Raphael Colantonio, creative director of Prey (2017) and Dishonored, has criticized the Metacritic ecosystem, claiming it encourages developers to create “safe boring games” that prioritize polish over ambition. Colantonio argues that a game’s buggy state at launch doesn’t necessarily make it bad, but rather unfair and misleading.
Colantonio points out that if a game is polished at launch, it guarantees an 80% score on Metacritic, regardless of its gameplay or replay value. In contrast, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl received a 74%, despite being considered a fantastic game with some bugs at launch. Colantonio believes this disparity is unfair and that the Metacritic system fails to distinguish between mediocre and exceptional games.
Colantonio also criticizes the fact that Metacritic doesn’t update review scores after publication updates or patches, which he sees as a disincentive for reviewers to accurately reflect a game’s current state. He suggests that either updating scores or abandoning the score system entirely would improve the metacritic experience.
While his suggestions may not be feasible in the short term, Colantonio’s comments highlight an important issue in the gaming industry: the importance of balancing polish with ambition and replay value.
Source: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/fps/as-bugs-weigh-down-review-scores-for-stalker-2-dishonored-and-prey-creative-director-says-the-metacritic-ecosystem-encourages-devs-to-make-safe-boring-games