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[Danjin44]

For me majority of the time i know if I’m gonna enjoy the game or not before the reviews come out. I trust my taste in games more than I do “scores”.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Elden Ring says hello

 

[kirby007]

Did someone already mention metacritic is just food for fanboys?

 

[Dr. Claus]

Did someone already mention metacritic is just food for fanboys?

Yep. I did, multiple times. But you have the same fanboys trying desperately to prove otherwise. Or the sad folks who need validation for their purchases because they don’t trust their own opinions.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Hyped.

Why does everyone gets it wrong? Is it a meme I don't know about?

Like when people say something is so "bias". Biased. The word is "biased".

 

[nush]

If anyone has worked in videogames retail they can tell you that people will by absolute shite. It looks cool or it's got a licensed brand and they'll be slapping down their money on release day. Don't even try to bother recommend anything good to them or warn them they are about to buy broken crap.

The general public haven't cared about reviews for decades, hype and marketing are much more effective.

 

[Guilty_AI]

My brother in christ, if you think only journalist liked TLOU2 you need to get out of your own echo chamber. It's a beloved game.

Beloved by whom? Definitely not by me, nor any of my friends who are into games, seeing it as just another boring walking/cutscene watching sim with dumb story. The only person i know personally who had any passing interest on it gave up on getting a copy the moment she found out you were forced to kill a dog.

So much for this beloved game. As the other guy is saying its just divisive, and not by coincidence this is a common trend among highly rated games such as BotW, GOW and RDR2, almost as if a good amount of people think they don't really deserve that spot, almost as if those reviews mean shit.

 

[ChoosableOne]

I want to share my first thread on Gaf about Metacritic.

Basic Metacritic statistic

As you can see, there are a lot of games scored above 80 so it doesn't mean much these days. But there are few games above 95, like Elden Ring, and that helps them stand out.

 

[Wildebeest]

As you can see, there are a lot of games scored above 80 so it doesn't mean much these days. But there are few games above 95, like Elden Ring, and that helps them stand out.

The basic problem is that people who review games are just the same sort of bell ends who buy games, except they might be more likely to have an arts degree. Making arguments about how reviews help games stand out means you have to prove that the reviewers will hype up something that the regular game buyer would not be just as hyped as them about, convincing them to buy it. You would have to find games that there was zero buzz about which have zero marketing spend from no name developers, and basically wasn't especially fun or well-made, and show how their wall of 100% reviews on a metacritic site made the game sell a huge amount. Then do you get a bigger or smaller effect by basically just bribing a big youtuber or streamer with cash.

 

[ChoosableOne]

The basic problem is that people who review games are just the same sort of bell ends who buy games, except they might be more likely to have an arts degree. Making arguments about how reviews help games stand out means you have to prove that the reviewers will hype up something that the regular game buyer would not be just as hyped as them about, convincing them to buy it. You would have to find games that there was zero buzz about which have zero marketing spend from no name developers, and basically wasn't especially fun or well-made, and show how their wall of 100% reviews on a metacritic site made the game sell a huge amount. Then do you get a bigger or smaller effect by basically just bribing a big youtuber or streamer with cash.

In my case, their advantage over me is they got the game and hopefully played it. I don't actually look for any fancy words or hype inducing sentences in their reviews. I just want to know how the game plays.

I am one of those who think that Metacritic is not as effective as it used to be(especially in the Twitch, Youtube and Steam reviews age). In a world where developers are paid bonus fees based on Metacritic scores, and probably publishers measure their success with those scores, it doesn't surprise me that some reviewers inflate their scores. However, if a game scores 85-90 on Metacritic, especially above 95, I'm deepening my research on that game. My research on Deathloop made me wait for a big discount. I was going to buy Elden Ring nonethless(maybe on sale but eventually), but it made me pre-order it.

In the old topic I opened, I found that there are 43 games over 95 points, out of 17045 games. As a player, it's perfectly normal to be curious about these 43 games. That's what I meant by "stand out".

 

[nush]

Considering you are a massive console warrior, you should know the reason *why* those review threads ”blow up”. Almost always by the same handful of 20-30 warriors bickering back and forth. You being one of the more common sights within them.

Not long after, balance has been restored to the universe.

 

[GymWolf]

Finally people woked up and discovered that modern videogame journalists\metacritic are useless??

 

[MHubert]

Ignoring your petty and infantile Strawman attempt, I literally did prove that one of the supposed “greatest games of the generation” as many like to claim here, and one rated highly on Metacritic is a highly divisive title. If it was truly so great, it wouldn’t be divisive.

Now take off your little warrior glasses, mate.

Yea, but no, it´s not divisive in the way you are portraying it as. A lot of people find the story controversial or maybe bad, me included, but almost no one are seriously arguing that TLOU II is an outright poor quality trash bin title. its divisive like Blade Runner 2049 is considered divisive. And btw I asked you to find me a *bad* game, not a divisive one. Find me a 85+ title you personally consider 2/10 at most. Calling me a console warrior give me a break. This is a a quote from a later post of yours:

Metacritic and review aggregate sites have *never* been indicative of a game’s quality. Reviews in general have always, since the earliest days, been highly questionable. Unlike the 80s, however, we actually have ways to get information on the pre-release of games to see if they are worth playing without relying on such idiotic Gaming “journalists”.

