Editorial Policy

This policy describes how GAME6 actually works. It is deliberately written as a description rather than an aspiration — where a practice is not yet in place, this page says so instead of claiming a standard we do not meet. If our process changes, this page changes with it.

Editorial mission

GAME6 covers major game releases with an emphasis on launch information: release dates, countdowns, platforms, editions and the practical questions readers have in the weeks before and after a game arrives. The publication exists to reduce confusion during a period when confusion is abundant and profitable.

Our central editorial commitment is that a reader should always be able to tell how confident to be in what they are reading. That is more important to us than being first to publish.

Accuracy standards

Factual claims about release dates, platforms, editions and features are checked against the primary source before publication. Where we cannot establish something to that standard, we either do not publish it or we publish it with an explicit label describing its status.

We do not publish invented statistics, fabricated quotes, or numbers presented with a precision the underlying evidence does not support. Where an estimate is genuinely an estimate — map sizes derived from footage, for example — it is described as one.

Source selection

Sources are ranked, and the ranking determines how a claim is labelled.

• Primary. Direct communications from the developer or publisher: official announcements, press materials, storefront listings operated by the publisher, and statements from named company representatives.
• Secondary. Reporting by established outlets that describe their own sourcing. Useful, frequently accurate, but not the same as an announcement — and labelled accordingly.
• Tertiary. Aggregators, community posts, forum threads and social media claims. These may be worth noting when they are widely discussed, but they are labelled as unconfirmed or rumor and never presented as fact.

Where an article reports on external material, the sources are listed at the foot of the piece with links to the originals, so you can check our reading against the source yourself.

Official announcements

Only information originating from the publisher or developer is labelled Official. That label is applied deliberately by an editor, never automatically and never by default. A retailer listing, an automatically generated storefront date or a placeholder in a preorder system is not an announcement, and we do not report it as one.

Rumors and leaks

We cover rumors when they are widely circulated enough that readers are actively asking about them, and we cover them by explaining what is claimed, where the claim came from, and why it should or should not be taken seriously. We do not launder a rumor into a fact by reporting that other outlets are reporting it.

Leaked material presents an additional problem beyond verification: it is frequently taken from unfinished builds and internal documents that do not reflect the shipping product. We therefore treat leaked details as poor evidence about the final game even when their authenticity is not in dispute.

Anonymous sources

GAME6 does not currently run reporting based on its own anonymous sources. If that changes, this section will be updated to describe the verification standard applied. When we report on another outlet’s anonymously-sourced story, we attribute it to that outlet and label it as a report rather than as confirmation.

Confidence labels

Every article carries a status label, and individual claims within articles carry their own where the article mixes confidence levels. The labels mean exactly what they say:

• Official — from a publisher or developer communication.
• Confirmed — publicly established beyond reasonable dispute.
• Expected — a reasonable inference from available evidence, not a fact.
• Unconfirmed — reported or discussed, not verified.
• Rumor — an unverified claim, published with that caveat foremost.
• Opinion — editorial argument and analysis, not reporting.
• Updated — revised after publication with newer information.

Labels are never communicated by colour alone: each carries its own wording and icon so the meaning survives for readers who cannot distinguish the colours.

Opinion content

Opinion pieces are labelled Opinion and are written to be recognisable as argument. They may draw conclusions that reporting cannot, but they are still bound by the accuracy standards above: an opinion may be contestable, the facts it rests on may not be.

Reviews

GAME6 does not currently publish scored game reviews. If review coverage is added, this policy will be updated first to describe how review copies are obtained, whether they were supplied by a publisher, how much of a game was played, and what any score means. We do not publish review or rating structured data for content that does not exist.

Article updates

Launch coverage ages quickly, so articles are revised as information changes. Every article carries a publication date, and an update date appears when the content has genuinely been revised — not merely because a file was touched. We do not refresh dates to manufacture the appearance of freshness.

Substantive changes — a new release date, a reversed conclusion, a platform confirmation — are noted on the article itself so a reader who saw the earlier version can see what moved.

Corrections

Errors are corrected promptly and visibly. Corrections appear on the article rather than being quietly absorbed into the text, and they state what was wrong rather than merely that something changed. The full process, including how to report an error and how different severities are handled, is documented in the corrections policy.

Conflicts of interest

Anyone contributing to GAME6 is expected to disclose any financial or personal interest in a company, product or platform they are covering. Where a conflict cannot be avoided, it is disclosed on the article. We do not accept gifts, hospitality or hardware in exchange for coverage or for favourable conclusions.

Affiliate independence

Some articles contain affiliate links, and GAME6 may earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to the reader. Those relationships do not influence editorial conclusions: a product does not get recommended because it carries a commission, and a product is not excluded because it does not. Affiliate content is disclosed on the article and in the affiliate disclosure.

Commercial and editorial decisions are kept separate in practice as well as in principle — advertisers and affiliate partners have no advance sight of, or input into, editorial coverage.

Sponsored content

Any sponsored placement is labelled as sponsored, clearly and prominently, and is visually distinct from editorial coverage. Sponsors do not receive editorial approval rights over surrounding coverage. GAME6 does not sell links inside editorial articles and does not publish paid “guest posts” whose purpose is to pass link equity.

AI-assisted workflows

GAME6 may use software assistance — including AI tools — in research, drafting, summarisation or production. Where such tools are used, the resulting material is subject to editorial review before publication, and responsibility for accuracy rests with the publication rather than with any tool.

We do not publish material generated without review, and we do not use AI tools to fabricate quotes, sources, statistics or first-hand experience. If our workflow changes materially, this section will be updated to describe it accurately.

Image and media use

GAME6 uses original artwork produced for the site. We do not publish publisher screenshots, key art, character artwork or promotional assets without permission, and we do not use images we cannot license or justify. Where a third-party image is used with permission or under licence, it is credited.

Embedded video is limited to official material hosted on the publisher’s own channels, embedded in a privacy-preserving mode and never set to autoplay.

Embargoes

Where GAME6 agrees to an embargo, that agreement is honoured. We will not accept an embargo whose conditions require favourable coverage, restrict criticism, or grant approval rights over what we publish. Information that reaches us outside an embargo agreement is not bound by it, but is still subject to the verification standards above.

Plagiarism and attribution

Passing off another publication’s work as our own is grounds for removal of the material and correction of the record. Where we build on reporting done elsewhere, we say so, link to the original, and add something rather than simply restating it. Direct quotations are attributed and kept to the minimum needed to make the point.

Reader feedback

Reader corrections are one of the most effective quality controls a small publication has, and we treat them that way. If you believe something on GAME6 is wrong, unclear or missing important context, get in touch — a specific pointer to the problem is far more useful than a general complaint.

Coverage published under this policy is listed in the GTA 6 archive, and articles are attributed to the GAME6 Editorial Team.