2K pours public scorn on agency who discussed 'blacklisting'

Update

Eurogamer has revealed that it has been subjected to 'blacklisting' by 2K games, as a result of issues arising from coverage of the company's products.

A tweet by Eurogamer operations director Tom Bramwell made public the fact that the site has been cut off by 2K, expressing sympathy for the fate of Redner PR for simply following what Bramwell calls 2K's "standard practice."

"I feel sorry for @TheRednerGroup today. We are blacklisted by @2KGames and it seems to be standard practice," reads the tweet.

No further details were provided on how the situation arose. Take-Two has told GamesIndustry.biz that it has no further comment on the matter.

Original Story

Publisher 2K has disengaged the services of the PR agency which tweeted about the possibility of 'blacklisting' journalists and media outlets which published bad reviews of Duke Nukem Forever, with the publisher publicly denouncing the practice.

The PR agency in question: The Redner Group, had been representing 2K in the US. Yesterday, the company posted a tweet, since deleted, stating that it was considering which reviewers had "gone too far" with their criticism of Nukem, resulting in them being taken off game mailing lists for good.

"Too many went too far with their reviews...we are reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn't based on today's venom," read the company's account, followed by, "Bad scores are fine. Venom filled reviews...that's completely different."

Today, 2K has sought to distance itself from the slip. A tweet yesterday from the official 2K account made clear that The Redner Group was no longer being retained by the publisher.

"2K Games does not endorse or condone the comments made by @TheRednerGroup and confirm they no longer represent our products," read the announcement. The company then further distanced itself from the scandal with a message to press.

"I'd like to point out that 2K Games does not endorse the comments made by Jim Redner and we can confirm that The Redner Group no longer represents our products," read a statement from 2K's Markus Wilding, senior director of global PR.

"We have always maintained a mutually-respectful working relationship with the press and do not condone his actions in any way."

Review scores for Duke Nukem Forever have been generally very low, resulting in a 49 per cent Metacritic average for the game on Xbox 360. A round up of the web's best reviews can be found in GamesIndustry.biz's Critical Consensus.