You act like every single game reviewer out here is some kind og sleaze ball with no interest or passion for games whatsoever. If what you are saying is true then you should easily be able to find me a game with universal critical acclaim that the gaming community agress is a trash bin title in every way. You cant, because saying that review aggregates *never* indicates a titles quality is obvious hyperbole and you know it.

 

[Hendrick's]

If they were irrelevant, he wouldn't need to tell us they were.

 

[JimboJones]

Seems like it's more important to get your game traction with streamers and become meme worthy.
I'd say having a good metacritic score probably helps too though.

 

[Wildebeest]

In my case, their advantage over me is they got the game and hopefully played it. I don't actually look for any fancy words or hype inducing sentences in their reviews. I just want to know how the game plays.

So their only value to you comes from their exclusive pre-release access to games?

 

[KungFucius]

In the statistics racket, we call that cherry picking.

Its not though. Very high and low scores will certainly have an impact. If the hypothesis that scores don't matter was tested with data you would see a lot of cherries with high scores that have high sales. Take your pick, for these games the high scores come with a lot of additional hype that is at least correlated with sales. They are not cherries they are corner cases that are have a different behavior.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

It's a combination of Metacritics and user score. But when a publisher bribes and "manufactures" new "reviewer" fronts to pump up its score only to be exposed later on how shallow the game is then Metacritic should be a continuous score that can change over time as well as some games have made great comebacks and other have made disastrous impact after launch like lying about MTX then introducing outrageous MTX after the Metacritic score has settled.

 

[Wildebeest]

Its not though. Very high and low scores will certainly have an impact. If the hypothesis that scores don't matter was tested with data you would see a lot of cherries with high scores that have high sales. Take your pick, for these games the high scores come with a lot of additional hype that is at least correlated with sales. They are not cherries they are corner cases that are have a different behavior.

It is called Cherry Picking if you select only the data points that support your argument. You cannot cherry pick more than just by picking one perfect cherry. An edge case in terms of this sort of model would be an game that cost a huge amount to make, advertise, and gets absolutely stellar reviews, then FLOPS. That is when the market prediction fails, not when everything goes perfectly.

 

[TheGodfather07]

Imagine caring what the gaming press have to say these days. It's funny that so many despise them, yet will use their review scores to brag about a game on their console of choice. Make your mind up.

 

[ChoosableOne]

So their only value to you comes from their exclusive pre-release access to games?

No, not only that. They have that advantage and some of them use it well. I like to hear/read about their experience with the game. Is it grindy? Is it easy? How good is gameplay? Is there any cool mechanic to try? Is there a meaningful story? etc. I can learn these things from Steam reviewers too, but reviewers from magazines do it more professionally(at least some of them), trying to cover everything about the game. But like I said, there is something wrong with scoring part and I usually try to avoid that hype it brings(like I did in Deathloop).

I prefer Steam reviewers for technical problems though. Most of the magazines try to avoid technical difficulties, for "unknown" reasons.

 

[Dr. Claus]

Yea, but no, it´s not divisive in the way you are portraying it as. A lot of people find the story controversial or maybe bad, me included, but almost no one are seriously arguing that TLOU II is an outright poor quality trash bin title. its divisive like Blade Runner 2049 is considered divisive. And btw I asked you to find me a *bad* game, not a divisive one. Find me a 85+ title you personally consider 2/10 at most. Calling me a console warrior give me a break. This is a a quote from a later post of yours:

You act like every single game reviewer out here is some kind og sleaze ball with no interest or passion for games whatsoever. If what you are saying is true then you should easily be able to find me a game with universal critical acclaim that the gaming community agress is a trash bin title in every way. You cant, because saying that review aggregates *never* indicates a titles quality is obvious hyperbole and you know it.

Once again, you are doubling down on the strawman argument. Never did I state that it was a "trash bin title" nor did I even insinuate it was. Just that it was not a "beloved" title and that it was highly divisive.

I repeat once again, you need to take off your console warrior lenses, kiddo.

 

[MHubert]

Once again, you are doubling down on the strawman argument. Never did I state that it was a "trash bin title" nor did I even insinuate it was. Just that it was not a "beloved" title and that it was highly divisive.

I repeat once again, you need to take off your console warrior lenses, kiddo.

I never said you did, you said ´Metacritic and review aggregate sites have *never* been indicative of a game’s quality´, and then I ask you: if that is true how come you dont find any trash bin titles among any top 20? Dismissing my question by calling me a console warrior is honestly insulting.

Spoiler

and you keep hammering on about divisiveness and strawmen lol, stop projecting

 

[DerivedDataCache]

The quote is from a dev that works on a multiplayer game.
And he's right. For mp games, reviews dont matter.

 

[On Demand]

Elden Ring would like to have a battle with you.

Metacritic scores do majorly affect sales and perception.

 

[Dr. Claus]

...and you keep hammering on about divisiveness and strawmen lol, stop projecting.

Irony, thy name is MHubert.

 

[22:22:22]

Doesn't metacritic gives users rights to vote?