IGN writer fired after blatant plagiarism incident

Lend me your ear and I will spin you a tale about a small YouTube Channel vs IGN.

Prominent Video Game website IGN has dismissed a writer and pulled both written and video reviews of Dead Cells amid allegations of plagiarism due to its similarity to an existing YouTube review of the game. YouTube channel Boomstick Gaming uploaded a review of Dead Cells on July 24th prior to IGN’s Nintendo editor Filip Miucin’s review of the game.

Noticing the striking resemblance between the two, Boomstick Gaming took to YouTube to compare the two reviews and explain his case. So what happens when a small YouTube channel with 14k followers averaging 5,000 views each takes on IGN with 10+ millions followers? Well, 1 viral video later and with support from gamers all over the world, Boomstick Gaming contacted IGN and accused them of plagiarism.

To their credit, soon after the controversy arose the review was removed and replaced with the following preliminary statement :

“As a group of writers and creators who value our own work and that of others in our field, the editorial staff of IGN takes plagiarism very seriously. In light of concerns that have been raised about our Dead Cells review, we’ve removed it for the time being and are investigating”

However, it only took a few hours for their “investigation” to be complete resulting in the review being permanently removed to be re-done and the writer in question will no longer be writing for IGN. Check out their statement below.

IGN’s Statement on the Dead Cells review investigation: pic.twitter.com/3hh0hpPK0Y

— IGN (@IGN) August 7, 2018

This is an interesting situation to watch unfold for a couple of reasons. IGN has a huge presence, Boomstick Gaming likely would not have had the resources to take a legal route. Given the incredible amount of content available online, it would be nigh on impossible to check submissions for plagiarism before uploading. They probably could have chosen to fight against the allegation or simply refused to acknowledge it.

It would also have been easier for Boomstick Gaming to let this one slide. I wonder how many other smaller channels may have had their work remixed by a larger website and figured there was no point in standing up for themselves? I think the moral of the story here is to back your content and if you see it blatantly stolen, bring it to their attention.

Congratulations Boomstick Gaming! To read our own (non-plagiarised) thoughts on the incredible game, head here.