GameSpot at Center of Metacritic Controversy

Okay, so: Metacritic is a big, big deal. It?s not just a big deal in terms of how we gamers view games?you know, as in whether you choose to buy something or not based on its score. It?s also a big deal for the people who make games; some publishers only pay bonuses to developers if a game reaches a certain Metacritic score. In other words, if there?s any problem with Metacritic, it?s a problem for the people that made the game in more ways than affecting sales or hurting their feelings.

?

Metacritic, for its part, tries to mitigate problems with its design. It has a specific threshold for reviews it will accept, and has adopted a strict ?no edits? policy that ensure a publisher can?t pressure an organization into a higher score later on down the line. The idea is that if people can?t change their scores, publishers will be less likely to push for a better rating.

Unfortunately for the developers of Natural Selection 2, this ?no edits? policy is the cause of a major problem that started with one bad GameSpot review.

Here?s the basic gist: GameSpot published a review for the game written by Eric Neigher. Neigher gave the game a 60/100, but his review was packed with incorrect information that indicated he either didn?t actually play the game, or half-assed the hell out of his review. GameSpot, after coming under fire from readers, pulled the review and had someone else write a new one (the new reviewer gave it an 80).

But the old score still stands.

So if you pop over to Metacritic and take a look at the overall scores for Natural Selection 2, you?ll see only one score below an 80?the 60 pulled from the first GameSpot review. And based on Metacritic?s policies, that?s how the score is staying. As mentioned above, this policy was built with good intentions, but seems to be screwing over an independent developer thanks to one games writer?s laziness.

Kotaku is in the process of talking with both GameSpot and Metacritic regarding the snafu, so you can follow the story there (complete with quotes!) if you like. In the meantime, we?ll just take this as one more example that Metacritic may not be the best thing for the industry.

What do you think?

Source: http://www.qj.net/pc-gaming/news/gamespot-at-center-of-metacritic-controversy.html

danny o brien alicia silverstone park slope food coop anchorman sequel safety not guaranteed lifehouse al gore