With the latest election in the US now over and done with, a strange phenomenon has sprung up where news articles would become quite popular based on nothing more than conjecture. This has become one of the things the majority have tried to take on, but unfortunately, that task will be quite the undertaking with it being quite pervasive. Thanks to social media, trying to discredit news stories that are obviously untrue is quite impossible thanks to people’s biases controlling what they share. The internet has had a problem with people forming their own filter bubbles and since then, these things have become a serious problem, causing quite the damage to both the person in the bubble and those outside of it.
However, news talking about Pizza Gates isn’t the only problem. Gaming has suffered from the fake news problem as well, with it becoming quite prevalent in recent years. The latest of this being the story that the upcoming Xbox One ‘Project Scorpio’ has been downgraded to 5Tflops by Microsoft. This, funny enough, was based on nothing more than Phil Spencer—the current head of Xbox—saying that teraflops weren’t the best metric to point to a product’s power. Since then people certain self-proclaimed ‘PlayStation insiders’ have stated they have secret documents and other information which points to a downgrade. All of this is a complete fabrication.
We’re all aware that consoles would outperform any similar PC when it comes to graphic fidelity thanks to developers optimizing more on console hardware, so Phil’s comment makes sense, but these so-called journalists couldn’t help themselves but to formulate a fake story and then pass it off as true, and when confronted they would state that this could be true since the product wasn’t finalized. How convenient.
This fake story then got picked up by bigger sites and YouTube personalities and became the proverbial truth. Phil Spencer was then hounded over this because this was disturbing even though it had no bearing in reality. Phil has since then discredited the rumor saying that nothing changed since the announcement.
But this isn’t something new. Previously, Phil Spencer was targeted again by these ‘fake news outlets’ claiming that he was moving to sell off or shut down the Xbox division. This story rears its head every six months or so, the latest being when Microsoft announced the Xbox One S. Funny enough, Phil dispelled this rumor stating that it didn’t make sense for them to launch two new products in a division that he would shut down in a year. More rumors were spread of Microsoft moving to shut down Xbox and moving to all-PC gaming because they’ve since then moved to launch their exclusive IP on Xbox and Windows 10. Again, Phil Spencer had to dispel these rumors.
This problem isn’t one sided as well. PlayStation usually gets bombarded with stories overplaying its advantages. Recently, right before the PlayStation Pro launched, the media started spreading false rumors that the console was being ‘upgraded’ to outperform the Project Scorpio which was just announced at that time thanks to these so called ‘news sites’ and their ‘insiders’. This became quite clear that it was false by the time Mark Cerny stood on the stage trying to explain what checkerboard upscaling was. This becomes a problem for Sony when they cannot match the overhyped reality these outlets build for them, and their products fail in the market thanks to that. The recent launch of PlayStation VR and the PlayStation 4 Pro is evidence of that. Had there been not so much unnecessary hype perpetuated by fake rumors, no sales firm would downgrade their estimates by the millions.
This ties into with gamers and so-called journalists who call themselves ‘neutral’ in gaming. They usually thrive on spreading fake news stories to try and make themselves appear more relevant, and whenever anyone tries to point this out they’re targeted and branded a liar or in my case a ‘victim complex extremist’. Recently I wrote an editorial about this problem in gaming, and the response was overwhelming.
This has had an adverse impact on gaming since products and services have a tough time matching what gamers expect from the said product or service thanks to fake news. Game sales have been affected, with some games getting undeserved praise, and others being flooded with so-called ‘hate campaigns’ to make sure they fail in the market. Recently No Man’s Sky was doomed by these outlets thanks to them overplaying the scope of the game based on overblown comments by the creator. These outlets also failed to ask the creator the right questions, instead diverting attention away from apparent flaws. This becomes a problem when gamers are duped into buying products the reviewers and journalists covering it know full well and choose not to make them known. When the product then fails, they hide behind the fact that it was mere ‘opinion’, not fact.
The problem isn’t that journalism has become an outdated notion thanks to more and more independent outlets bringing the fresh perspective to a dying profession, that is good for the industry if more and more variety springs forth. It’s that these so called ‘new age journalists’ are thriving on fake news. ‘Mainstream’ journalism, in general, has this same issue, with a story being written in such a way to cause enough controversy to ignite the right kind of reaction out of the reader so they would share it, and then spreading like a wildfire. False opinions can linger for years thanks to this and could make and break both big and small companies. Just ask how many gamers still believe you cannot share Xbox One games.
On top of this, even completely truthful stories will be attacked by the media and gamers as false because it does not fit their filter bubble narrative. A Recent example of this was the story about how Microsoft was barely edged out of the win by PlayStation, and that PlayStation VR didn’t have a huge success sales-wise in the US. The source being verified and the outlet being of high regard didn’t matter much to the group that it negatively impacted.
We as gamers and sites like ours have to work extra hard to make sure that what is being spread by the people with ulterior motives behind these so-called ‘news’ stays on the fringes of the internet. It’s annoying and we hate doing it but enough is enough. This can’t go on. And to top it off, these articles are spread and passed off as truth by the very people who pretend that they do not have any goal in the ‘console war’ they keep talking about. I would be the first to admit that I have strong opinions on Xbox and PlayStation, but I would never formulate a false rumor and then pass it off as true, especially without any proof whatsoever. These people are quoting Chinese manufacturers when the Xbox Scorpio isn’t even being produced in any factory as of yet. Come on! Where’s the proof? Hilariously irrelevant commentary in relation to what they’re trying to achieve isn’t proof.
But in the end, we need to be aware of rumors and those who spread them. Because they cause more harm than good. It seems like Xbox is always the target of these vicious rumors. If these rumors were marked as opinions instead, one would agree and know that it was based on nothing more than opinion. We as gamers should expect more, and hold these people accountable when it comes to them constantly spreading lies about Xbox.
Dreyer was a regular ICXM contributor between 2016–2017, publishing 139 articles across opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative. They post on X as @dreyer_smit.