25, 2016, Bethesda - the publisher and developer behind the Skyrim, Fallout 4 and DOOM - announced it was getting out of the games review business. Then, when we’re burned, we blame journalists for reporting the hype and accuse them of working with the games industry to sell us broken products. Many people who play video games - myself include - pre-buy games based on highly-controlled and polished preview footage or buy new games before reading reviews. Worse, publishers constantly seek new and creative ways to sell as many copies of a game before critics can warn fans.

High-profile scandals in the mainstream games journalism de-legitimized the press in the eyes of fans and collusion - both real and imagined - between publishers and gaming sites sowed distrust among consumers. Metacritic, games journalists and the independent YouTube crowd help consumers to make informed decisions before they shell out big bucks for a bad product.īut video game reviews are broken. That’s why video game reviews are so important. Batman: Arkham Knight was unplayable for many. Aliens: Colonial Marines looked nothing like it’s pre-release trailers. No Man’s Sky hyped the world with promises of an infinitely explorable galaxy then delivered a buggy mess that didn’t do half of what fans expected. Pay for a game that sucks … and you’re stuck with it.Īnd the game’s industry releases a lot of broken garbage.

That’s changing, especially in the digital realm, but for most video game fans the problem remains. Most retailers - both digital and brick-and-mortar - don’t take returns on video games. If you complain to the management, you might even get your money back.īlow $60 on a bad or broken game and there’s little recourse.

If you spend $10 on a bad film, you’re out the cash and two hours of your time. Games aren’t movies or books, with their low cost-of-entry and their low-price point. Video games are expensive - and it’s hard to tell if one will be any good before it comes out. Publishers want control - fans want entertainment

Game reviewers