Controversy Clocking Episode 8: Review copies and the manipulation of game criticism

Reviews are a major component in the gaming industry, mostly due to their ability to affect purchases and in turn make a marked impact on profits for companies. They also take far longer to consider and produce than any other piece of media due to the many components that make up a game. In this follow up to my episode on “The Finger of Suspicion and outrage over game reviews”, further measures have recently been put in place to diminish and affect the way information on the quality of games is written and delivered to the masses.

The gaming industry is a sector where developers and publishers hold all the cards when it comes to marketing and selling their products. If a reviewer calls out a company’s practices or gives a lower score, they’re added to the blacklist (Most recently with Jim Sterling being labelled a “Wild Card” reviewer by big publishers). If a game is broken on release, a version is created that presents the game as running perfectly well. If a game has microtransactions or some kind of pay-to win aspect, these components are locked off from mainstream reviewers until the game is launched. It’s all tailored towards keeping the pre-orders and profits as high as they can be while misleading the consumer based on a hype cycle that continues to be impervious to major criticism.

The latest case of developers purposely disrupting this flow of information to suit their own ends is Bethesda, who recently put out a statement saying that their review copies would be given to the press just one day before release. They already pulled a similar move with the Doom reboot earlier this year over concerns that the lukewarm reaction to the game’s multiplayer beta would impact sales. According to Bethesda’s statement, users should wait for reviews and explains that they want reviewers and consumers to get into their games at the same time. Unfortunately, in the gaming industry this is impossible; no matter how many disappointing games are released there will always be those who fall for the hype and put down their money too soon.

There’s an endless obsession with getting your hands on a game as fast as possible and playing it before everyone else. In that sense, this latest move plays on the consumer’s distaste towards the gaming media who get to play upcoming games early for free. When looking at the pre-order bonus for the upcoming Dishonored 2, players are able to get into the game a day before release if they put down their money before the official release date of November 11^th; in other words they can take on the media in a sense by having the game first and it’s this kind of pandering that will feed even more into the negative cycle of hype and pre-order culture that has dogged the industry in recent years.

By restricting its games to reviewers in this way, Bethesda’s new policy is very cowardly, showcasing a publisher that refuses to take criticism upon the launch of its products. It will affect two main groups in the following ways…

1. Reviewers both mainstream and third party: Under the policy game critics are given just one day to play the game’s modes and collect their thoughts and this is nowhere near sufficient enough to form a credible impression. There’s a tendency to gloss over specifics such as multiplayer performance, random bugs and glitches and the examination of specific modes in their entirety. There’s a pressure to slap a score on a title and put the review out more quickly to take advantage of clicks and advertisement revenue to pay the bills which will degrade the quality of game criticism as a whole.

2. The consumer: The flow of information regarding the quality of an upcoming game will be drastically cut down, making consumers far less informed and more susceptible to purchasing titles without having the proper information beforehand. The companies get your money before the reviews come out and the potential impact they could have (Based on quality information) are neutered. Therefore, publishers and developers who put out poorly made or exploitative games receive few ramifications for their unethical decisions.

As a result, Bethesda’s recent statement feels very contradictory; it’s hardly based on their so called “valuing of game reviews” and instead looks to quell negative criticism that could affect their bottom line in profits. Inaccurate and rushed game reviews have a lower chance of convincing the consumer that their game isn’t worth buying at launch. With them being such a well-known company, it’s easy to see other big name developers and publishers taking a similar step to quell any kind of criticism that could affect pre-order levels and profits right before the game releases. This controlling move from Bethesda can only serve to increase the effectiveness of misleading advertising and shoddy pre-order tactics because there will be fewer obstacles to get in their way.