What do you think of Metacritic?

[Marginal]

Beg your pardon.

I don't get why Metacritic has this weird buzz around it, it's just another review site, why do people focus on it so much?

It's a review aggregator. So an 8.0 on Metacritic is an average of multiple reviews. (Though they use some kind of wonky curve so some sites count more than others etc.)

The thing is, publishers have in recent years decided to tie bonuses to games getting a high metacritic score. So teh game developer, like Bungie for example, stands to lose a chunk of change (Bungie's contract in fact states they'll lose 2.5 million if the game doesn't hit a 9.0 Metacritic rating) if they don't hit 9.0 review scores.

To that end, that's why stuff like tacked on multiplayer modes, tacked on single player modes in what's primarily a multiplayer game etc exist. They'll even bring in a game reviewer and pay them a few thousand to write a mock review to gauge how the game can potentially score before it's released.

The pressure from metacritic also discourages review sites from not scoring reviews and it leads to publishers doing shady things like blacklisting publications that gave them poor reviews, intimidating publications, and deliberately keeping review copies of games from publications until the last possible second.

It's a strange phenomenon. It's throttling creativity in the gaming industry, and it is also stifling the quality of information consumers have available to them.

 

[Ramus]

Honestly, I don't get how the culture evolved to the point where a gamer review have any kind of credibility, most reviewers are just a bunch of people playing games, they are not devs nor programmers, most are just a bunch of man-child that are overly praised for bitching about a game. Most reviews are a sorry excuse for journalism, so what the hell? I mean, of course there is a point for their existence, make people who are on the fence go for either side, but most of them are shady as hell, you could cut the bias with a knife.

But now it is ok to fuck up with games because of reviews? Hell, what is the point? Is well known that unless you are a generic shooter there is no way you going to please a reviewer. So yah, this is stupid.

 

[WindupSkeleton]

Thanks Marginal, I get the issues at hand now.

I think my main issue with reviews is that you're still reading someone else's bias, no matter how neutral they try to be on the subject (or not at all if they've been given incentives) so if you're not taking them with a pinch of salt, more fool you.

most reviewers are just a bunch of people playing games, they are not devs nor programmers

Someone who worked on the game would be the most bias though.

 

[Alex.J]

Thanks Marginal, I get the issues at hand now.

I think my main issue with reviews is that you're still reading someone else's bias, no matter how neutral they try to be on the subject (or not at all if they've been given incentives) so if you're not taking them with a pinch of salt, more fool you.



Someone who worked on the game would be the most bias though.

That is life though, any information that isn't factual will then be biased by nature. A lot can be gained through food reviews, movie reviews, hell, even game reviews. Albeit a flawed system, the average gamer would enjoy a 5 star rated game, or a 10/10 for example. Even within these biases, there will be facts to draw. Which could be vital in purchasing. Let's say SC6 doesn't have a multiplayer mode and a review tells me this. No matter how biased the review, that's an important fact about the game that will decide my purchasing decision. Or a restaurant review saying they only take cash or don't have a bathroom. So I wouldn't say there is complete bias in a review.

 

[WindupSkeleton]

So I wouldn't say there is complete bias in a review.

I didn't say it was complete, just that there's a natural element of bias so you should never take something at entirely at face value. For example one reviewer may fail to mention the restaurant only accepting cash (granted, an unlikely scenario in all cases) as it's not important to them.

I think we're basically agreeing though.