valve got burned many ages ago with Half-Life 2 and they only go to press about a game when it's in the final phases of development, to release.

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[–] Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca 36 points 3 months ago (7 children)

It's just bad faith reporting. It reminds me of Kotaku sneaking into conventions before they opened to report what games were there.

It lowers my opinion of The Verge, I used to think they were at least reputable with standards, but that's a real tabloid move.

[–] meliante@lemmy.world 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

they were at least reputable with standards

I think you must be talking about a different website?

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[–] glitches_brew@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago

They literally included a screenshot of valve asking to not share information about the game with a little quip about how they pressed escape instead of ok. Blantant disrespect to valves wishes even if it's not a legally binding agreement.

They chose getting clicks over doing right by valve. Shame on them.

[–] chrischryse@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I used to think they were reputable until they came out with that PC building video

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[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 36 points 3 months ago

Clickbait title. I can't find any justification for calling a player being banned as The Verge "under fire".

[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Decent thing to do would have been ask valve for time when they want the article published

[–] corbin@infosec.pub 9 points 3 months ago (7 children)

They did ask Valve:

Though Valve didn’t respond to my requests for comment

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[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Why wouldn’t they just put journalists they gave access to under embargo?

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 35 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

It's not clear if he actually got access from Valve or from a friend or someone else. The article simply states

Earlier today, I received a no-strings-attached invite to play Deadlock on Steam.

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Ok - but they all originate from Valve, right? They couldn’t just put it behind a paywall or “NDA”wall?

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (7 children)

From my understanding users of the beta can then invite others to join as well, Valve isn't necessarily directly choosing who has access. So if Valve didn't send the invite themselves they wouldn't know to specifically put someone under a more strict NDA or whatnot because they're a journalist. Could they have done more to restrict all users from sharing information? Yes, since apparently you just have to hit escape to bypass the agreement pop up, and there's no other sort of NDA or contract or w/e in place upon joining.

I'm just speculating, but I think they chose not to do that so people could openly get their friends playing with them instead of going through waves of sign ups and hoping to get in together, or otherwise risk people losing interest when they can only play with randos. I could also see a line of thinking where you assume people want to talk about the game, so let them bring others in to play with them and that gives them someone to talk to about it too instead of just spilling the beans for randos on the internet.

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[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 13 points 3 months ago (2 children)

At the end of the day, the editors will have to answer to not receiving access to Valve for statements or tips moving forward.

[–] timestatic@feddit.org 9 points 3 months ago

Honestly I don't think valve is as mad as you would think

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[–] Linktank@lemmy.today 7 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Too bad the game itself doesn't sound very interesting.

[–] arefx@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Oh but it is very very fun. Addicting even. Full time job and business owner and in the last 5 weeks I've logged 125hrs.

[–] simple@lemm.ee 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

125 hours already?! No wonder I sometimes play against people that feel like they've been playing it their entire life.

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