Why I Don't Write Negative Video Game Reviews

KeenGamer: ''Some publications will tell you outright not to write wholly negative reviews and for good reason. An outbreak of negative reviews can strongly affect a video game’s sales and the developer’s livelihood. Overly negative reviews will cause uneasy relationships between the developer and the publication you write for, possibly severing it entirely.''

[TheEnigma313]

yo make crappy games you get crappy results. no need to try to get consumers money and sell them a busted product. I'm for the gamer over the devs sorry.

[Nitrowolf2]

Well now I know what site to keep away from

At the end of the day readers matter more than publishers. So what if you end up cutting ties with them you can still buy their games and write about them. And even still it rarely happens for a publisher to outright blacklist a website for a bad review

[RememberThe357]

So all the negative reviews of Days Gone were good?

I was just reading the comments for the article about the games Japanese sales and people are hammering the reviews for not telling us how great this game so clearly is, even though all the issues reviewers had are real and worth mentioning.

People are so weird when it comes to what they want from reviews, it's turned into a no win situation for reviewers. If they try to stay objective and informative, they're labels as soft on games, but if they try to share their negative experience they're labeled as haters or out of touch. It's all so nonsensical and strangely personal.

I prefer the impersonal objective review, less focused on quality and more on content. But a review really just is an account of someone's experience and the idea that we all need to have the same opinions and standards is asinine to me.

[rainslacker]

@remember

What is happening with days gone reviews isnt what this article is talking about. They're taking about basically having to say a game is trash. As in its actually bad.

He's saying that if that's the case, then you should just not review it, because there may be consequences.

I dont agree with this mentality. Publications and their reviewers should report what they feel is right, and stand by it despite the ramifications. Obviously, if something is going wrong, then change your standards, like with days gone not giving the game to some SJW a**hat who you know is going to trash the game because you know they have no ethical standards to provide a service for their readers. But otherwise, the chance of repercussion from the industry is slim, and the readers will forget about whatever you say the next time you write something they like, because most people dont even know the websites they get their info from anymore.

[RememberThe357]

@rain

You make a good point about the short term memory of readers. If most people won't remember the reviewer in the first place than all their whining is empty venting about a person not sharing their opinion.

I still think it's asinine to demand that a reviewer love the same things you love but I think it's that whining that actually irritates me. And to deny the reality that the imperfections are even there just to drive home a point is equally irritating.

Let the reviewer give their opinion, let them be as honest and open as they can, then make your decision. The idea that you can't trust reviews because the scores don't end up being what you think they should be is small-minded. There is nothing wrong with critique or a different perspective; it should be lauded in this industry with how expensive content can be and how much of a time sink many games are. To attack reviewers as out of touch or some how bias for being honest about an imperfect game that you love is just juvenile.

[shauzy]

in some cases reviewers may bash the game and underrate them for no reason or for the sole reason that the publisher didnt pay enough money to them, like in the case of days gone, sure the game has glitches but if we go by that standard then skyrim and fallout are the worst games in history

[CH33S3]

Agreed. I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the piece is though.
"Why I Don't Write Negative Video Game Reviews"- Seems to be keengamer telling me I can't trust their reviews. It being posted here seems to be a way putting something asinine before the masses to garner negative traffic.

I'll let others decide that though.

[harmny]

no devs no games.

and im not talking about the executives of EA or Bethesda. im talking about developers that spend years of their life working to make something and then the game has a couple of problems and suddenly its being review bombed on steam and they have thousands of people screaming in their ears telling them they are scammers they suck and should die.

you and all gamers should really be aware that big publishers may be greedy. but the people that actually work overtime and put their heart into the game are real people. Indie developers too

[Imalwaysright]

As a consumer, I couldn't care less about your sob stories. Respect is a two way street and if you throw your anti-consumer crapola at me then I have no sympathy for you and this goes for devs and publishers alike.

[Imalwaysright]

Yes and I decided to tell you the reason why I couldn't care less about your sob stories. I wasn't however expecting you to show me how much of a two faced hypocrite you are so I'm glad that I replied to you.

[harmny]

@Imalwaysright i don't think you know what being a two faced hypocrite means. You're reasons make no sense and they show you have no idea how a game is made.
What's​ the problem? Did I hurt your feelings? Developers get comments like that every second.

[rainslacker]

All he's saying is that he doesn't owe the developer anything if they provide a product that he isnt happy with. I'd assume for products he just doesn't want, or are bad, he's just going to ignore it like any normal person.

