Why review scores are dead | Opinion

gamesindustry.biz:

Alex Nichiporchik

Monday 11th April 2022

Review scores used to be able to tell you if a game was good. Magazines and sites often broke things down into individual scores aspects, and if the story scored a 9/10 and you liked story-driven games, it was a good indicator that you should probably buy the game.

This was before you were able to watch someone play the first half-hour of the game and before you could see the community react. Shelf space was limited, and there was no Twitch or YouTube.

Gamers make their own decisions now. And quite often, that decision does not align with the opinion of an editor that's giving a review score.

Here are the reasons why review scores are dead and what developers should do about it.

When we launched Hello Neighbor, a major gaming outlet gave it 4 out of 10. Granted, there were bugs, and we spent a lot of time fixing them. But it's also important to note that reviewing something like Hello Neighbor is kind of like reviewing Fortnite. What is the final product? Is it the current season? The rap concert? No, these are experiences within the bigger scope of the game.

Alex Nichiporchik, TinyBuild

With Hello Neighbor, this experience started when we released our first playable alpha. One time, we accidentally forgot to disable the dev console. It opened up the backend to the community and allowed them to see what was being worked on, what was a work in progress. It became an experience on its own -- seeing the behind the scenes, the models, and how the game's final form was shaping up. Playing the game in its development form became part of the game itself.

It's important to distinguish between different generations of gamers. People over 30, who, like myself, grew up using scores are limited on