iPhone Developer Tries to Bribe, then Threaten iPhone Review Site into Covering his App

The Portable Gamer writes: "We've been lucky here at The Portable Gamer, and have not had to deal with the kind of developer I'm about to tell you about. Every single other developer or PR person, from the single person in their home to the largest company, has been professional and polite, friendly and pleasant. Which makes what happened today all the more upsetting.

I and other editors at the site received an email yesterday asking us to write about a certain entertainment app. The app is one of those "adult entertainment" apps, which really makes us wonder about the "adults" in the world. Here's a snip of the email, which began politely enough:"

[wondroushippo]

This is just an awful, awful affair. Horrible that someone thinks that this is in any way a good idea.

[Noctis Aftermath]

Some people just can't take a hint eh.

Props to you for writing about this, payed for reviews are pitiful, developers should use take that "bribery" money and invest it into their game to make it good, that way it will EARN the score and the potential sales that go with it.

Buying reviews only makes customers like myself distrust gaming sites and reviews in general, i bet if we could see just how common this is most people wouldn't even read reviews anymore.

[roblef]

This is just an unethical way to promote your games.

[starven]

This guy is a jerk. I really hope his app fails.

[bgrundman]

but it is a boob app, so you know it will do well, sadly.

[roblef]

The sad part is that you have to guess that some people have taken this money.

[bgrundman]

That is Karma for you.

[wondroushippo]

I kind of wish we knew which app they were talking about, so we would know which sites are taking dirty money and which ones aren't.

[whatthegeek]

Bribes AND threats! Now that's professional!

[cntrysigns]

this dev won't go far.

[-Mezzo-]

The developers offered them the Money to give an opinion on their IPhone App, but they never asked them to rate it according to their liking.

which is perfectly normal. I have received money and reviewed several local products and openly expressed my feelings about it, even if its good or bad.

[roblef]

I agree to a certain extent. Taking money is just a more straightforward version of being flown to plush hotels to review games under controlled conditions. If the game is reviewed, it should include some mention of the conditions under which it was reviewed, whether it's a free copy of the game or $500. But once the site said, no thanks, the dev should have just wished them luck and gone elsewhere. It's the behavior after that that rankles.