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Metacritic, widely renowned as the ultimate review aggregator, is introducing 36-hour delays to user scores on new games in an effort to combat ‘review bombing.’
Metacritic is tightening its defence against premature user scores by implementing 36-hour delays to all new games on its platform. With a view to maintaining its status as the most authentic review aggregator on the web, this precaution aims to prevent players from hastily throwing up reviews for titles that have yet to be released.
The change was first spotted earlier this month, when members of popular forum site ResetEra discovered that a PlayStation 4 Indie title called Subliminal was not open to user critique until July 9th, despite the game officially launching two days earlier. Forbes confirmed growing suspicions that new measures were in place, sharing a screenshot of the user score option greyed out on Ghost of Tsushima until 36-hours after its release. In the sidebar of both instances, a caption read, ‘Please spend time playing the game.’
In an interview with GameSpot, a spokesperson for Metacritic echoed that sentiment: ‘We recently implemented the 36-hour waiting period for all user reviews in our games section to ensure our gamers have time to play these games before writing their reviews.’
Those in charge of the site maintain that the decision was spurred by ‘data-driven research’ and was carried out ‘with the input of critics and industry experts’, but the fact the new system is being introduced mere weeks after the release of The Last of Us Part II suggests that whole storm in a teacup likely had a significant bearing on the decision.
I love this! Review bombing is awful no matter the type of media/industry. Thousands of people rating games they’ve never played isn’t a Review, it’s a witch hunt. Thank you @metacritic https://t.co/QOcMqX5dNB
— MvM (@manvsmeeple) July 18, 2020
