Fact-Check Policy

Gaming news moves fast, leaks blur into rumours, and details change between announcement and release. This Fact-Check Policy explains how PlayZ Arcade verifies the claims in our reporting and what to do if you believe we've published something inaccurate.

1. Source Hierarchy

When a fact in an article needs to be verified, our writers and editors prefer sources in this order:

1. Primary sources — official developer or publisher posts, press releases, verified studio social accounts, on-the-record interview transcripts, our own gameplay testing.
2. Established secondary sources — reporting from outlets with their own published editorial standards (Eurogamer, IGN, Polygon, Game Informer, GameSpot, RPS, Kotaku, etc.) where the original outlet has been responsive about issuing corrections in the past.
3. Specialist primary-document archives — Steam, GOG, Epic, Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Store, App Store, Microsoft Store, ESRB, PEGI listings; first-party platform metadata.
4. Aggregators and unverified social posts — used only as starting points for further verification, never as the sole source for a published claim.

Where conflicting information exists across sources, we name them and explain the disagreement rather than picking one and ignoring the others.

2. Verification Process

Before a news article is published, the assigned writer is responsible for confirming each load-bearing factual claim against at least one source from the hierarchy above. The managing editor performs a second-pass review for releases that involve disputed information, leaks, or rumour-stage content.

Quoted material is checked against the original recording, transcript, or post. Numerical claims (player counts, sales figures, hardware specs, release dates) are checked against the originating source rather than against quoting articles.

3. Leaks, Rumours, and Unconfirmed Reports

Some gaming coverage involves information that has not been officially confirmed — leaks, datamines, insider claims. We will publish on these topics when the source has a track record we can describe and when the public interest in the story is clear, but every such article will:

• Label the information as a leak, rumour, or unconfirmed report in the headline or opening paragraph;
• Identify the source and describe their track record;
• Distinguish clearly between what has been claimed and what has been independently verified;
• Be updated promptly if the original claim is publicly retracted or contradicted.

4. Hands-On Reviews and Previews

Game reviews are based on actual play time. The reviewer notes how long they played, on what platform, and whether the build was a final retail copy, an early-access version, or a pre-release press build. Where a publisher imposed an embargo or restricted what could be discussed, that constraint is disclosed in the article.

Hardware-specific claims (frame rates, performance, controller behaviour) are tested on the platforms named in the article. We do not extrapolate performance across platforms we have not personally played on.

5. Corrections and Updates

Our policy is to correct errors as soon as we're aware of them, regardless of how the error came to our attention.

• Typos and minor edits are made silently and do not require a correction note.
• Substantive corrections — anything that changes the meaning of a sentence, a numerical claim, an attribution, or a quoted statement — are flagged with an inline note that describes what was changed and when.
• Significant retractions — when a load-bearing claim turns out to be wrong — are addressed at the top of the article with a clear retraction note. The original incorrect text is not silently deleted.

When a substantive correction is made, the article's “Updated” date is refreshed to reflect the change.

6. Reporting a Correction Request

If you believe an article contains a factual error, please tell us via our contact page. The most useful correction requests include:

• A direct link to the article in question;
• The exact claim you believe is incorrect;
• A link or citation supporting the corrected version of the fact.

We aim to acknowledge correction requests within two business days. If your request is sound, we will update the article promptly and credit the original tipster (if you wish to be credited) inline with the correction note.

7. What This Policy Doesn't Cover

This Fact-Check Policy applies to PlayZ Arcade's editorial articles — news, reviews, guides, and opinion pieces written by our staff and contributors. It does not cover:

• Reader comments or other user-generated content (covered by our community guidelines);
• Game descriptions sourced from third-party publisher feeds (where the source is the original developer or publisher);
• Third-party advertisements served on the site (covered by the ad networks' own policies).

See also: Editorial Policy and Privacy Policy.