Neither publishers nor developers pay for positive reviews
"My limited success in this enigmatic industry has given me a not-so-unique albeit little understood insight into how it works. Whether your target is a journalist, or YouTuber, or magazine, the chances are your claim that they were “paid” to like the game that you do not like is baseless and naive. There are more valuable currencies than money in the gaming world, and although at times something seems awry, it’s often more complex than a single payment."
