Why Do People ‘Hate’ IGN?

The dedicated agents of the U.S. Department of Electronic Entertainment report: "Recently IGN ran an article titled "Why Do People 'Hate' EA" a hard-hitting, objective work of game journalism and an early contender for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Journalism. This company, this community, this family of journalists at IGN has one of the highest Alexa ratings of any video game website, and excellent support from advertisers (But not outrageously so) with a criminally underrated forum, but is still widely regarded as one of the worst websites on the internet."

*The United States Department of Electronic Entertainment is a humor site, not affiliated with any government agency.

[AmayaAi]

Do we? On the contrary I've always loved IGN the most.

[TheModernKamikaze]

most people who hate IGN are youtubers because of their reviews.They always compare reviews with COD because it got a higher score than the game they reviewed.

[blitz0623]

It's not rocket science. IGN is hated when the score they give a game doesn't sit well with most people, and vice versa.

[Abash]

Ive agreed with IGN most when it comes to reviews, that doesnt mean I still dont say "WTF?" every now and then to some scores.

My dislike for IGN mostly comes from their articles, they're mostly utter garbage. And I have witnessed extreme bias in one of their articles just a few weeks ago.

[AmkOwns]

Doesn't COD pay ign for a great review?

[BattleAxe]

^^^

Doesn't Activision pay everyone for high reviews?

[Wenis]

People don't really hate IGN, its simply that IGN is one of the biggest gaming news outlets, so therefore there is simply more 'hate' towards them than other sites. Sort of like how Jupiter is the biggest planet, therefore gets hit with more meteors.

[SilentNegotiator]

They could give Superman 64 a 3/10 and youtubers would complain that the score is too low, and it's "actually a pretty good game"

[Emilio_Estevez]

N4G's community is quite fond of IGN's reviews from what I've seen. I also know a few people that pretty much only trust IGN's review opinions.

[LOGICWINS]

IGN reviews are the most clicked on, most read reviews on N4G. If this is "hate", then thats an odd way of showing it.

[SonyPS360]

They're only fond of IGN's reviews until a game they don't like gets a higher score than a game they do like.

It's pretty pathetic.

[SPAM-FRITTER-123]

IGN is a great site. its N4G i hate /jk

[linkenski]

What the heck are you doing here then?

[Kinect]

its wat da fuck r u doin here

[MoveTheGlow]

I think there was a hatred of the bigger gaming sites around the time that the Kane and Lynch scoring debacle happened over at Gamespot. There was this idea that the big "objective" sites were being influenced too much by publishers, namely their PR wings. It was well-warranted anger, and it lasted for years as IGN and Gamespot struggled to get readers back. There was a lot of discussion of the influence of publishers and companies during the "console war" days after that - did this site get some payola from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo? Why did this system's games get a better score on this site? What's the difference between a 9.6 and a 9.7? These sites were floundering around, trying to find their voice while we were all duking it out over these systems.

Now, Gamespot and IGN, among just about everyone else, have started to learn from enthusiast sites like GiantBomb (to the point where Gamespot took them back in a much better way), Kill Screen, Critical Distance, and even 1up - they offered up awesome content because they focused on subjective ideas from individual writers and reviewers, not some super-imposing "objective"-but-not- really standard from up top.

You get to see a lot more editorial content on IGN now, and I'm really liking that change. Yeah, there are still some weird advertisement/preview articles there, but it's not nearly as bad, and the content's more diverse. Recently, it's gone from being a Maxim for Gamers (Hey, a girl! Hey, a girl! ...something about games.) to being a Gaming Site for Gamers - maybe not for me, but at least for the younger crowd. I'm just sayin', there's more there about games and less bro-tastically "Powered by Dew" stuff now.

[Lior]

The best gaming site is gametrailers. They produce the best reviews and they always have exclusive interviews and new footage of games each month

[xursz]

Disagrees should check them out. They definitely get the best exclusive content in my opinion.

[123_321]

I hate everything.
@ jb1276
Yes, i hate him too. In fact, i hate myself more than anything. I'm just so sick of it all...*gunshot sound*

[VanguardOfCalamity]

except the green ranger? ... or do you hate him most of all XD j/k

[LOGICWINS]

WAAAAIT! Before you pass on, can I have your user name?!

[123_321]

No. I decided that i actually love everything so i un-shot myself.
I LIVE....AGAIN!! Mwahaha.

[r21]

Francis, is that you?

[Green_Ranger]

Imposter!!

[DeleteThisxx]

I love how people seem to think this article is solely about the N4G community . IGN does get a ton of hate from various communities across the interwebz. The problem is, no one sticks by it. IGN gives a bad review and you get "you can't spell ignorant without IGN!" Yet, when they do give a good review, which is more often than people give them credit for, everyone praises them. Stick by your guns people.

[Hicken]

It's like redDevil87 below you says, though: they're inconsistent.

Of course people will be upset when they give a bad review. If, for example, they gave Journey a 2/10 and complained about the lack communication ability with the other player, how short the game was, and the fact that the number of controls were limited, that'd be a pretty bad review; it'd be understandable for people to be upset about that. Or if a game like NeverDead got an 8 out of 10 for being something different in a land full of samey shooters, but they disregarded how broken it is overall, people would be upset with that, too.

