IGN, which bills itself as “the leading Internet media company focused on the video game and entertainment enthusiast markets,” fired an editor for plagiarism and unpublished the review that the editor plagiarized.

IGN isued a statement Aug. 7 saying it found “substantial similarities between a review posted weeks earlier and our review.” The IGN review, of the game Dead Cells, was written by IGN Nintendo editor Filip Miucin, according to gaming site Kotaku; IGN’s statement didn’t name him.

“Though we as a community often share feelings and even certain word choices to describe the games we love by using similar frames of understanding, this particular situation stepped over the line and is not a reflection of our editorial standards,” IGN said. “We apologize to our readers, developer Motion Twin, and most especially the YouTuber known under Boomstick Gaming for failing to uphold those standards.”

The YouTube channel Boomstick Gaming busted the plagiarism in a video providing comparisons of his review with IGN’s review, Kotaku reported. Examples listed in the YouTube video, according to Kotaku, include:

• Boomstick Gaming: “This combat system is fast, fluid, responsive, and one of the most rewarding representations of 2D combat of the entire genre.”
• IGN: “Fights are fast, fluid, responsive, and hands down one of the most gratifying representations of video game combat I’ve ever experienced”
• Boomstick Gaming: “Dead Cells only falters slightly with some repetition setting in, especially on the early areas and during longer play sessions.”
• IGN: “Dead Cells does falter slightly with some repetition but it’s only felt in its earlier areas and during extended play sessions.”
• Boomstick: “Dead Cells figures out an intriguing way to have your rogue-like and Metroidvania experience all in one by focusing on your failures and encouraging you to try something new the next time.”
• IGN: “Dead Cells strikes a perfect and engaging balance between the Metroidvania and rogue-like experiences by focusing on your failures and urging you to experiment every time you do fail.”

Boomstick Gaming also tweeted the IGN writer Miucin to say, “I wish I was cited, collaborated with, and or compensated in some way.”

No hate man but I wish I was cited, collaborated with, and or compensated in some way for the healthy views your site saw on your Dead Cells review. pic.twitter.com/rwYdPhnT6f

— Boomstick Gaming (@DeaditeAGK) August 7, 2018

IGN’s website says it “reaches more than 170 million monthly users and is followed by more than 11 million subscribers on YouTube and 31 million users on social platforms.”

Hat Tip: Gene Park