XCOM Game That Looks Nothing Like XCOM
Late Monday night, Kotaku released an unorthodox review of the new XCOM mobile game known as “XCOM Legends”. The original review’s headline outright called the game ‘shit’, and only a couple of hours later after the Twitter backlash, Kotaku decided to change the headline.
2K very quietly launches new XCOM game that looks like shit. https://t.co/XLe17sgnUE pic.twitter.com/S2MeOYmLcu
— Kotaku (@Kotaku) July 20, 2021
The review backed its original headline on the basis that the mobile game resembles nothing of the original XCOM brand, and lacks any of its combat style and character design.
“This isn’t a turn-based tactical shooter. There aren’t maps to explore. There’s no flanking, no base management, and everybody looks like their new Overwatch characters.” The review described the game.
Kotaku ended up trending on Twitter for what has been described as an “unprofessional” review, that doesn’t live up to Kotaku’s reputation or common journalistic standards.
This is not remotely professional. I've never been a Kotaku detractor, the site has done a lot of good games journalism over the years. There are many talented writers there. But this clickbait flaming style of headline? This is trash. pic.twitter.com/pVDFgr522J
— Jeff Hamilton (@JeffAHamilton) July 20, 2021
The headline was so bad, it grabbed the attention of industry leading journalists such as Nick Calandra, Editor in Chief of Escapist Magazine, commenting on how the review resembles the industry notorious toxicity problem as a whole.
Not gonna share the article, but Kotaku going full mask-off in contributing to the toxic discourse that surrounds gaming, while also constantly complaining about exactly that, is the same kind of grift they complain about the "YouTubers" doing.
— Nick Calandra (@nickjcal) July 20, 2021
Another hot-take from Actor/Director Stephen Ford, highlights the need for “clickbaits” and the endless chase of it gives a bad reputation to journalism, and overthrows the work of all the honest people in the industry.
Kotaku’s pension for hot take rage click articles gives games journalists, most of whom are awesome people who their asses off, a bad name.
This bullshit just leads to disproportionate scrutiny of the profession as a whole. https://t.co/1CSCZ92l7i
— Stephen Ford (@StephenSeanFord) July 20, 2021
Kotaku, later on, offered some sort of an apology publicly stating that it realizes that a soft launch of a game doesn’t necessarily reflect the end product and is common in mobile gaming space, and ended up changing the headline of the review. The headline of the review is now set to “XCOM Game That Looks Nothing Like XCOM“
It’s been said that “any press is good press”, but the tarnishing brand of a long-standing establishment may be too high of a cost. What do you think, was the original headline a deal-breaker to you? Let us know in the comments section below!