[UPDATE] IGN fires writer over plagiarized Dead Cells review

UPDATE #1: IGN has fired Nintendo editor Filip Miucin over the plagiarism allegations and released a statement saying they’re going to do an entirely new review. You can read it below.

UPDATE #2: It has now come to light that Filip Miucin has done this before. Last year, he posted a review for FIFA 18 for Nintendo Switch on his personal YouTube channel which is strikingly similar to one written by NintendoLife. You can read two examples courtesy of Kotaku.

NintendoLife (September 29th, 2017):

“However, because it’s not running on the Frostbite engine, FIFA 18 on Switch doesn’t play exactly like the other current-gen versions. The pace is slightly faster and player animations and physics aren’t quite as fluid, lending the game an ever-so-slightly more arcade feel (but not to any major degree).”

Filip Miucin (October 1st, 2017):

“Only this time, it’s running on a custom engine that EA designed specifically for Switch, which means that it doesn’t play exactly like the Xbox One and PS4 editions of the game do. The animations and physics are definitely not as fluid and the pacing feels slightly faster, ultimately leaving the game feeling a little less realistic and slightly more arcadey.”

NintendoLife:

“It actually works well; as long as you aren’t a stickler for intricate animation detail, you’re going to have fun here. It runs smoother than a greased-up jazz musician too, with a full 60 frames per second in both docked and handheld mode making for a silky performance and the general feel that you’re playing a high quality product. Although its (slightly less silky-smooth) cutscenes and other close-up moments reveal that the character models are a good deal less detailed than their Xbox One and PS4 counterparts, squint a bit during normal gameplay and you’d genuinely struggle to tell the difference.”

Filip Miucin:

“But when you’re playing the game, it actually works really well, and it’s easy to look past the graphical setbacks. Because whether you’re playing docked or undocked, the game seems to run at a consistent 60 frames per second, which looks silky smooth and really leaves you feeling like you’re having a true triple-A home console experience but on a console you can take with you on the go. However, when you get up close and get a good look at some of the character models, it’s pretty clear they do have a good amount of less detail than the Xbox One and PS4 versions do, but any imperfections are pretty much unnoticeable during gameplay.”

The original story from this morning can be found below:

While writing about video games is a very fun and chill job, a majority of us from GameZone to bigger sites like IGN take it pretty seriously on some level. We try to remain professional with everyone, have ethics when it comes to reporting on and reviewing games, and much more.

Sometimes, there are outliers who get exposed for making massive flubs with their job. That could be the case for IGN writer Filip Miucin who is under fire for allegedly plagiarising a review of the new smash hit indie game, Dead Cells. The Metroidvania game on platforms like Nintendo Switch is getting praised by numerous outlets for its incredible gameplay and art style which has allowed it to get 8s and even 9s from critics.

IGN gave it an outstanding 9.7/10 but that was before it came out that he appears to have copied smalltime YouTuber Boomstick Gaming review of the same game. Now, you might say that sometimes people have similar thoughts and ideas but… the evidence is pretty damning. You can view a comparison video from Boomstick Gaming below where he plays his review and IGN’s side-by-side and the wording is incredibly similar.

Furthering his concern and upset, Boomstick Gaming wrote a paragraph discussing the matter and consequences of the issue at hand in the video description. “I published my Dead Cells review last week and today IGN put out their written and video reviews today. It’s kind of flattering but the gentlemen doing the review 100% had my video up on his computer while he was “writing” his review for Dead Cells and copied from a lot of my script. The entire structure of my video is copied and many sentences are almost identical with High School levels of “word changing” to attempt to counter plagiarism. What does one even do about this and does this devalue his review or does his score still count?”

At this time, it’s nothing but allegations so we’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions and opinions. IGN has since pulled the review of the game and made a note on the page about the situation where they say they’re investigating the matter.

“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.”

We’ll continue to keep you updated as the story develops.