A recent advertisement for Ubisoft’s upcoming The Division suggests that a gaming website declared it to be better than Destiny. Problem is, the website never actually said that.


The Division, which comes out next week, has drawn all sorts of comparisons to Bungie’s Destiny thanks to their shared genre; both games are online-only RPG-shooter hybrids that will undoubtedly vie for the same audiences in the months and years to come. Perhaps unable to resist themselves, Ubisoft’s marketers wrote in a recent advertisement (h/t NeoGAF) that The Division “blows Destiny out of the water,” according to the website GameZone. Impressive declaration, right? Right. Until you see the actual article:


GameZone wasn’t referring to the quality of either game, nor were they declaring that The Division had outsold Destiny (which would have been difficult, as The Division isn’t out yet). The article, written by Tatiana Morris, is actually about how The Division’s beta had more players than Destiny’s. The Division had 6.4 million; Destiny had 4.6 million. That’s the context.

It’s yet another example of how big companies skew quotes to advertise their games—or other forms of entertainment—in a disingenuous, actively misleading way.

“[Ubisoft] did ask for permission to use the quote; however, they didn’t specify in what way or form it would be used,” GameZone’s Morris told me in an e-mail this morning. “I think in the future, in an effort to be more transparent with gamers and our audience, I will ask how the quote will be used and where it will be placed.”

Oh, and in case you’re wondering about that IGN quote, “Best New Franchise”? It’s from their E3 2013 awards. IGN thought it was the best new franchise revealed at E3 that year.


You can reach the author of this post at jason@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @jasonschreier.