Two and half decades ago, players paid more attention to game trailers and demos to decide if they would love to invest their time and money into any game. Fast-forward to today, more players are relying on Metacritic scores to make the same decision. But should they be doing that?
Since its launch in 2001 by the trio of Julie Doyle Roberts, Jason Dietz, and Marc Doyle, Metacritic has changed ownership several times from CNET to CBS Corporation to Red Ventures, and now Fandom Inc. Today, it almost feels as if every developer and publisher rate a successful game based on its Metacritic score, but that is not healthy for the industry.
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No More Heroes creator Goichi ‘Suda51’ Suda suggested the overemphasis on Metacritic score is the reason why titles with unique styles and flavors fail to find a publisher. Speaking in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz in the company of fellow Japanese legend and the brain behind the original Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami, Suda said many companies invest excessive energy in Metacritic scores.
“Everybody pays too much attention to and cares too much about Metacritic scores,” Suda51 said. “It’s gotten to the point where there’s almost a set formula – if you want to get a high Metacritic score, this is how you make the game.”
“If you’ve got a game that doesn’t fit into that formula, that marketability scope, it loses points on Metacritic. The bigger companies might not want to deal with that kind of thing. That might not be the main reason, but that’s certainly one reason why. Everyone cares too much about the numbers.
“Personally, I don’t care too much about the Metacritic numbers. I’m not really conscious of them. What’s important to us is putting the games out that we want to put out and having people playing the games we want them to be able to play.”
Why gamers care too much about Metacritic score
Shadows of the Damned
Suda51 admitted that he visits Metacritic, especially when his company, Grasshopper Manufacture, has released a new game. However, he tries to avoid the platform as much as possible. Why do gamers and publishers care too much about Metacritic score—should they? The answer depends on who is asking!
Guide publishers to make investment decisions
Business is always a game of numbers and those numbers drive trends—and that is why Metacritic is very important to publishers. Publishers will most likely invest in a game they believe will get them a higher Metacritic score because the buzz it generates will drive more players to try the game.
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As Suda51 pointed out, publishers use Metacritic scores to find patterns of what kind of game players are yearning for and channel their funds in that direction. In other words, the Metacritic score guides investment choice. The problem is that players eventually start getting more of the same thing.
According to Mikami, “The kind of games that get the most marketing support are the ones that need to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. More unique games don’t really have the same marketability.”
Perceived value for money for players
On the side of players Metacritic score has also become a yardstick for determining if a player will throw their money into a game or not—but can you blame them? Absolutely not! Video games are getting really expensive and the economy is squeezing on several fronts.
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With the rising cost of living and inflation biting harder, gamers are becoming frugal about spending. Ask 100 gamers when last they tried a random indie title that wasn’t served them through aggressive marketing and you will be fortunate to get a 30% positive response.
Consequently, a high Metacritic score has become the determinant of what is worth their money. The danger of that is that it robs gamers the excitement that comes with discovering treasure in a less-known game.
Time is an expensive currency
The second reason why gamers are leaning more on Metacritic scores to make their choice on what to play next is time. For those without social security or significant savings, time is an important currency, especially when fighting inflation.
Some parents now have to work multiple shifts to get enough money to pay their bills. That leaves a very little amount left for bingeing in video games. Therefore, they’ll want to make sure that the little time they have is well spent.
What gamers and publishers should be doing instead of chasing Metacritic score
Shadows of the Damned
Chasing Metacritic score has put a lot of power in the hands of “video game journalists” who now decide if a game will become a commercial success or not by typing a few lines of reviews on Metacritic.
What is more disturbing is that the majority of the reviews are subjective. Most reviewers rate games based on their personal feelings or preferences. They simply talk down on any game that doesn’t align with their preference—and we know how preference can swing massively between two people.
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How sure are you that you share the same taste in video games with the reviewer? If you must make a game purchasing decision based on the Metacritic score, make sure the reviewer has highlighted elements in the game that watered down the experience. Then, ask yourself if that is a dealbreaker. If it isn’t, ignore the Metacritic score and experience the game yourself.
For publishers, chasing the Metacritic score will only lead to the stifling of innovation which the game industry desperately needs. In another interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Suda51 mentioned that after landing a deal with Electronic Arts for Shadows of the Damned, the publisher asked them to make several changes “to cater to Western tastes” which eventually meant the final game released was way different from the developer’s initial concept.
“It may not have been the game we set out to make when we began but it’s the game we ended up deciding to make,” Suda51 said.
“The scenario that Shadows of the Damned was born from was actually the sixth draft of the scenario we’d originally come up with, and each of the drafts that had come before were completely different, so if we were to make one of those games, it wouldn’t really be a remake of Shadows of the Damned, it would just be a completely different game all on its own.”
While it may be too much to ask publishers to throw investor’s money into just any idea, it is also important to mention that the next big hit can come from a ‘Stray’ cat, a Pokémon with gun, or a monkey king.
