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His “There are gamers at the gate, but they may already be dead” article is considered to be part of the “Gamers are dead” media blitz, despite having been published a few days after the first blitz.
Covered Axiom Verge on two occasions without disclosing that the game’s creator Tom Happ had backed the Kickstarter campaign for his webseries Sup, Holmes? for an undisclosed amount. Disclosure was likewise not included in the video interview embedded in the first article. Stated the Kickstarter money didn’t go through him when asked about the Kickstarter previously, and reiterated it when informed about this specific instance, stating he wasn’t aware. Co-creator of Sup, Holmes? Conrad Zimmerman also previously covered Axiom Verge, but added disclosure to his coverage as soon as he and Holmes were informed.
Wrote two times about Til Morning Light without disclosing that the game’s creator Adam Tierney had backed the Kickstarter campaign for his webseries Sup, Holmes? for an undisclosed amount — apparently over 50 dollars. States the Kickstarter money didn’t go through him.
Wrote about #Fortune without disclosing that the game’s creator Zach Gage had backed the Kickstarter campaign for his webseries Sup, Holmes? for an undisclosed amount. States the Kickstarter money didn’t go through him.
Wrote about the Boston Festival of Indie Games and its organizer Dan Silvers without disclosing that Slivers had financially supported the Kickstarter campaign for his webseries Sup, Holmes? for an undisclosed amount. States the Kickstarter money didn’t go through him.
Wrote about the game Neverending Nightmares without disclosing that it was a sponsor for Kickstarter campaign for his webseries Sup, Holmes? for an amount of 120 dollars, as proven by the sponsored logos appearing on episode 117, awarded to highest tier Kickstarter backers. States the Kickstarter money didn’t go through him.
Wrote about the Fangamer company without disclosing that they had financially supported the Kickstarter campaign for his webseries Sup, Holmes? for an amount of 120 dollars, as proven by the sponsored logos appearing on episode 113, awarded to highest tier Kickstarter backers. Holmes states the Kickstarter money didn’t go through him. The article also mentions the work of Ashley Davis, who worked at Destructoid with Holmes, and Jake “Virt” Kaufman, who composed the “Sup, Holmes?” intro song.
Wrote about the game I’ve Got To Run! without disclosing that the one-woman company creating it, 4 Corner Games, had financially supported the Kickstarter campaign for his webseries Sup, Holmes? for an amount of 120 dollars. States the Kickstarter money didn’t go through him.
Reviewed Xeodrifter without disclosing that the game’s creator Jools Watsham had backed the Kickstarter campaign for his webseries Sup, Holmes? for an undisclosed amount — apparently over 60 dollars. States the Kickstarter money didn’t go through him. Destructoid added disclosure after DeepFreeze’s filing, apparently without Holmes’ knowledge.
Gave positive coverage to Zoe Quinn without disclosing their friendship. Has discussed this relationship both facetously and seriously after it was filed on DeepFreeze.
Has stated he was not aware of the identity of his Kickstarter's backers he gave coverage to, but he discussed the rewards with several subjects before his articles. This includes Adam Tierney, six months before the coverage, Danny Silvers, five months before, and Syrenne McNulty, just two weeks before.
Wrote about the copyright claim takedown of River City Ransom: Underground. The article mostly consisted of the statements of said game’s composer Alex Mauer — who filed the claim over an alleged lack of payment — and concluded with heavy criticism against the “sadistic feeding frenzy” against Mauer, led by “ambulance chasing, opportunistic video game pundits demonizing her in long winded, fruitless Youtube rants”. As likely pointed out in the heavily censored and soon-disabled comment section, the article omits a lot of key information in a very long controversy— Mauer not only filed multiple unfounded copyright claims towards games they scored, sent spurious takedown requests (an act of perjury) to several dozen of Youtube and Twitch videos featuring these games and sent multiple documented death threats, but also changed their story multiple times and explicitly stated their actions were malicious. Mauer’s claims were called fraudolent by both Youtube and Steam, and during this controversy Mauer was served with a restraining order and even involuntarily committed for psychiatric evaluation. Before the article, the controversy had already been covered by extremely large Youtube channels, and apparently Holmes had been explicitly informed of the death threats issued by Mauer by one of the recipients. Following the backlash, Destructoid moved the article to its blog section, with Holmes adding a through update apologizing for the article, with apologies also being issued on his personal Twitter.
Dishonesty and Sensationalism emblems may be based on subjective criteria.
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