This page contains IGN's Standards and Practices regarding NDAs and Embargoes, Reviews, IGN First and other topics.

NDAs and Embargoes

IGN aims to provide you with content that's timely, comprehensive, and reliable. In order to do that prior to the public release of the game, movie, technology, or other entertainment we're covering, we often have to agree to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and embargoes with the creators of the projects and products we cover. It's a very common practice that allows us to have better content prepped in advance of a game or movie's announcement or release. While we push back when the timing of these embargoes doesn't serve our audience and staff, we never alter our opinion or the tone of a given piece of content as leverage. In other words, we wouldn't alter our opinion of a product just to negotiate for an earlier embargo or exclusive.

As the industries we cover continue to be more important around the world, embargoes have sometimes been placed after a product's release. IGN does not agree to embargoes that lift after the property we're covering is legally available. For example, if a movie comes out on Tuesday in the UK, we should be free to post our review on Tuesday. If a game has a midnight launch in New York, we should be free to publish our review at midnight Eastern Time.

TLDR: We agree to embargoes, but not when they lift after the things we're covering are legally available. Whether we like something or not is never part of the embargo decision.

Reviews

The details of review production, including who we assign to review a game, movie, TV show, or other product, the timing of the review, and the scope of its production and promotion, are handled entirely by our editorial team. Scores and overall editorial opinion are determined by the reviewer and the Reviews Editor or supervising editor. No consideration is made for advertising, exclusive access, or the future goodwill of the publishers whose projects we cover. Sponsorship details are not disclosed to the reviews teams.

TLDR: IGN's opinions are not for sale. They are managed entirely by the editorial teams and the review opinion is separate from publisher relations.

• Click here for more on IGN's review practices.

IGN First

The selection, production, and promotion of IGN First, our month-long preview format, is driven entirely by the editorial team. We decide which titles are eligible for IGN First by considering the importance of the game to IGN's audience and the availability of the assets needed for our content plan. Neither IGN's sales team nor advertisers have any role in what titles we pick, the content we make, or how we promote it. Though it's reasonable to expect that we're choosing titles we're excited about, there's no guarantee with the publisher or studio that our content will be exclusively positive.

TLDR: IGN First is an editorial project that is scheduled and produced without regard to sponsorship. Editorial's choice of title is not for sale.

Sponsorships

IGN's editorial and sales teams work independently of one another. The Integrated Marketing team is the intermediary between the editorial and sales teams. Except for the Publisher, the Editor-in-Chief, and senior editorial liaisons who do not review products, no member of the editorial team is ever aware of the details of a sponsorship or advertising, including amount spent, the type of advertisement, or even the identity of the sponsor. Our reviewers, news writers, and editors see the ads when they go up on the site, same as our readers. Special exceptions are sometimes made for staff who have to prep sets or have access to sets that contain branded elements or for those who participate in product giveaways, which we see as a service to our readers.

TLDR: IGN's editorial and sales team are entirely separate and advertising does not affect editorial priorities.

• Click here for more on IGN's sponsorship practices.

IGN Deals

While there are some clearly marked sponsored sections in our deals newsletter and on the IGN.com hub page, everything you see in our daily deals articles and our round-ups are hand-picked by our Deals Team based on the quality and value of the product.

We see the deals we feature on IGN as a service to you, our readers, to alert you to the best online prices. But we want you to know that if you go to Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, or another retailer through one of our links and make a purchase, we earn a commission on that sale. That’s the long and short of it: if you buy through a link you clicked on IGN, we make a little bit of money. If you find a great deal on IGN and decide to buy the item, thanks! If not, no worries. Keep on enjoying IGN’s content and keep looking for bargains in the future.

TLDR: We want to help you find the best prices on the products you're interested in, but nobody pays us to feature certain products in our editorially-picked deals features.

• Click here for more on IGN Deals Standards and Practices.

Travel, Meals, and Gifts

To gather content from and develop professional relationships with the people and companies who produce entertainment content, IGN staff often travel to events and meetings. We have a budget that pays for much of the travel and meals, but, at the discretion of the editorial managers, we may accept travel and meals paid for by the companies we're working with as long as those arrangements are relevant to the content we need to cover. This flexibility allows IGN to attend more events and deliver more coverage throughout the year, such as hands-on time with games, movie premieres and studio visits. IGN reimburses staff who pay out of pocket for any business-related travel expenses, including picking up the check when we meet with publishers.

In the case of review events, we do not accept travel or accommodation. If we have to attend a review event, IGN pays for the appropriate critic to cover said event.

