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"

gamesradar.com:

The creative director of Prey (2017) and Dishonored, Raphael Colantonio, has been speaking out against what he describes as the "Metacritic ecosystem," which he believes is pushing developers "to make safe boring games."

This comes after the release of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, which is currently sitting with an average critic score of 74 (for its PC version) on Metacritic, with the general consensus being that it's a fantastic game, but currently weighed down by bugs. This, Colantonio believes, is "unfair," as he argues on Twitter: "As long as a game is polished at launch, you're guaranteed 80%, no matter how boring the game might be. Meanwhile Stalker 2 gets a 73 because it's a bit rough on the edges at launch. Unfair, misleading."

The Metacritic ecosystem encourages devs to make safe boring games. As long as a game is polished at launch, you’re guaranteed a 80%, no matter how boring the game might be. Meanwhile Stalker2 gets a 73 because it’s a bit rough on the edges at launch. Unfair, misleading..November 23, 2024

Colantonio, who was the founder of Arkane Studios and its president until 2017, claims: "As soon as you offer games with tons of possibilities, you open yourself to a harder game to polish at launch." However, he believes that this is a far more interesting alternative than a game that runs brilliantly but just isn't very ambitious, noting: "A fantastic buggy game can get patched, a boring game will stay boring."

Continuing, Colantonio points to the fact that Metacritic doesn't accept updated review scores from publications, which the website explains is "a critic-protection measure" that's been in place since 2003 "after we found that many publications had been pressured to raise review scores (or de-publish reviews) to satisfy outside influences." While brought in for a good reason, to "act as a disincentive for these outside forces to apply that type of inappropriate pressure," it means that as things currently stand, if a publication changes a