Yeah, the whole "this content is being produced by a completely separate team than the editorial staff" doesn't make much of a difference when this "completely separate content" is being placed shoulder to shoulder with editorial content on the website and, as you said, is promoted as "Most Popular" alongside much more frequented content.
I can see it from their side too though. How are they supposed to place this content fairly? Should this content only be displayed in a completely separate section of the website? Should it only occupy the same space regular advertising goes even though it's a Gamespot production? It's easy to point out what feels sleazy. It's hard to define what fair and honest looks like.
Because GameSpot's coverage of No Man's Sky is purely out of true interest and a desire to deliver that interesting information to readers/viewers. This series on the other hand is actually paid for. Activision is handing an undisclosed amount of cash to GameSpot for them to produce this video content.
Oh. So this is post-apocalypse. The Shaun McInnis article gave me the impression that it was just a dude that crash landed in the wilderness far away from civilization.
It's funny that the Xenonauts quick start guide actually mentions X-Com, making no attempt to hide the fact that this is a straight up clone of an old game they don't have the rights to.
SaturatedButter's comments