Is it Metacritic that seals the deal?

It would come as no surprise that Metacritic is still a big deal in the video game industry. Metacritic targets are assigned to internal development teams and studios, and we've even seen job ads mentioning such requirements. Metacritic itself attempted to assign career scores to developers.

Despite the video game industry making its way just fine during a couple of decades, passing by revenue the film and music industry without the need of review aggregators, Metacritic became something major and seemingly difficult to escape from.

[mewhy32]

Not for me personally but I can see how it would affect the decisions of many people on what to purchase.

[iamnsuperman]

I used to think so but I think metacritic is having a lesser impact than what it used to have a few years ago. I feel more and more people trust a certain website's review of a game and follow that. Or they completely ignore that and go with the coolest looking advert they see.

I feel marketing dollars affect game sales much more than metacritic and to some degree the reviews themselves.

[3-4-5]

4-5 Professional reviews + 4-5 reader reviews + a quick look at the forums and a glance at Metacritic final Avg.

I usually do this ^, and then form my own opinion.

[Software_Lover]

I have never been to metacritic. Have no intentions to.

[blackstrr411]

Well you should. It rates agame based on an average of other critcs/peoples reviews. And me, personally its a must for me. Its our hard earned money

[TheBossMan]

It's not supposed to be perfect. It simply aggregates a bunch of reviews from various outlets and tries to massage out individual biases as best as possible to give an overall single number that roughly represents how the average person will evaluate the game relative to comparable games. That said, if you hate racing games don't buy a racing game just because it achieves a high rating. Likewise, if a game in a series you love gets rated poorly there is a good chance you will still like the game since you know your own taste better than any outside party.

[fsfsxii]

Only for idiots who rely on other's opinion to buy their games.

[iamnsuperman]

Well what else is there. Demo's do not exist any more and we do have full game demo's but that is only a hour to try out a game (not long enough for a lot of games). Except for relying on what an advert shows the only other idea of what a game will be like is from a review

[godofboobees]

Is Tom chick a credible reviewer?
Then no

[famoussasjohn]

No because I've liked quite a few games that people haven't liked. I don't let another persons opinion dictate what I like or don't like.

[GribbleGrunger]

Not for me; although I do use them as an aggregate site to find all the sources I trust.

[Rivitur]

Why not use this niffty website Found that uses all the reviews it can get its hands on:

N4G.COM

Just type in your game and search reviews and they all come up in a neat list with the average on the right.

Ex. http://n4g.com/channel/gran...

[cell989]

I have to admit that sometimes for me it is, example Rayman Legends, would have never noticed it had it not been for all the positive ratings. Some games you just get no matter what, you dont even look at the ratings, because you know what youre getting, example: a Sony Exclusive, Battlefield etc. New franchises sadly do depend on that meta score to be noticed and successful. I would have never enjoyed Guacamelee had it not been cause it has a decent score on Meta and reviewers recommended it, its sad but true that some games are at the mercy of idiot journalists :(

[Einhert]

Metacritic is a poison and anyone who uses it to judge games has no place even beginning to call themselves a gamer.

Its nothing but an aggregate of biased and paid for reviews from big sites, If i want to know how a game looks I will watch a video of gameplay and judge whether or not I should try it based on that.

IN saying that I would love for demos to make a come back.... so I wouldn't even need to watch a video.

[R_aVe_N]

Honestly I don't even read reviews anymore on games so Metacritic has no effect on what games I buy. Reviews now days are just so unreliable that I don't even care. If I am iffy about a title I will wait for input from my friends that are like minded in games.

[Roccetarius]

Just like many other people, i don't rely on reviews for what i buy. it's all a combination of video and whatever else i find.

The fake gameplay videos creeps up sometimes though.

[Hicken]

Seals what deal? You mean the purchase?

Unfortunately, metacritic's credibility is in question, or should be. So while it may have been a useful tool in the past, now it's not so helpful.

Also unfortunately, most people that use metacritic probably don't see that.

[Blacklash93]

Metacritic is helpful for finding reviews in one place. The "Metascore" thing is pretty useless, however.

[dcj0524]

I just buy the game if I like the demo or gameplay videos of it and take it back If Idon't like I. This month I bought Payday 2, GTA V and Killzone:Mercanary. Already knew all 3 would be good.