But in the larger picture, as a consumer, we dont have to support devs if the product they produce isnt what we expect. I the cases where they, or the publisher, do stupid things, we have every right to complain...especially in long standing franchises, or games from known developers.

We shouldn't tear down the developer with personal attacks. But there is nothing saying that we should not Express our dissatisfaction. Review bombing is one way that's done...which I dont agree with as it doesn't actually speak to the quality of the game, but there aren't that many outlets to get our feelings across as a consumer. Just talking about it on the forums doesn't do much good overall.

I respect the devs. Even those that produce a bad game, or release a game with questionable policies because I know how much work it is. But it doesn't mean that they aren't still part of the process, and while publishers have the ultimate say, I do know that the higher ups on the dev team have a lot of influence on how those crappy policies are imllemented. It's not like they're just innocent bystanders in a situation they have no control over.

[Imalwaysright]

True. Reviews exist to serve us, the consumer, and if they don't then there is absolutely no reason for them to exist.

[harmny]

They serve both parts

[lptmg]

that's because you didn't have to review Life of Black Tiger

[spicelicka]

lol or the quiet man

[Darkwatchman]

If a game is bad, you write a negative review. That’s all there is to it. If you’re more concerned about the publisher relationship or the effect it’ll have on sales, then you can’t be trusted as a reviewer.

[FalconofLucis98]

This. This person is a bad reviewer.

[ifinitygamer]

Agreed. No need to lambast a game unnecessarily like some people do, but give it the appropriate amount of credit where it's due, and equally the amount of criticism where it's due. Just be fair and balanced. Saying no negative reviews means it is inherently unbalanced.

[Nitrowolf2]

100% agree

If you write a bad review though you should be able to back up everything 100%, in which case there’s no reason to feel bad. As long as you have backing to support the score you should be fine. I see to many reviews nowadays marking down score for dumb things

Bad games get made just like bad films happen, there’s no reason why we should excuse them in fear of hurting someone’s feeling or getting them less money in their pocket.

As a reviewer, it’s our job to inform players what they are getting. We aren’t here to cater to publishers want, and if you are yourin the wrong profession. Go be a twitch or you tuber for that shill life

[Benjaminkno]

Yup

[Vanfernal]

So he's pandering to the big publishers... That makes this reviewer untrustworthy... Spare me that "livelihood" crap. If someone makes a bad game and the game deserves a bad review, so be it. You are doing NOONE a favor by not writing negative reviews. Actually you would be letting the consumer buy a piece of crap with their hard earned money just to cater to the people who give you review copies and free swag. That's a total lack of integrity.

[monkey602]

The blue collar folk who work as hard as anyone else to earn the almighty dollar to pay for this entertainment deserve as much respect as the developers. They say don't bite the hand that feeds. This poor man just didn't realise it's the public leadership that feeds not the developer relationship.

I'm not sure what he was trying to achieve with this article, be it a pat on the back or whatever but I think he'll find his naivety got the better of him

[Vanfernal]

He basically said "Don't trust my reviews because I'll always give a free pass to the developers".

[DaDrunkenJester]

But... your integrity is lost and I can't trust your reviews. If you can't even be honest with yourself and score it how you want then how can anyone take any of your reviews seriously?

[gangsta_red]

Isn't this what some are looking for in a review? If a person doesn't like a game they shouldn't review it? This cuts out the bias and the inconsistency of accepting one game play trope over another.

I would think this type of review style would be appluaded.

Review games and score the only the ones you like. What a great idea.

[Nitrowolf2]

No you are looking at it wrong

This isnt person playing a game he doesn’t like and not writing a review for

This is a person playing a bad game but saying they refuse to write negative about it but still write a review

That’s a big difference

Look at it like this let’s just say I hate racing games it wouldn’t make sense for me to review a racing game. This I can get behind

Now let’s say I love racing game and I happen to play a really bad And buggy one, but decide I’m gonna write it in a more positive for the sake of catering to publishers

[Imalwaysright]

What If a reviewer that doesn't particularly like racing games ends up enjoying racing game A and as a result sways gamers that also don't like racing games to go out and buy game A?

The way I see it the more people with different tastes (probably not the best word but whatever) in games review a game the better as it will serve a wider audience.

[rainslacker]

It's fine to diversify, and reviews from an outside perspective can certainly be refreshing. But in cases where you end up liking the game, your review is likely to be pretty unbiased or influenced by other pieces of work.

