Exactly, but ultimately that ties to the whole scandal as a whole- whether you use the incel viewpoint of "Quinn traded sex for good reviews for her game", or the more reasonable viewpoint you're saying of "Quinn had some game reviewer friends of hers review her game (and presumably give her good reviews because they're her friends)" - either way that is still a big conflict of interest and in any other form of journalism, the reviewer would absolutely have to disclose their personal relationship with someone if there is one in the review or before the review happened [and in many cases, the reviewer would be taken off reviewing the product if they have a personal connection to it.]

The only difference that makes Gamergate more important is- if it was as simple as realizing that, then it would have been a short issue, and it'd be forgotten about by now if it was just left as that. It was solely the same reviewers spinning it as "okay, got it, you hate women."- and it working- that led to the whole thing bombing.