A Change To Our Review Policy - Early Access Reviews

mmorpg.com:

One of the most important jobs we have here at MMORPG.com are our reviews. Our jobs as critics is to provide the best actionable information we can for you, our readers, when it comes to the games and hardware we come across in our everyday lives. Reviewing a game helps not only provide critique and analysis on what the developers were hoping to accomplish with their latest release, but also can help influence whether or not you should spend your hard-earned money on a product in its current state.

While we can debate the use and place of review scores in the modern landscape of games criticism, one aspect of reviews we haven't been scoring over the year was Early Access games. Yet, throughout the years, Early Access has felt like the real release for many titles, especially when developers and publishers are also asking players to part with their hard-earned money for the right to help test and provide feedback for an unfinished title.

Yet, when Early Access first arrived on the scene for a while, many felt it wasn't fair to apply a review score to an unfinished product. We haven't done so ourselves over the years for that reason. However, as more live service games are released into Early Access and sit in limbo for years, our stance has shifted. Oftentimes, these Early Access releases are the «true» release of the title, and it can mark the high point of when players are most interested in picking up the game to play for themselves. 

As a result, with so many of the titles we cover falling under this catch-all term, and with so many of them charging a premium for the price of admission, we feel a change is in order.

So, starting in 2024, we will be scoring Early Access reviews. The scale and criteria we use will be the