But if the reviews are accurate, then people will naturally be happy about it. Happier, at least, than if they were flat-out poor reviews.

Nobody completely disregards them because not all of their reviews are bad. But at the same time, nobody fully trusts the because some of their reviews suck. It's just that, whenever it comes to people talking about it, it always gets generalized as full-on, constant hate.

[DeleteThisxx]

Yeah, except people need to also acknowledge that IGN has many different writers. As a result, matter of opinion comes out to play. Different strokes for different folks. It's not "inconsistent" it's merely subjective.

[Hicken]

I'll concede that each reviewer will have his or her own opinion, and so some inconsistencies may arise there. But there's also the issue- and this applies to MOST gaming publications, not just IGN- of a lack of any solid criteria by which games should be reviewed.

I think it would go a long way toward alleviating the problems we have right now with sites such as IGN if they had a standard set of criteria that a reviewer must judge a game by. But very few sites or magazines have this.

[redDevil87]

Too many inconsistent review scores.

Some games get punished for certain things, while others get free passes for the same mistakes.

[LOGICWINS]

That depends on the genre. Story, for example, won't be as important in a first person shooter as it is in an RPG.

[ExCest]

Doesn't IGN get paid for their reviews? I think that would explain the inconsistencies.

[Akiba96]

Its not the same person reviewing every game man... You can't expect editor X to have the same view points, preferences, or experiences as editor Y. Stop treating IGN or any site like that like they allthe editors go into a round table to review games. Remember people, reviews are opinions..... just because IGN gives some game a mediocre review doesnt mean that game cant be good to you, nor does it mean that their opinions are "bought" if you find said mediocre game to be fantastic.

[StarFox]

i like IGN for their podcasts i listen every week for them. i like hearing their insight of upcoming games and the companies. could care less for their reviews though

[bub16]

didnt ign get payed by alot of game companies to lie about the game reviews?

[MoveTheGlow]

Well, sorta. Jeff Gerstmann recently was able to talk about the Gamespot incident, and it looks like the industry all looked a bit like this a few years back:

Someone does an honest review. Points out flaws, gives it a fair corresponding score. In the meantime, the developers were commanded from the publisher to get a Metascore above a certain amount, because review scores were really big back then. The developer or publisher would get pissed about the review, so the PR wing of the company would call a higher-up of the review outlet, reminding them that they pay ad revenue to the site, and they'll remove ad revenue if their games aren't reviewed "fairly," meaning with a higher score. Gerstmann talked about how it had been like this for a long time, but with newer managers in charge of the sites, these guys weren't ready for how vicious these publishers could get, and they got scared.

The next time around, someone else is reviewing that publisher's new game, and s/he is going a little easier on it this time around... Is it just the reviewer? Does the reviewer know about the mafia-like pressure publishers were putting on the company? Eh, who knows, but everything from scoring to hiring/firing of reviewers and editors changed because of that. I'm glad the industry's turning it around (see above).

[floetry101]

Simple. As a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's Fox empire, they can choose what NOT to publish. For example, they raised no concern over SOPA because it conflicted with Murdoch's personal beliefs. Such is the nature of journalism controlled by a single man. Although to be fair, I wasn't a fan of IGN's watered-down review standard in the first place, and was utterly disgusted when they fired Chris Roeper.

[Summons75]

well considering they said in the lollipop chainsaw review "it felt likte a parody instead of being serious" when the game IS a parody of zombie games only shows they're absolutely stupid and don't actually know what they are doing.

[FarCryLover182]

Because ignorant people consider them to be "IGNorants" :3

[JKelloggs]

I don't like IGN because of the way they sold themselves out to give out good game reviews.

[123_321]

I don't know why, but i had your account ignored. I must have pressed the ignore button somehow at some point. I don't ignore people, it seems childish.Sorry about that, you're unignored now.

[JKelloggs]

Thank you, lol. I appreciate your honesty ;)

[jamesensor]

Same thought. I don't trust their hyped reviews. They're too corporate friendly. Same goes with gamespot.

[JKelloggs]

It's just too much brown-nosing, express your feelings to a game through your own opinion, not through somebody else's.

[EazyC]

Its just that sometimes i guess that their reviews sound like they just read a bunch of others and kind of mashed them together, instead of playing the game and forming their own opinion. I mean, when has an IGN reviewers score EVER been wildly different from the general cencus that game got? It's almost like they go to Metacritic and choose the score based on its metascore.

Plus there's the whole "they got payed to do a review for x game" fiasco... But I myslef enjoy IGN's reviews and articles :)

[Kran]

1. The people they hire tend are bad writers.
2. They always drag the bad sides of a game down too much and barely praise the good sides.

[OpenGL]

The main site is garbage but the boards can be entertaining.

#vestiswag

[ablecain]

Have you ever read a review or article of theirs? They're awful. Seriously, they don't have anyone on that staff who knows how to write, and that's not a lie.