While these kinds of opinions can be valuable, it stands to reason that having most or a good number of reviews like that isnt really a good thing for either the industry or the consumer, because more often than not, if you aren't into something, you're not going to enjoy it.

It's ok to still review it if you aren't into those kinds of games, and ended up not liking it, but you need to find an objective way to criticize.

There's a huge difference between stating your opinion, and writing an objective viewpoint on a quality of artistic work. There are measurable quantifiable metrics for games that are based on subjective opinions. When you determine those metrics though, you can then rate them in how it actually works or comes across in the game, regardless of if you enjoyed it.

The old adage of, "put yourself in the other person's shoes" comes to mind. How would they feel about it? For instance, I'm not into space marines much in terms of stories or games. But, I can play gears or halo and easily see what it does well on a technical level, rate the story based on broad quality.of writing factors, and judge the technical achievements and form a conclusion that the games are goo because I can recognize what people would like about the game.

When it comes down to it, giving a lower score with the reason of, "I didn't like the game much, and I'm not into these kinds of games" is just lazy, and doesn't do much to convey the quality of the game to the reader. The reader isnt reading to know the reviewers personal preferences or opinions, but how well the game performs on objective criteria.

[monkey602]

Famitsu has a great idea with its 4 opinions. Other review sites should have this structure. One of them could be a brief review from someone who doesn't have any inclination towards such games, That maybe doesn't count towards the overall average score.

[rainslacker]

There was a game magazine back in the day that did that. Can't remember the name. Had the regular review with a score, then 3 other reviewers or editors gave a short.blurb about their thoughts and a couple.pros and cons. I really liked it. They eventually came under fire due to a bunch if anti-Japanese rhetoric accidentally published in one issue.

[Christopher]

As an individual, perhaps. As a gaming site, no.

I won't review a racing or sport game. I don't like them, they're not for me, it will just be me saying why I don't like them over and over.

But, if I run a gaming site, I should have writers who do like them and should be able to review them in comparison to the games they've played and enjoyed or disliked of the same sort in the past.

But I still want to absolutely here when a game is negative and not just only positivity. I greatly enjoyed seeing the negatives of Rage 2 and Days Gone, it informed me of what to expect or even how long I should wait until I buy it (technical issues).

[rainslacker]

Exactly. If you want to do an opposing or second viewpoint review, that's fine, and even a good idea. But if you had me review an online FPS I'd probably go in hating it. Even if I could come to like it, I wouldn't have an open mind due to my general dislike of FPS games, or lack of desire to play online games.

[victorMaje]

A proper positive review helps the developers. A proper negative review helps the industry.
I can’t trust anyone that doesn’t have proper negative reviews for bad games.

[Germaximus]

Not everybody likes the same thing. That should be reason #1 to not write negative reviews.

The reality is that most people don't even read the full review. They don't realize if they did read the actual review itself rather than the headline and the score, they'd probably see a lot of things that the reviewer complains about that they would enjoy.

[FullmetalRoyale]

Just focus on being honest, and you really can’t go wrong.

[Rachel_Alucard]

Doesn't pay the bills sadly. That's why you see so many inflammatory headlines to get people to click from anger.

[DillyDilly]

Its not a reviewers job to lie about a Video Game. You just outed yourself here you will never be trusted go away

[DillyDilly]

This person & reviewer should be banned for admitting they are not honest about reviews

[moomoo319]

Well then you are doing something other than reviewing lol

[Dragonscale]

Reviews should be objective regardless. This explains a lot tbh.

[Elda]

All reviews should be truthful.

[william_cade]

Lie to the consumer, so they can spend hard earned money on a shit game?
Thanks for being so benevolent to us plebs. We will never miss out on a good game because of your grace.
This article is full of it.

[monkey602]

I actually read the article just to try and give this guy some opportunity to explain himself, over what has to be one of the most self destructive headlines I've seen in a long time.
I can see the point he is trying to make but it goes against everything a review should be. Publications are supposed to be professionals with a duty to their readership to be honest and fair.
This is a Bizzare declaration by a writer to deny that they'll ever abide by that.

He has just put a huge black mark over the integrity of that website and the internet does not forget nor is it forgiving.

[Hardiman]

The problem for me isn't bad reviews but agendas and biases. Back in the day reviews let you know if a game was worth buying and in most cases the reviewer reviewed games he/she liked or had experience at.

