Metacritic Admits That "Veteran Critics" Hold Greater Influence in Determining a Score

Ah, Metacritic scores – perhaps one of the most controversial topics in the game industry, and for good reason. As years go by, gaming journalists' scores continue to drift further and further from those of regular players – with it becoming commonplace to see games earning 90+ scores from "critics" while player ratings sit firmly in the yellow or red – raising suspicions that gaming outlets are intentionally inflating scores to stay in the good graces of AAA publishers.

Recently, Metacritic's own Co-Founder Marc Doyle gave even more reason to raise eyebrows at the most popular gaming reviews aggregator by openly admitting that the website skews the Metascore – the score based on reviews from journalists – in favor of "veteran critics," giving them more influence in determining a game's final score.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Doyle revealed that Metacritic does, in fact, give preferential treatment to gaming journalists with more years in the industry, stating their reviews "might be worth a little bit more in the overall average," and emphasizing that this practice isn't new – the website has always done that.

Having disclosed this, the Co-Founder was quick to downplay the impact and claim that the bias isn't that significant, assuring that while they "do give a little bit more influence to the highly respected veteran critics," an unweighted score would only be different by 1-2 points compared to the final score. While that may not seem like much – and really, it isn't – one can't help but recall Fallout: New Vegas's 84 Metascore, which cost Obsidian Entertainment a financial bonus, proving that even one point can make a difference.

Unfortunately, Doyle hasn't disclosed which particular websites and journalists they consider to be more equal than the others, but strongly hinted that Giant Bomb is probably one of them, which is hardly surprising, considering that both GB and Metacritic operated under Fandom's umbrella until early May 2025, when Giant Bomb conducted layoffs and set off on an independent path.

So, what's your take on Metacritic engaging in score weighting? Is it a positive or a negative? Do you take "critic" scores into account when deciding whether to buy a video game or not? Let us know in the comments!