Video game giant Bethesda has been met with criticism from fans after they accused the company of faking crowd reactions during their E3 presentation on June 9.
While many were happy with the Fallout developer’s presser, some viewers were suspicious of the crowd’s reactions, and took to social media to air their distrust.
Reddit user ‘Uesugi’ posted a clip titled ‘Who clapped?’ which shows excessive noises from the crowd during one segment that seemingly doesn’t match up to the actual feedback on the video feed.
Many people weren’t convinced
“I see a lot of people near the right side of the screen clapping. I still think the whole crowd was fake and planted though, or at least picked out to sit under mics or something. People were still cheering loud as hell after the 3rd mobile game in a row was announced,” one person commented, agreeing that it seemed suspicious.
“It seems like the entire two front rows were family members or actual devs and they placed the mics there.” another user replied, “you could see the absence of movement/hype in the crowd vs the first two rows.”
Other Reddit threads seem to air the same criticisms, with user ‘BKoopa’ saying, “Paid for audience. They are cheering randomly like it is a game or that they’re getting paid per cheer.”
Even Twitter fans thought the whole thing was suspicious, with one unconvinced user tweeting, “I’m convinced this Bethesda crowd is either 80% fake or canned in for the stream. Something just seems really off. I know people LOVE Bethesda but like…c’mon.”
“Do you think gamers are fucking idiots? Cut the bullshit. We know that Orion demo was faked, and we know you’ve planted hype guys in the audience. You’re sickening to me. RIP Bethesda,” another disgruntled viewer tweeted.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
I’m convinced this bethesda crowd is either 80% fake or canned in for the stream. Something just seems really off. I know people LOVE bethesda but like…c’mon. #E3
— Matt (@AwesomeFaceProd) June 10, 2019
Do you think gamers are fucking idiots? Cut the bullshit. We know that Orion demo was faked, and we know you’ve planted hype guys in the audience. You’re sickening to me. RIP bethesda
— Enny (@EnnyishQuil) June 10, 2019
Some think the claims are ridiculous
Supporters for the company have hit back at the conspiracies though, unconvinced by the accusations. “Eh, these conspiracies sound cool, but maybe consider that the people still paying to go to this conference are die hard fans and/or people who are going to have fun and make the most of it?” Reddit user ‘Bhu124’ said.
“If I were going to E3, I’d probably choose to have fun instead of be angry, even if Bethesda deserves a lot of anger. I’d probably sarcastically cheer before I’d boo anyways.”
“You also need to take in account that there are not paid people there but sometimes the team who works for the game or Bethesda in the front row. These people when seeing the things they made either cheer or try to get the people hyped up.” another commenter replied.
It’s hard to say for sure whether Bethesda faked their crowd reactions, although the idea does seem a little bit ridiculous when you think about it.
The most likely cause of the loud crowd feedback is probably because the front few rows were dedicated to excited Bethesda employees.
