The Federal Trade Commission requires that I disclose any relationship I have between a game developer or service provider when I write about a game or service.
Here are the guidelines I operate under at OfficialStrategyGuide.com:
I rarely am paid to do a review. In almost all cases, I never accept money to review a product or service. I invest my own time to review and test games. I absorb the entire cost to tape and post-produce all videos I tape about games. If I am ever paid to do a review, it will be clearly annotated at the end of the review.
I don’t pay for the games I test. They are sent to me by the developers. Rarely, do I request a game. In almost all cases, the developer approaches me first via a press release, or email. If I feel it’s a game you might get benefit from, then I request they send it (or a download license) to me.
I don’t return the games after I test them. In certain cases, the license key or serial number is deleted or destroyed. I don’t have the staff or the resources to process the return of the games.
If I create a link to a game in a review, sometimes I may get paid a commission if you purchase the game or service. I’ll disclose that in the review. If you don’t see that disclosure, that means I’m not getting paid any commission.
If you click a link from one of my columns or newsletters and it delivers you to a website selling that product (e.g. Amazon.com, Gamefly.com etc.), I get a small commission from that website should you buy something.
These are good rules and practices in today’s digital world. It’s important for you as a consumer to understand the relationship between a person reviewing the game and the developer or service provider. If you don’t see a disclosure policy as part of a review of a game, that reviewer may be violating the law or at the very least the Code of Ethics.
Phil Harris
Founder – OfficialStrategyGuide.com