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Calling out rumors, insiders and "sources"

0neAnd0nly

Gold Member
Interesting thread and I like the idea.

Just to respond to some general comments here. People who don't think leaks actually exist from big companies... I assure you they definitely do. I worked in a part of the industry (video game industry, specifically) for a while. Though my position or company didn't deal day to day with execs or developers, at conferences I attended for the company and just through simple luck (at times) and networking, you would meet people who were willing to talk relatively openly though under the assumption of "off-the-record" type of communication. You would be... somewhat surprised at how open people could be.

I am not at all claiming anything or that I have serious "sources" anymore (or ever had many), but people that question the anonymous angle of this journalist or insider industry I don't think fully understand what goes on fully. For one, sometimes info can burn specific people. You could be a complete and utter jerk, publish their name and attach what you heard, but that is relatively morally disgusting and would put you in a definite black ball state within the industry. Chances are, many times the person wouldn't remember who you are - but obviously on the nature of leaking something, your name will be attached and remembered at that point. That runs the risk of pulling the vine all the way through the company you represent, which is also a deterrent.

I don't like "anonymous sources" and such either, but I typically dislike it most in serious matters of media. I think sometimes today anonymous sources aren't much more than a way to slander somebody without having to take blame. But the VG industry isn't really that serious, so I get why people want to keep things covered up to protect their future and also an innocent person.

The biggest "leak" I ever had knowledge of was from a very dependable employee of PS who, months prior to E3 2013 told me that Playstation was looking at ways to implement DRM and cease sharing games. They famously of course elected to reverse course on that decision, which was super wise. At the time, there were some rumors, but to hear it from this person gave me serious concern as I was not in support of sad move.

Here and there a lot of the behind-the-scenes info I was privy too was more numbers and statistics based, so it wouldn't have been particularly entertaining to the masses. More interesting than entertaining.

But yeah, here nor there - just a bit of a peak into what happens with some of that stuff. Believe me, people in the industry talk about stuff going on at times and to differing levels.

- FWIW, Colin has been mentioned in a few threads here recently. Colin is definitely relatively reliable involving Playstation (some people don't seem to know his name or background). Dude definitely has a finger in the space still HOWEVER he doesn't really make hard leak announcements and much of what gets accredited to him is misconstrued information - not to the fault of him. He also makes a lot of intelligent hunches / hypothesis based off public info and knowledge of studios, but some seem to indicate these guesses are leaks which he is usually adamant to refute and straighten up. I don't know him personally, but I do trust what he says, and I think there is good reason for that - just be wary about people misrepresenting what he says.

Edit: Before I get questions about it, I don't work in the industry anymore and have not for a while. I occasionally still talk with people that do work or are involved in it, but nothing crazy that I could be a plug for GAF with hahaha.
 
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Anchovie123

Member
Insiders are all bullshit. All they're doing is taking educated guesses based on publicly available information. Anyone on this site could be an insider.
 

Sega Orphan

Banned
For what it's worth, on the RDX podcast they mentioned that people are saying that Sony is going to acquire CD Project Red.
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
Insiders are all bullshit. All they're doing is taking educated guesses based on publicly available information. Anyone on this site could be an insider.
Im Not No Way GIF
 

Umbasaborne

Banned
These people got told one thing, said it on twitter, got a lot of attention, and have been chasing that dragon every since. A bunch of liars and phonies, desperately chasing that 15 minutes of clout
 

.Pennywise

Banned
Alright. Gonna try to start making some pic backups on this people statements.

Just came to update the Hogwards trailer rumor since it's become true. The original Tweet by accngt called a new trailer in March. He knew it was on a State of Play so he said it was going to be in the last State of Play. Resulted not being true. But now its become real (trailer announced to be featured at a new State of Play).
Unfortunately, original tweet was deleted. So it seems these guys like to remove their traces when things don't line up...
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Alright. Gonna try to start making some pic backups on this people statements.

Just came to update the Hogwards trailer rumor since it's become true. The original Tweet by accngt called a new trailer in March. He knew it was on a State of Play so he said it was going to be in the last State of Play. Resulted not being true. But now its become real.
Unfortunately, original tweet was deleted. So it seems these guys like to remove their traces when since don't line up...

It's like that guy who made the fake twitter account and posted a bunch of private tweets with speculative nintendo direct announcements and then only made the ones which turned out to be true into public.

All insiders should be taken with massive grains of salt.
 

Leyasu

Banned
Most insiders if they leak are devs. But then they are very careful and they are few and far between. They don't all have access or opportunity to creat alts on popular forums like GAF. You all remember CBOAT? Well he was just an alt of Bish who happens to be a dev.