No one on the IGN content team is permitted to accept any personal gift from a publisher, developer, or PR agency in excess of $60, the cost of an average game. Gifts over $60 are the property of IGN and editorial management determines whether those gifts remain in-house for production needs or are given away as community prizes. At no point can an IGN employee accept cash or its equivalent from the companies we do business with. At the discretion of the supervising editor, editors can accept in-game currency relevant to features or reviews we're producing.

TLDR: We often pay for our own travel but not exclusively, and we do not allow content staff to accept any gift that costs more than the average game.

Library Policy

At IGN we maintain copies of games and movies we use for production. If there's no immediate production need, staff are allowed to check out those products for use outside of the office. Extra copies and codes may be distributed to members of the content team at the discretion of the Reviews Editor, Entertainment Editor, and the Editor-in-Chief. Priority is given to content creators. In other words, as long as we have two copies of each product in the library, editorial management may allow an individual reviewer or wiki editor to keep an additional copy for their personal use. Such copies are not allowed to be traded or sold. Additional copies may be donated or used for giveaways.

IGN staff may accept complimentary accounts and in-game funds that are necessary for testing game features. We would, for example, allow developers to waive subscription fees for MMOs, PSN, or XBLA and to provide our staff with in-game currency to purchase content relevant to our coverage. IGN will provide any other funds needed to pay for content required to produce a review or other features.

IGN reviewers evaluate games independently of these factors.

TLDR: IGN owns the products our team covers. Exceptions may be made by IGN managers to allow content staff to keep as personal property certain games, movies, or other products.

Crowd Funding

Like you, we're passionate about the subjects we write about, and we frequently pre-order games, movies, and comic books that IGN is likely to cover. Some members of the team also contribute to crowd-funding efforts for properties or personalities they'd like to support. To guard against those investments influencing an editor's coverage, staffers must immediately disclose to their managers when they donate more to a project than it would cost to purchase the product when or if it becomes available (eg. the cost of a pre-order). In those cases, that editor will either be taken off of any coverage IGN chooses to do, or that investment will be disclosed as part of whatever coverage we do. Unless an editor might benefit financially from an investment, we don't require disclosures for micro-transactions. Editors who choose to purchase Minecraft skins or Hearthstone packs, for example, are not required to disclose that.

TLDR: Editors can pre-order games, buy DLC, and fund projects-in-development but must tell their managers if they invest more than the average consumer would pay to buy a product.

Relationships

IGN's been around a long time, and some of the people who used to work here now work at companies that make the products we cover. Conversely, some people who work here currently, used to work at those same companies. Coverage assignments are managed so that we can avoid any possible conflict of interest. If we feel it's necessary to cover a game or movie made by a former employee, that coverage will be handled by a freelancer or staffer who had no close personal relationship with the former employee. Current employees are also restricted from covering products they used to work on before they came to IGN.

If someone at IGN develops a relationship with an industry contact that extends beyond a professional friendship, he or she must disclose that to the editorial managers, who will determine whether or not that employee should be permitted to cover their friend's projects. If we determine that employee can still cover the project fairly, that personal relationship will be disclosed to our users.

TLDR: IGN employees disclose potentially compromising personal relationships to their managers.

Plagiarism

We create lots of content and are very sensitive to our rights as well as the rights of other content creators. If we rely on information or entertainment provided by others to produce our own content, we credit the original creator clearly in the article or video. We also offer attribution for studies or other research that we use to make our own content. If any errors are made, we will take appropriate action and make the proper corrections immediately.

Since IGN has robust community publishing tools, it's possible that protected content will appear in the community-focused parts of the site. If you see content that has been inappropriately published or sourced in our community section, please alert the community team who will investigate and determine what action to take.

TLDR: We source material we use to create content and if our community isn't doing the same, we step in to correct it.

Licensees

The core IGN business operates the US, UK, and Australian offices directly. We also have a number of licensees we partner with around the world. These partnerships are formed with reputable media outlets, which publish a local language version of IGN. These international offices and parent companies have their own ethical standards. IGN's international publishing division works to ensure ethical standards are maintained in each licensee territory.

You can view a list of all IGN licensees at world.ign.com.

TLDR: IGN is represented in multiple countries by licensees who adhere to the standards of the owned & operated offices.

Non-IGN Content

Some IGN content creators produce and promote content outside of IGN on their own personal blogs, Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, YouTube channels, etc. The opinions shared there are not necessarily those of IGN.

TLDR: IGN employees can use the internet even when they're not at work.

Have a question or comment? Contact the IGN staff here.