If someone ask you for a ride and you tell them not to roll down the window and they say "lol, nope" and still get on the car. They can't be mad if you stop the car and tell them to get out when they roll down the window laughing hysterically at your face. Pressing escape means nothing in this case. The Verge's writer was acting stupid on purpose. This is like kids who think that crossing their fingers behind their back means they aren't bound to a promise. It is wishful thinking.

Add: oh, and BTW, there's a reason almost all terms of service start with "By using this software you agree to…" the legal fact is using the service not clicking on the agree button. That's just legal ammunition that companies use to prove on court that the user was aware of the legal contract. EULAs uset to be sheets of paper on a cardboard box along side CDs. No one had to click on an agree button. By buying and using the software, those were the terms you agreed to. Almost all contracts include that sort of language because the use is the fact that supports the legal contract. Law is just leaving facts and agreements on paper, facts overrule legalese, that is actually the basis used by courts to dismiss enforcement of EULAs. Like how signers aren't legally bound to fulfill irrational or unachievable agreements, or language intentionally obtuse or ambiguous.

So people need to be bound by EULAs that they don’t click to agree?

People..? No. And whether they clicked to agree or not should be irrelevant; EULAs should be unenforceable.

Journalists and their employers..? Neither... but then developers don't have any obligation to provide them with review copies in the future either.

In an industry that depends on mutual goodwill, trust, and agreement, bypassing the implied NDA was completely legal... but profoundly stupid, disingenuous, and unprofessional.

The Verge decided to burn bridges it had probably taken decades to build, for the sake of one single article. It was their right and prerogative to do it, nothing illegal about it, they had no obligation to follow the EULA.

But Valve has no obligation to let them play their invite-only beta either, or to provide them with review copies in the future, and neither has any other developer.

We'll see how it works out for the Verge in the future.

He hit esc to avoid clicking accept on the nda bit, then bragged about it in the article. There have been other articles about the game, but afaik he's the only one that was banned for being a smartass.