Editorial Ethics and Guidelines
Conduct
We do not accept travel or accommodations (e.g., flights, hotel rooms, rental cars) from any producer of products that we cover. In the event that we do, we will disclose the circumstances in any resulting coverage.
Reviews
We do not score reviews, nor do we discuss review scores or opinions with publishers or developers prior to publication.
Our team may regularly adjust its assessment of products and hardware over the life of those products. These changes will always be explained and transparent. This is done completely at the discretion of our writers and editors.
Conflicts of interest
Unless specifically disclosed on their profile page, our team members do not cover companies (1) in which they have a financial investment, (2) that have employed them previously, or (3) that employ their spouse, partner, or someone else with whom the staffer has a close relationship. When an Approach Brief News contributor has affiliations of prior employment experience that would represent a material conflict of interest with their reporting, that information will be disclosed in context or footnotes of their coverage.
Our team members are permitted to contribute to Patreon campaigns for members of the video game industry, but they need to disclose the details of those contributions on their profile page as well as in any related coverage they publish on the site.
Sources
It is our policy not to pay sources. On rare occasions, we may contract with a source as a co-creator of content. Anonymous sources must prove their identity to Approach Brief News to be cited in a story. We protect the identity of our sources.
Corrections
Our team makes every effort for stories to be completely accurate upon publication. We will correct, but not remove, inaccurate stories.
Advertising
We have advertisements on our site, and they are our main source of revenue. We do not accept money or other consideration from companies as a condition or incentive to write a review or story, whether favorable or unfavorable, on Appraoch Brief. All reviews and other editorial coverage on our site are based on our editorial discretion, not on the desire of any company, advertiser, or PR firm. Advertisers don’t ask us to cover their products, and we don’t comment about their ads. Our policies do not permit placements of advertorial on Appraoch Brief. We will endeavor to clearly mark any advertisement or “infomercial” shown on Approach Brief as an advertisement.
Our website may also contain affiliate marketing links, which means we may be paid a commission on sales of products or services that we write about. Our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers or affiliate partnerships.
Giveaways
From time to time, Approach Brief may conduct contests and giveaways on the site for our readers. We will post rules for each contest, which will be binding on individuals who decide to participate. Giveaways of products are not, and should never be considered, endorsements of the companies involved or their products.
Product samples for reviews
Companies may send products, download keys, streaming links, screening and event invites, or other samples to our staff in order for us to assess such samples and determine whether we will provide a review of the product or work in question on Aproach Brief. We do not accept any samples with any preconditions, such as that we will agree to provide a review simply because a company sent us a sample. Please note that companies may provide these samples before a product or work is commercially available, in which case, we may agree to an embargo with the company or its PR firm. This means that we agree not to publish a review or associated coverage until a given time.
Occasionally, we may decide to review something that has not been provided to us by a company. In this case, a staff member will either purchase the product or work for themselves — we buy a lot of products — or Approach Brief will purchase the product or work for the team.
Last updated May 2025