The attention seekers on twitter are not the same. Not even close. They have don't have sources in high places at any platform holder. If they do get some info, it is because they were meant to know and the leak was "controlled"
 
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Orpheum

Member
The worst ones were by far the Bloodborne remastered/PC port and new sony exclusive FromSoft game rumors. At one point these were coming pretty much every week it seems

And we all know it's not gonna happen. Some people (me included) just really want it to happen which makes it easy to exploit.

At this point i'm not going to believe anything until it's 100% confirmed.

And in regards to FromSoft, i don't think they'll ever do an exclusive collab ever again considering how successful Elden Ring was. Their next game will be armored core and it's going to be multiplatform. Source: me
 
The worst ones were by far the Bloodborne remastered/PC port and new sony exclusive FromSoft game rumors. At one point these were coming pretty much every week it seems

And we all know it's not gonna happen. Some people (me included) just really want it to happen which makes it easy to exploit.

At this point i'm not going to believe anything until it's 100% confirmed.

And in regards to FromSoft, i don't think they'll ever do an exclusive collab ever again considering how successful Elden Ring was. Their next game will be armored core and it's going to be multiplatform. Source: me
I think if the exclusive contract is expensive enough they'll do it. After all, money talks, but I get your point. Just because Elden Ring is so successful though doesn't mean they won't accept a large sum of money for exclusivity.
 
Probably for clicks, like all other Twitter “Insiders”.

i cant stand jeff grubb but he's more reliable than those fake twitter "insiders" we all know about. he has got enough stuff right to have some credibility but he was wrong a couple of times too. i wont rule anything out until we officially know about kojimas next thing. hopefully this year. if you ask me, its possible that he has multiple projects in the works.
 
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HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
So if you believe the whispers (and this has already been put out on Twitter by other users its the only reason I am posting it) Xbox will be revealing new hardware at E3 that people are not going to see coming

And no its not the streaming stick or VR

This is scheduled to release this Holiday IF they can get it manufactured with chip shortages
 

StormCell

Member
Remember when Nintendo used to have rumors? That was back when they actually did stuff that people talked about. I miss those days...
 
So if you believe the whispers (and this has already been put out on Twitter by other users its the only reason I am posting it) Xbox will be revealing new hardware at E3 that people are not going to see coming

And no its not the streaming stick or VR

This is scheduled to release this Holiday IF they can get it manufactured with chip shortages
Like what? a even cheaper sku, pro model or like vr accessory?
 

kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
So if you believe the whispers (and this has already been put out on Twitter by other users its the only reason I am posting it) Xbox will be revealing new hardware at E3 that people are not going to see coming

And no its not the streaming stick or VR

This is scheduled to release this Holiday IF they can get it manufactured with chip shortages
Xbox Portable?

If true I can't wait to see the horrible name they come up with.

Xbox Xob X
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
So if you believe the whispers (and this has already been put out on Twitter by other users its the only reason I am posting it) Xbox will be revealing new hardware at E3 that people are not going to see coming

And no its not the streaming stick or VR

This is scheduled to release this Holiday IF they can get it manufactured with chip shortages

It's a handheld?!
 

Killer8

Member
This is a great thread idea. There needs to be way more accountability for rumors. I read so much shit on r/GamingLeaksAndRumours that just never materializes. Maybe seeing it all laid out will let people finally realize how lacking in credibility 'insiders' like Jeff Grubb are.
 

.Pennywise

Banned
New rumors, new GRAIN OF SALT™.

This week will wipe at least 3 rumors from the table and could potentially take down another 2 or 3, for a whooping 6 GRAINS OF SALTs that start to write how reliable or full of shit these people are. Enjoy the madness.
 

Zeroing

Banned
New rumors, new GRAIN OF SALT™.

This week will wipe at least 3 rumors from the table and could potentially take down another 2 or 3, for a whooping 6 GRAINS OF SALTs that start to write how reliable or full of shit these people are. Enjoy the madness.
My question is why we take stupid tweets as something that can be true?

I can do better,
Sony is in talks to buy 3 more studios.
God of war is going to be shown very soon.
Project Spartacus is not what people assuming it is. People will be surprised.
Currently they are planning a show in late July with new games/surprises.
Also not that exciting but get ready for some games artwork PS5 covers.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
What would they remaster? They already done that with Gears, Halo and State of Decay. Fallout perhaps?
I'd love a Gears of War 2 remake, a Lost Odyssey remake and an Otogi remake but yeah i agree and they would have to get 3rd party studios on board for most of them

I'd take an Alan Wake remake too but it just got a remaster
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
The only people I trust when it comes to rumors

Shinobi: He rarely leaks things anymore but he is always accurate

Jason Schreier: I think he's right 99% of the time. He posted about the TLOU Part II delay hours before it happened

Millie: She mostly gives hints but she knew about the Wolverine game before anyone and days before the showcase
 

Nickolaidas

Banned
He was the one who claimed the game would have werewolfs and vampires and nobody believed him so...
Anyway, as I said. I won't dig into past rumors.
Yeah, the sony fanboys went hard on him after he said that re8 AT SOME POINT was running like shit (which was PROVEN when the debut trailer ran at 5 frames per second at some points), despite being certain that the game would be optimized long before release.