IGN is bad at what they do. That's why people dislike them.

[Greyslash]

You shouldn't trust anyone's review but your own, everyone is different. Shit, you may love a game that scores a 4/10 across every review site. The only reason I look at reviews is to see if it has less than a 9/10, and if it does, I know the price will drop to 20 dollars in 2 months.

[codename13]

IGN reviews are total crap.

[PixL]

I dont hate IGN. I ignore them, dont visit their site because it has nothing valuable for me. Their opinions are hype-driven and have nothing to do with my gamer taste. Their reviews are poorly written and cater to the general crowd. They fit well with other big media portals. Made by the mediocre for the mediocre.

[Chrono]

It's one of the best gaming sites. Of course I disagree with some of the scores they give but that doesn't mean I hate it.

[jdfoster]

Because you can't spell IGNorant without IGN :p

They have some cool people... Greg Miller and Collin are great personalities. I don't hate them I think IGN are one of the few well balanced sites. On the contry (however you spell it CON-TREE :p) I don't like 1UP an IGN owned site. (they maybe owned by Murdoch but IGN are generally well balanced and have some great editors/personalities and shows

[venom06]

IGN is the BIGGEST bunch of CoD fangirls ever assembled in one spot... Almost 97% of any article about a FPS military is about CoD...and then, they write a stupid ass article about "How dose CoD stay on top?" Because you fangirls KEEP it on top with every other day articles mentioning it... They STILL haven't done a review of the CQ DLC from BF3... please IGN stop licking Activision and CoD's ass....

[SegataShanshiro]

They get paid, thats why. Money makes them call CoD the best series 3vaR

[pyramid]

They can give motorstorm rc 8.5 ? And they give motorstorm pacific rift 8.3 ???
Pacific rift deserved at least a 9,as well as the first motorstorm.Ign is amateurs .
And they give goldeneye reloaded 8.5 which is a disgrace to the original goldeneye ..Oh dear!!

[ApolloAdams]

The same reason the internet hates Sony it is all about perception and reception. People hate and love IGN. I personally don't care for IGN but it has a loyal fanbase like a Sony has. I think hate for a company isn't warranted though because it is all subjective.

[JohnApocalypse]

People don't hate Sony, your'e thinking of Microsoft

[ApolloAdams]

People hate all companies obviously. But it is no secret that people can't stand Sony and boycott their overpriced under performing products (not my words.) It's the realty. Go to any tech website and Sony is ridiculed and laughed at as a company.

[Kratoscar2008]

profesional reviewers are biased, when i want to know a game worth i visit forums and more or less i search for a middle consensus. search for user reviewes and see about the gameplay, i could careless about scores.

The mummy-psx
Tales of Legendia-PS2

are twos games i enjoyed despite the bad reviews. Another example is RE Outbreak, if you search profesional reviewers most of them hate the game while user reviewers have the game in high regards and Outbreak is my favorite RE yet.

[SonyStyled]

i hate IGN because i find them generally biased, although they have cleaned up their act a little bit. for example with gta4, the ps3 was the lead platform in development as it began as a ps3 exclusive. when the game launched, the 360 version got higher review scores from ign. how is it possible that a port of the same game gets a higher review? also, i just find alot of their reviews very unfair like theyll bash something that exists in one game, but then completely ignore it in another

[frankiebeans]

IGN is junk GiantBomb is the best IGN has a bunch of fake crappy ass reviews the only good thing about it is that pretty Jessica girl idk if shes still there because i stoped going to that site like years ago but she is gorgeous lol

[arbitor365]

there are much, much, much worse sites. I dont know why people call IGN biased when it is one of the most moderate sites when it comes to scoring games of all platforms around the metascore.

Dont get me wrong, I disagree with many of their individual reviews, but they arent massively biased fuckwits like Edge or Metrogame Central. and they dont write blatant shock reviews like destructoid or the two i mentioned above.

[mochachino]

Another fabricated issue crafted just to generate hits.

[Skateboard]

2 words.... God Hand.

[ACEMANWISE]

I listen to the gamers. If I ever did choose a professional review I would pick a person and not a site. I would find out what his/her tastes and watch the reasoning of their reviews. If they seem to be similar to myself then that would be the reviewer to go to.

[DasTier]

GOLDBERG...GOLDBERG...GOLDBERG ...

[kingofgames86u]

IGN= Idiots gone nuts

[PersonMan]

"it's cool to hate" - The Offspring

[D3mons0ul]

Because they're unprofessional

[Morgue]

I remember going on IGN when it was called N64 or something back 97 or 98. Then later on paying my monthly $5.99 or whatever for game guides and " access " to master bit theatre....

Besides it is what it is and I rarely go on that site anymore just like I never read EGM.

[AIndoria]

I don't have a problem with them, however, I do go "WTF does that mean?" in a few of their articles and scores.
And I like IGN UK staff more than US one. UK is just hilarious with Tom Butler, Alex, Stu, Dan and Keza MacDonald.

[NYC_Gamer]

I don't hate IGN or any other review sites just because our opinions may differ