Black Ops 2 journalist blacklist a ‘misunderstanding’, claims Activision

If you haven't been keeping up with the latest Activision, GameBlog, and Black Ops 2 news, let me catch you up.

It was all a misunderstanding.

At least that's what Activision is saying in response to a fallout with French website GameBlog after the site reported leaks of Amazon posting a Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 product page.

The story goes like this: Amazon France leaked (as if we didn't already know this was what they were going to do) a product page for Black Ops 2 – Activision's rumored 2012 Call of Duty title.  Instead of taking it up with Amazon, Activision targeted GameBlog, the gaming website that reported on the leak.  But unlike Amazon, who pulled the product page, GameBlog refused to take down the original news story.  After refusing multiple requests from Activision, the company decided to "blacklist" the site from all things Activision – including pulling future planned advertising, cancelling the site's preview events, and refusing to send early copies of games.

Activision has since issued a brief statement in response to the negative publicity.

"Activision doesn't blacklist journalists," a PR rep said.  "We believe this was a misunderstanding and are working towards a resolution."

GameBlog editor Grégory Szriftgiser did say, in an interview with Kotaku, that Activision were "professional" throughout the entire process despite the media frenzy that ensued shortly after the Black Ops 2 leak.  Other sites were reportedly contacted by Activision as well, but some did agree to take down the news piece.  Others claim they were blacklisted as well.

We'll never know the true story of what happened.  Blacklisting is a tactic may media outlets claim publishers and PR tend to use when sites don't follow along, but it's a difficult thing to prove.