Editorials

Is Irrational Games Being Irrational for Requiring an 85+ Metacritic Score?

Metacritic continues to play a big role in the videogame industry. A recent job posting by Irrational Games, best known for their Bioshock  series, requires the applicant be a super duper developer. What does it take to be such a developer? Among other things, it requires having been credited for at least one game that has received an 85+ average score on Metacritic.

It’s no secret that our industry leans heavily, or is leaned heavily upon, the aggregate scores listed on Metacritic. Obsidian, who developed Fallout: New Vegas , was promised a bonus if the game received at least an 85 average. The game ended up with an 84 average, and that 1 point cost the development team at Obsidian their bonus.

The principle behind utilizing Metacritic as a reward mechanism for game makers is noble enough – if you make a good game, or have made good games during your career, you should be rewarded for it. The problem is, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Or in other words, a great gaming experience for one person might be a so-so experience for another. It’s that dichotomic nature of videogames, or any piece of art or entertainment really, that makes using aggregate review scores as a reward system a scary prospect.

I like Metacritic, I think it’s a useful way to distinguish very good and very bad games. But when you think about it, the difference between a game with an average of 80 and one with an average of 85 is not so apparent.

Thanks go to Destructoid for pointing out the job posting!

Senior Editor | [email protected]

Sean started playing video games in infancy. He was not given a choice as much as a directive from his parents to be the best gamer on Earth. Sean was subjected to 10-12 hours of rigorous daily gaming throughout his youth, mastering the most complex video games and dominating online competitions. Sean's symbiotic relationship with video games led to writing about them for various gaming websites, and he is currently involved in sales strategy and analytics at one of the largest video game publishers in the world. Sean's mission is simple: Turn 100% of the human population into gamers, willingly or otherwise.

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