Now it seems some companies get shit on and other stuff get passes(when one game is flagged for what literally every other game in the genre does) and it just doesn't make sense. Or in some instances it's obvious the reviewer doesn't want to piss off a publisher which is just wrong.

[Cobra951]

What you're saying, sadly, is what many so-called reviewers are doing. They are pandering to the companies, not serving the gamers. I guess you should get a few brownie points for outing yourself; but that doesn't excuse dishonest or sugarcoated reviews one bit.

If your connection with a developer gets severed because you wrote an honest review of a bad game, then do what the rest of us do: Buy the games retail, then review them. Those of us who care about not wasting good money on bad games will wait before buying anyway. We'll get to read the honest reviews.

[jznrpg]

Reviews needs to be truthful but they need to be as unbiased as possible and looked at like your the reader . Don’t judge games for what they aren’t or what you want them to be . Try to keep your political beliefs out of it .

[CrimsonWing69]

No, you’re informing a consumer on why a product is worth a purchase or not.

Look, it’s not rocket science. If a game’s bad, it’s bad despite preference or objectivity. This issue stems from inaccurate reviews or reviews based solely on opinion. That doesn’t help anyone and if anything it makes your audience lose faith it your ability to critique a game.

[Spartacus10]

"An outbreak of negative reviews can strongly affect a video game’s sales and the developer’s livelihood."

That applies to any industry, and the gaming industry is already too lenient towards incompetence compared to other industries. The very last thing it needs is more shills to help screw over the consumers.

[AllMightyFox]

so basically you are stating "I do not right truthful articles about games because it'll cost developers money."

so basically you are saying "I do not care about the consumer or readers as much as I do making $$$$$$!"

EA won't give me early access to busted games unless I produce articles that only show them in positive light …

And then you wonder why no one believes your reviews, no one likes you, and you become sheer entertainment.

I find these fluff, shaft deep articles as hilarious … Why we should support the new EA star wars game without footage or any type of information from which to base any judgement ?..

it's only there because it's EA and it's DISNEY and so they spend advertising dollars you fiends wish to soak up ……. (so you suck up)

[BlaqMagiq1]

Thank you for letting me know to never trust you as a reviewer. Your job is to write reviews as unbiased as possible. It's clear you care more about developers than gamers and you should be ashamed of yourself.

[sprinterboy]

@pretend game journalist
Don't bother writing reviews then, immediately stop.
A game review is about the pros and cons of the game, what works well and what doesn't, how you felt the story pacing went etc.
You can be negative about a game as long as you back it up with WHY.

[FanboysKiller]

I agree, we are far ahead in technology and services like the youtube community or the community of xbox playstation and pc who spend their money on the games and write a review about it; I wouldn't bother about harsh reviews if they back it up with video clip that shows how good they are playing that specific game otherwise all what they do is talk and nonsense.

[Rachel_Alucard]

And people say we don't need Steam reviews when this kind of stuff happens alot.

[Thundercat77]

I think the problem is when you write a very negative negative review (like 2/10) but still the game turns out to be a huge commercial hit like Days Gone and yet you give a higher score to a game that really turned out to be a commercial failure and garbage.

People will not take you seriously and you loose credibility.

[Ace326]

Gotta love how people advocate for game journalists to actually just be an extension to a game company's PR marketing team. Praising horribly designed games is part of the reason EA mostly releases sport trading card gambling games. A review shouldn't be positive or negative unless said game was poorly made or is basically a repeat of the year before. Plain and simple give an honest review of the game. Anything but that is essentially a lie. In the short term sure there are game devs to worry about, but as we are seeing now AAA botched releases and over monetization are starting to tank the industry and if that happened even more jobs would be lost. Devs are people that make money to create video games. They are not children we have to protect and the only thing they are a victim of is corporate greed. If anything I would put pressure on publishers in reviews by calling out their practices. If you want to help game devs then that would be a much better way of doing it.

[Spenok]

As the Co-Founder of a website, honesty is the best policy. I'm going to tell a developer, AND the gamers when their game sucks. I won't be mean about it, nor malicious or malevolent... but if their game sucks, I'll be critical of it and say what's wrong.

This is a terrible idea, and shows you care more about the developers than the gamers, which is who you are supposed to advocate for, regardless of the quality of the product they produce.

Besides, if the dev/pub/PR studio cares more about positive press than accurate press, they don't need to be in business anyways, and should be thrown to the wolves.