Home Gaming No, the Uncharted developer didn’t lose money because of Metacritic

No, the Uncharted developer didn’t lose money because of Metacritic

2 min read
21

Now that Joystiq has dropped scoring their games the subject of Metacritic has crept back into gaming discussions with the vehemently anti-scorers on one side and the people who believe things are required to be measured on the other.

Just to be clear I’m all for game scores. Yes a review is purely the subjective opinion of the reviewer but that is why gamers and followers find reviewers who they trust and agree with and go from there. In my personal opinion a reviewer who can’t assign a score is simply someone who isn’t comfortable nailing his colours to the pole and being judged themselves.

But moving on, the latest article doing the rounds is that the developers of Uncharted have lost tens of thousands of dollars on the arbitrary score that review aggregate site Metacritic assigns a game.

Now all respect to Jonathan Cooper but Metacritic didn’t make him lose that money, neither did we or any other game reviewing site.. The reason he’s lost so much in bonuses is because he allowed his bonus to be measured against a score that an independent site aggregates.Bonuses should be awarded according to sales or if they are trying to do something special, then the award or industry acknowledgement of that goal being reached.

Granted a slew of terrible reviews will likely hurt the sales and therefore their bonus but at the same time this isn’t always true. The latest Rugby game has only been rated by one proper gaming website with a score of 20/100 and the pay off line

“It’s an utter disaster”

And yet this title has apparently sold well above expectations because it’s targeting a desperate niche market. It would have been nice for us to review this game but our local distributor, Apex Interactive, have yet to send over a copy. If I find a decently priced copy I’ll happily give it a shot but I’m not paying R800 for a 2/10 game.

So in closing, Metacritic is not responsible for people agreeing to contracts depending on the score that is calculated from reviews –  and review scores aren’t going anywhere because the entire industry knows that 80% of people scroll past the words on reviews and just check the score. Hell even those who read the article normally check the score before seeing what the words say and for better or worse, this isn’t going to change any time soon.

Last Updated: January 19, 2015

21 Comments

  1. Hammersteyn

    January 19, 2015 at 08:17

    I’d support the Stormers for a year (I’d rather just play COD pvp for a year) if they could make half a decent rugby game with all the clubs North and South. But alas. Football reigns king with all the Murican sperts following closely. At least rugby is growing in the US which is good. Plus the sevens are part of the Olympics so I’m holding thumbs.

    Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      January 19, 2015 at 08:21

      I sent you a DM on twitter!! Reply dammit!!

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        January 19, 2015 at 08:31

        I did! Leave me alone :'(

        Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      January 19, 2015 at 09:03

      You’re supposed to offer to do something terrible when saying things like that. 😉

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        January 19, 2015 at 09:12

        Oh believe me. That’s like Gavin supporting ManU for a year.

        Reply

        • Gavin Mannion

          January 19, 2015 at 09:34

          Banhammer will be swung.. there is a limit to what people can say on here

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            January 19, 2015 at 09:43

            Only using it as reference. Clearly trevor doesn’t understand my disdain for the Stormers 😀

  2. Jonah Cash

    January 19, 2015 at 08:21

    I am on the fence with this one. I get why Joystiq stopped it and I get why you feel that you shouldn’t stop it. But then a few things need to change. I said on twitter a while back that the first and most golden rule for reviews should be: Don’t make a guy or gal review a game that isn’t in a genre that they like!! I see this more and more in reviews, where the guy starts of the review by saying that he isn’t a FPS fan or a RPG fan. I close those reviews right there, because it started of on the wrong foot!!
    I also said that I don’t even read reviews if they aren’t from here or over at SA Gamer. It feels like you are the only sites that still review games as gamers!! And that might sound weird, but if you read the sites in USA and UK’s reviews, they things that are being lifted out as great or bad is things that a gamer would know will be there…
    Just my 2c, off to Wellington for work…

    Reply

    • Lardus-Resident Perve

      January 19, 2015 at 08:40

      I agree with you that a game should be reviewed by someone who likes the genre. It is not always possible, for example who would openly admit to liking something like those Lohan and Kardashian games 🙂 But if you don’t have someone that likes the genre, at least let it be someone with an open mind.

      Reply

      • Jonah Cash

        January 19, 2015 at 12:00

        I get that, but I am talking mostly about the AAA Games. The blockbuster games that we all drool over for the whole year. Just to have an idiot say in a review that he doesn’t like the genre and then rip pieces in the game for things that most people who like the genre would have understood or at least anticipated!!

        Reply

  3. RinceThis

    January 19, 2015 at 08:21

    De Villiers! I’d buy his game!

    Reply

    • Spathi

      January 19, 2015 at 08:23

      Indeed. Sad thing is, even on the Easy setting in the game, we won’t be able to match his feat this weekend!

      Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      January 19, 2015 at 08:30

      New 100 record! 😀

      Reply

      • Blood Emperor Trevor

        January 19, 2015 at 09:04

        So close to the ODI record score too. Damn.

        Reply

        • RinceThis

          January 19, 2015 at 09:05

          I know man. Was watching at Barristers, sooooo close!

          Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          January 19, 2015 at 09:11

          Amla fluffing the last two shots. Conspiracy?
          *Tin foil hat engaged

          Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      January 19, 2015 at 08:40

      MAKE IT SO

      Reply

  4. RinceThis

    January 19, 2015 at 08:23

    I don’t think scores are going any where any time soon. But to set something up so that you get bonuses based on 3rd party perspective is silly.

    Reply

  5. LamontRaymond

    January 19, 2015 at 09:56

    We hear a lot about bonuses lost. If these clauses are so prevalent in the industry, why not an article about all of those bonuses gained? There has to some of those, right? If not, and if there has never been such a bonus achieved, then what is the point? Why would a developer ever enter into such a contract? Are they all adhesion contracts?

    Reply

  6. CAE9872

    January 19, 2015 at 10:14

    I support Joystiq 100% on this one – I even signed up just to tell them that.

    Scores have become more and more meaningless with the advent of patches and 2014 proves that more than at any other time. I would much prefer on-going and updated reviews. Tell us your initial impressions and then update every month for say 3 months telling us whether the game is now better, whether online is sorted, etc.

    As for scores making or breaking developers is a farce not of Metacritics doing. They saw a gap and catered to that – the fact developers and publishers got into that mess is their own issue not Metacritics.

    My 2 cents…

    Reply

  7. CAE9872

    January 19, 2015 at 10:14

    I support Joystiq 100% on this one – I even signed up just to tell them that.

    Scores have become more and more meaningless with the advent of patches and 2014 proves that more than at any other time. I would much prefer on-going and updated reviews. Tell us your initial impressions and then update every month for say 3 months telling us whether the game is now better, whether online is sorted, etc.

    As for scores making or breaking developers is a farce not of Metacritics doing. They saw a gap and catered to that – the fact developers and publishers got into that mess is their own issue not Metacritics.

    My 2 cents…

    Reply

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