His biggest mistake was saying that he tweeted that info out of a need to 'level the playing field' after hearing the xsx receiving a lot of flak about its performance by various sources (some legit, some ass). It was also a mistake to tweet about a game being unoptimized and running poorly as a scoop, when it's a fact for literally every game ever.

That was all the ammo they ever needed.
 

TLZ

Banned
Interesting thread and I like the idea.

Just to respond to some general comments here. People who don't think leaks actually exist from big companies... I assure you they definitely do. I worked in a part of the industry (video game industry, specifically) for a while. Though my position or company didn't deal day to day with execs or developers, at conferences I attended for the company and just through simple luck (at times) and networking, you would meet people who were willing to talk relatively openly though under the assumption of "off-the-record" type of communication. You would be... somewhat surprised at how open people could be.

I am not at all claiming anything or that I have serious "sources" anymore (or ever had many), but people that question the anonymous angle of this journalist or insider industry I don't think fully understand what goes on fully. For one, sometimes info can burn specific people. You could be a complete and utter jerk, publish their name and attach what you heard, but that is relatively morally disgusting and would put you in a definite black ball state within the industry. Chances are, many times the person wouldn't remember who you are - but obviously on the nature of leaking something, your name will be attached and remembered at that point. That runs the risk of pulling the vine all the way through the company you represent, which is also a deterrent.

I don't like "anonymous sources" and such either, but I typically dislike it most in serious matters of media. I think sometimes today anonymous sources aren't much more than a way to slander somebody without having to take blame. But the VG industry isn't really that serious, so I get why people want to keep things covered up to protect their future and also an innocent person.

The biggest "leak" I ever had knowledge of was from a very dependable employee of PS who, months prior to E3 2013 told me that Playstation was looking at ways to implement DRM and cease sharing games. They famously of course elected to reverse course on that decision, which was super wise. At the time, there were some rumors, but to hear it from this person gave me serious concern as I was not in support of sad move.

Here and there a lot of the behind-the-scenes info I was privy too was more numbers and statistics based, so it wouldn't have been particularly entertaining to the masses. More interesting than entertaining.

But yeah, here nor there - just a bit of a peak into what happens with some of that stuff. Believe me, people in the industry talk about stuff going on at times and to differing levels.

- FWIW, Colin has been mentioned in a few threads here recently. Colin is definitely relatively reliable involving Playstation (some people don't seem to know his name or background). Dude definitely has a finger in the space still HOWEVER he doesn't really make hard leak announcements and much of what gets accredited to him is misconstrued information - not to the fault of him. He also makes a lot of intelligent hunches / hypothesis based off public info and knowledge of studios, but some seem to indicate these guesses are leaks which he is usually adamant to refute and straighten up. I don't know him personally, but I do trust what he says, and I think there is good reason for that - just be wary about people misrepresenting what he says.

Edit: Before I get questions about it, I don't work in the industry anymore and have not for a while. I occasionally still talk with people that do work or are involved in it, but nothing crazy that I could be a plug for GAF with hahaha.
I agree with you. For a few years I knew someone at Konami who's way high up who'd always tell me stuff without hesitation. Matter of fact, he even enjoyed it. Sometimes I shared that info and others I didn't. People shouldn't be surprised. Those staff no matter their position are still humans, and as we know, we all like to talk and share info for various reasons.

Now I've been out of the circle for a while and have zero contact or info. Lost all interest tbh.

So if you believe the whispers (and this has already been put out on Twitter by other users its the only reason I am posting it) Xbox will be revealing new hardware at E3 that people are not going to see coming

And no its not the streaming stick or VR

This is scheduled to release this Holiday IF they can get it manufactured with chip shortages
Zoom In Washington Nationals GIF by MLB
 

ZehDon

Member
So if you believe the whispers (and this has already been put out on Twitter by other users its the only reason I am posting it) Xbox will be revealing new hardware at E3 that people are not going to see coming

And no its not the streaming stick or VR

This is scheduled to release this Holiday IF they can get it manufactured with chip shortages
Link?
 

Three

Member
So if you believe the whispers (and this has already been put out on Twitter by other users its the only reason I am posting it) Xbox will be revealing new hardware at E3 that people are not going to see coming

And no its not the streaming stick or VR

This is scheduled to release this Holiday IF they can get it manufactured with chip shortages
Handheld?
XS XX?
 
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